The awareness around copyrights has increased a lot more in recent times. If you use an image that you aren't allowed to legally publish, you will get hauled up in the age of social media. Someone somewhere will spot it, shame you for it, and that can then get you sued.

That's why you should use images from the web legally, and the same goes for music in YouTube videos, icons, video footage, and more. Where can you find this, though?

Don't worry, we have the right resources for you to go to.

This entire list is about places to find free stock photos, videos, sounds, and icons. You can safely use them in your creations, as long as you attribute it to the source.

1. Pexels (Web): Free No-Signup Photos and Videos

Of all the stock photo sites, the one I end up going back to the most these days is Pexels. There are a few simple reasons that it features among the best sites to get royalty-free stock pictures.

First, you don't need to sign up at Pexels to download images. Second, most of the media clearly mentions how you can use it, and what sort of attribution it needs. Finally, Pexels is also an aggregator, combining stock imagery from several websites in one place.

While it shines for photography, don't forget to check out the sub-site, Pexels Videos. You'll find stunning stock footage to download and use here, including several high-resolution videos.

2. Bensound (Web): Original Music for Your YouTube Videos

You probably haven't heard about the Bensound project. But once you visit the site, you'll wonder why it has been missing from your life all these years. Bensound makes original music for anyone to use in their YouTube videos or multimedia projects.

Bensound hosts free Creative Commons-licensed music, which you can use in your videos. Just attribute it to the maker, no money needs to exchange hands. The simplicity of the site is what's so lovely.

You can browse the music chronologically, by genre, or search for something. Each audio file can be previewed fully before you download it. And the songs are fantastic, so you'll always find something that fits your needs.

3. Vimeo Free HD (Web): Vimeo Makers Share High-Def Footage

Vimeo has long been a competitor for YouTube. For makers, it's often considered to be better than YouTube because of the serious videophiles that come there. One such group of filmmakers will make your life much easier.

"Free HD stock footage" is a group on Vimeo that is full of short video clips that anyone can use for free in their productions. It isn't active much anymore, but the collection of videos you'll find here is remarkable. If you want something more current, you can always look through the various Creative Commons videos on Vimeo. Just remember that you need to know the right Creative Commons licenses beforehand.

One other place you might want to check out is The Public Domain Project where you can find a large collection of media whose copyright license has expired.

4. Flat Icon (Web): Free and Royalty-Free Icons and Collections

There's nothing like a set of new icons to give your phone or computer a fresh new look. Heck, icons are also great to create pamphlets, business cards, letterheads, and other things you might regularly need.

Flat Icon is perhaps the best icon collection on the internet now if you're looking for completely free stuff to download and use. Some require attributions, some are attribution-free. And all of them are available in several formats, like including SVG, PNG, EPS, and PSD.

One of the nicer things about Flat Icon is being able to search for individual icons or collective packs. For example, when you want a gorgeous Android icon pack, you can ignore individual icons and download an entire pack.

5. All The Free Stock (Web): One Place for All Stock Needs

If you can't be bothered to remember or bookmark all the above sites, just remember this one. All The Free Stock is a single place to find stock photos, videos, mockups, sound effects, website templates, email templates, fonts, and icons.

It's basically a place that has links to all other sites with free stock data. You won't have to Google it or head to a site only to find that it's "royalty-free" without being actually free.

It's simple, it's easy to remember, and the links there can be trusted.

Where Do You Find Free Stuff?

Everyone has their favorites when it comes to free stock photos, videos, images, and icons. What about you? Do you know some sites that are better than the ones mentioned here already?