16 Apr 2021

10 best free stock photography, music, and video websites

The 10 best websites for for free stock photography, video footage, music, and special effects soundtracks for your next creative project.

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Whether you are creating a graphic for your Instagram post, looking to up your presentation design game, or find a soundtrack for you next cinematic masterpiece you don’t need to break the piggy bank to get the right stock photography, video clip, or music track to use. 

Here are some of our top choices for free stock photography, video footage, music, and special effects soundtracks.

Stock Photography

Unsplash

Unsplash is one of our favorite stock photography websites. It’s a collection of so many amazing photographers with a global lens to people, places, environments, and of course, dogs. They also offer some nice filtering options around orientation and color to help you find the right photo for your project.

photo credit: Karsten Winegeart

Pexels

Pexels also has a broad assortment of photography, similar in style to some of the images you might find on paid services such as iStock or Shutterstock. Their trending, new, and leaderboard navigation is a nice way to find some of the top choices. In addition, the offering some free stock video footage as well.

photo credit: Pouria Teymouri

Negative Space

Negative Space is a great resource for those looking for plenty of room in their photo to place copy blocks, overlays, etc. While their library is smaller than some of the other free stock photo websites, their images fit the bill for those social media quote cards, or inspirational slides you’ve been working on.

photo credit: Travel Photographer

picjumbo

picjumbo has a large number of photography categories including desktop and iPhone wallpaper. While they offer a large library of free photos, they also have a premium membership which offers instant access to new collections and access to all premium photos. 

photo credit: Viktor Hanacek

StockSnap.io

StockSnap.io is another great free photo website with a large variety image categories.  While the photography styles vary widely, you can usually find good options for projects. They also offer background, abstract, and texture images which can come in handy for presentation and quote card graphics.

photo credit: Design by Matt

Stock Videos

coverr

coverr has a wonderful selection of free stock video footage. From people, to nature, business, travel, Zoom backgrounds, and everything in between they offer good options for video work on a budget.

pixababy

pixababy has some of the most stunning free stock video footage, offering 4K and HD options. Not to mention they also have a good selection of free photo, illustration, and music available.

video credit: PaweÅ‚ SierpiÅ„ski

mixkit

mixkit also offers an array of free stock assets including some nice stock video footage.  From drone footage, particles, abstracts, lifestyle, and business, mixkit provides quality and options.

Stock Music

YouTube Audio Library

YouTube Audio Library is a great resource for royalty-free music and sound effects for your next short or long-form video project. You can search by artist or keyword, or refine your search to explore by genre, mood, or track length.

SoundCloud

SoundCloud has a wide selection of music tracks made available directly from artists and DJs. It can be a little harder to navigate and find what you need then some other websites, but the results can be unique and high quality.

Bensound (bonus website)

Bensound also offers a variety of royalty-free music for your digital media projects. To use their music for free you must give credit Bensound.com in your finished work. Note you can’t use their music for podcasts.

Let us know what you think of these websites or if you had others you would like to share with the community.

Categories: Design • Inspiration
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