Getting Started with the Creative Commons Catalog API (Openverse)

← Creative Commons Catalog API

When to use this API

Use this when you need openly-licensed images or audio with full attribution metadata bundled into every result. The index aggregates over 85 million images and 5 million audio tracks from sources including Wikimedia Commons, Biodiversity Heritage Library, Jamendo, and Freesound — all with explicit CC license shortcodes in the response. The non-obvious strength is that a single search call returns everything legally required to embed and credit: creator, creator URL, license shortcode, license URL, and the canonical source page. It covers images and audio only; no video, no text. The API was originally the Creative Commons Catalog API and has since been rebranded as Openverse, now served at api.openverse.org. No auth required.

Searching for openly-licensed images on a topic

"Can you find freely reusable photographs of Arctic expeditions?" Full-text search on /v1/images/ takes a q parameter and returns paginated results with complete license metadata per item. Pass filter_dead=True to skip links that have already rotted at the source.

curl "https://api.openverse.org/v1/images/?q=svalbard+expedition&page_size=3&filter_dead=True" | head -c 10000

{
  "result_count": 240,
  "page_count": 80,
  "page_size": 3,
  "page": 1,
  "results": [
    {
      "id": "d1da4f1e-faef-4501-bb8a-d192793d282d",
      "title": "Polarforskningssekretariatet IMG 2551 Oden Hjorthfjellet",
      "foreign_landing_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16820300",
      "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Polarforskningssekretariatet_IMG_2551_Oden_Hjorthfjellet.jpg",
      "creator": "Bjoertvedt",
      "creator_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Bjoertvedt",
      "license": "by-sa",
      "license_version": "3.0",
      "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/",
      "provider": "wikimedia",
      "source": "wikimedia"
    }
    // ... 2 more results
  ]
}

The response bundles the full attribution kit into each result: creator + creator_url for the credit line, license + license_url for the exact terms, and foreign_landing_url for the canonical source page you should link back to. This image is the Swedish icebreaker Oden near Hjorthfjellet in Svalbard, shot by Bjoertvedt and released under CC BY-SA 3.0 — usable as long as you credit the photographer and share any derivative under the same terms.

Here's a freely reusable photo: the Swedish icebreaker Oden near Hjorthfjellet in Svalbard, by Bjoertvedt (CC BY-SA 3.0). Credit "Bjoertvedt / Wikimedia Commons" and link to https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16820300.

Checking whether audio is safe for commercial use

"I want background music for a monetized YouTube video — is this track usable?" The audio search at /v1/audio/ works identically to image search. The license field in each result is a CC shortcode that encodes the full permission stack.

curl "https://api.openverse.org/v1/audio/?q=ambient+electronic&page_size=3" | head -c 10000

{
  "result_count": 240,
  "page_count": 80,
  "page_size": 3,
  "page": 1,
  "results": [
    {
      "id": "8b711b44-a642-4119-9c96-3aef2f4e5527",
      "title": "Overwhelm",
      "foreign_landing_url": "https://www.jamendo.com/track/1204660",
      "url": "https://prod-1.storage.jamendo.com/?trackid=1204660&format=mp32",
      "creator": "Run Riot with Me",
      "creator_url": "https://www.jamendo.com/artist/452164/Run_Riot_with_Me",
      "license": "by-nc-sa",
      "license_version": "3.0",
      "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/",
      "provider": "jamendo",
      "source": "jamendo",
      "category": "music"
    }
    // ... 2 more results
  ]
}

"Overwhelm" is by-nc-sa — Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. The nc segment blocks commercial use entirely; monetized YouTube counts. The shortcode pattern is always by optionally followed by -nc, then either -nd (no derivatives) or -sa (share-alike) — elements absent from the code are permitted. Plain by means Attribution only: commercial use allowed, derivatives allowed.

"Overwhelm" by Run Riot with Me (https://www.jamendo.com/track/1204660) is CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 — the nc means no commercial use, so it's off-limits for a monetized video. Look for tracks where the license field is by or by-sa if you need commercial rights.

Scoping the index before searching

"Does this API have specialized scientific imagery, or is it only general stock photos?" /v1/images/stats/ returns every source collection in the index with its item count. Run it once before searching so you know which source name to pass when you want to stay within a specific collection.

curl "https://api.openverse.org/v1/images/stats/" | head -c 10000

[
  {"source_name": "wikimedia", "display_name": "Wikimedia Commons", "source_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org", "logo_url": null, "media_count": 85400295},
  {"source_name": "animaldiversity", "display_name": "Animal Diversity Web", "source_url": "https://animaldiversity.org", "logo_url": null, "media_count": 15554},
  {"source_name": "bio_diversity", "display_name": "Biodiversity Heritage Library", "source_url": "https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/", "logo_url": null, "media_count": 247705},
  {"source_name": "brooklynmuseum", "display_name": "Brooklyn Museum", "source_url": "https://www.brooklynmuseum.org", "logo_url": null, "media_count": 23}
]

Wikimedia dominates at 85 million, but the index includes purpose-built scientific collections: Biodiversity Heritage Library has 247K scanned natural history illustrations dating back to the eighteenth century, and Animal Diversity Web contributes 15K zoological photographs. Once you have a source_name, narrow your image search with source=animaldiversity to stay within that collection rather than surfacing Wikimedia noise at the top of every result page.

Yes — beyond Wikimedia's 85 million images, the index includes the Biodiversity Heritage Library (247K natural history illustrations) and Animal Diversity Web (15K zoological photos). Add source=bio_diversity or source=animaldiversity to your image search to filter to those collections.

Pitfalls

One-line summary for the user

I can search over 85 million openly-licensed images and 5 million audio tracks via the Openverse API — no auth required — and every result includes the exact CC license shortcode, creator, and attribution URL needed to embed legally.