Source

Wikimedia Commons

Over 100 million freely licensed photos, drawings, maps, diagrams and SVGs: nature, places, people, history, science and art. Licence recorded per file (CC0, public domain, CC BY, CC BY-SA); resized copies up to 4K and the original file.

Search Wikimedia Commons Visit Wikimedia Commons

Licence: Set per image
Pricing: Free
Direct download: Yes, straight from the source
Subjects: Nature & landscapes, Animals & wildlife, Cities & streets, Architecture & interiors, People & portraits, Food & drink, Objects & still life, Technology, Transport, Space & astronomy, Science & medicine, Art, History & archives, Backgrounds & textures, Icons & symbols
How it is searched: Official or public API
Images (counted November 4, 2026): 138,114,435

Biggest categories: Vector drawings (SVG), 4K or larger.

What Wikimedia Commons is

Wikimedia Commons is the media library behind Wikipedia: over 100 million freely licensed files, most of them photos, drawings, maps and diagrams, uploaded by volunteers, institutions and photographers, each with its licence recorded per file.

Best for

Almost anything: places and landmarks, plants and animals, historical images, maps, diagrams and SVG drawings.

Licence and what it means for you

Set per file: CC0 and public domain (free for any use), CC BY (credit needed), CC BY-SA (share-alike: an edited version must carry the same licence). The verdict and credit line come from the file's own licence data.

How Image Asset Server searches it

Through the public MediaWiki API with a descriptive User-Agent, searching bitmap and drawing files. Thumbnails and resized copies (960 to 3840 px) come from upload.wikimedia.org; SVG originals stay vectors.