Free resources, Free stock photos and video

Pexels

Free photos and stock video clips under one simple licence, with a search that understands plain requests.

Category
Free stock photos and video
Cost
Free, attribution appreciated but not required
Website
pexels.com

What Pexels is

Pexels covers the same ground as Unsplash but adds video, which is the reason most people keep both open. The clips are short, mostly b-roll, and enough for a background loop or a filler shot in an explainer.

The photo style is a little more commercial than Unsplash: more people at desks, more food, more product-ish setups. That makes it the better first stop for a business site and the worse one for something arty.

Good for

  • A background video loop for a landing page
  • Business and lifestyle photos for a services site
  • Filler shots in a short explainer or social video

Worth knowing

  • Identifiable people and brands need care: the licence covers the file, not the rights of the person in it.
  • Video files are large — compress before putting one on a page, or the page speed goes with it.

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