Of all the creative endeavors I’ve undertaken, creating video productions is my favorite. No other medium integrates audio, still images, motion graphics, typography, and of course, other videos. The power of video lies in its versatility. It engages, informs, inspires, explains, and persuades. No wonder people are so obsessed with watching it on their phones and other devices. If you’re not using video in your content marketing, you’re wasting your time.
You don’t need to be a professional videographer to create interesting videos that look professional. There are plenty of sites that have royalty-free stock footage. But do not confuse royalty-free with no-cost. Depending on what you need, some footage can be expensive. For example, an aerial clip of the lower Manhattan skyline goes for $170 on iStock. A similar video on Shutterstock goes for $79. Either way, that’s not cheap.
Thankfully, there are plenty of sites that offer free stock footage you can use on your website, social media posts, and marketing campaigns, for free without worrying about copyright infringement. In this post, I’ll cover 5 of them.
5 resources for free stock video footage
Coverr
Started by a group of filmmakers in 2015, this site offers thousands of free videos in twenty-five categories for download as HD MP4 files. You don’t need to sign-up or credit the authors to use the free video footage. If you decide to sign up, it costs nothing except providing your name and email address. This gives you the option of collecting videos you like in one place, so you can find them quickly when you need them.
mixkit
Mixkit, owned by the subscription service Envato, is a free repository of video and other digital assets—music, sound effects, and motion graphics templates. They add free content on a weekly basis.
Life of vids
Life of vids is a free repository hosted by Montreal-based advertising agency Leeroy. All video clips and loops are completely free, but they limit redistribution of the footage on other sites to 10 videos. You can show your appreciation for the free footage by buying them a beer (small donation) or giving them a mention on your website.
Videezy
Videezy offers a diverse collection of video clips in HD and 4K resolutions that are royalty-free for personal and commercial use. Use of most free footage requires you to credit Videezy.com. You can also purchase credits to use the footage without attribution. When searching for videos, filter results in the left-side panel by choosing the “Standard” license type to only display free videos.
Pexels
Once known as a free photo site, Pexels now offers a large library of free HD and 4K stock videos. All photos and videos can be used for free, and attribution is optional.
I ran a sample search using the term “driving” and its search engine returned 2200 results. Impressive.
Now, go create something great
Now that you’ve got your free stock video footage, you’re one step closer to creating an entertaining and informative video. I created the video below for a client’s website using stock footage from mixkit. Get in touch with me if you’d like something similar to support your content marketing campaign.
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Of all the creative endeavors I’ve undertaken, creating video productions is my favorite. No other medium integrates audio, still images, motion graphics, typography, and of course, other videos. The power of video lies in its versatility. It engages, informs, inspires, explains, and persuades. No wonder people are so obsessed with watching it on their phones and other devices. If you’re not using video in your content marketing, you’re wasting your time.
You don’t need to be a professional videographer to create interesting videos that look professional. There are plenty of sites that have royalty-free stock footage. But do not confuse royalty-free with no-cost. Depending on what you need, some footage can be expensive. For example, an aerial clip of the lower Manhattan skyline goes for $170 on iStock. A similar video on Shutterstock goes for $79. Either way, that’s not cheap.
Thankfully, there are plenty of sites that offer free stock footage you can use on your website, social media posts, and marketing campaigns, for free without worrying about copyright infringement. In this post, I’ll cover 5 of them.
5 resources for free stock video footage
Coverr
Started by a group of filmmakers in 2015, this site offers thousands of free videos in twenty-five categories for download as HD MP4 files. You don’t need to sign-up or credit the authors to use the free video footage. If you decide to sign up, it costs nothing except providing your name and email address. This gives you the option of collecting videos you like in one place, so you can find them quickly when you need them.
mixkit
Mixkit, owned by the subscription service Envato, is a free repository of video and other digital assets—music, sound effects, and motion graphics templates. They add free content on a weekly basis.
Life of vids
Life of vids is a free repository hosted by Montreal-based advertising agency Leeroy. All video clips and loops are completely free, but they limit redistribution of the footage on other sites to 10 videos. You can show your appreciation for the free footage by buying them a beer (small donation) or giving them a mention on your website.
Videezy
Videezy offers a diverse collection of video clips in HD and 4K resolutions that are royalty-free for personal and commercial use. Use of most free footage requires you to credit Videezy.com. You can also purchase credits to use the footage without attribution. When searching for videos, filter results in the left-side panel by choosing the “Standard” license type to only display free videos.
Pexels
Once known as a free photo site, Pexels now offers a large library of free HD and 4K stock videos. All photos and videos can be used for free, and attribution is optional.
I ran a sample search using the term “driving” and its search engine returned 2200 results. Impressive.
Now, go create something great
Now that you’ve got your free stock video footage, you’re one step closer to creating an entertaining and informative video. I created the video below for a client’s website using stock footage from mixkit. Get in touch with me if you’d like something similar to support your content marketing campaign.
