The basic rule: visible is not the same as free
As soon as a photo is taken, a video is filmed or an illustration is drawn, its creator automatically owns the copyright. No registration or © symbol is needed. Publishing a work on a website doesn't give up that right. So the starting point is simple: assume every image and video online is protected unless you have a clear reason to think otherwise.
Downloading a copy for yourself, reusing it, and publishing it are different acts with different risks. Keeping a private reference copy is treated very differently from putting the same picture on your business website or in an ad.
Content you can usually use freely
1. Your own work
Photos you took, videos you made and graphics you designed are yours, even after you upload them somewhere. Recovering your own media from your old website or portfolio is one of the most common reasons to use an extractor. Be aware that some social platforms' terms grant them a licence too, but you keep ownership.
2. Public domain
Works whose copyright has expired, or that were dedicated to the public, can be used by anyone for any purpose. In India, copyright in most works lasts for the author's lifetime plus 60 years. Many museums and archives publish high-resolution public-domain scans and mark them clearly.
3. Creative Commons and open licences
Creative Commons (CC) licences let creators grant permission in advance, on conditions:
| Licence | What it allows |
|---|---|
| CC0 | Anything, no credit required (effectively public domain). |
| CC BY | Any use, including commercial, if you credit the author. |
| CC BY-SA | As above, and you must share your adaptation under the same licence. |
| CC BY-NC | Credit required, and no commercial use. |
| CC BY-ND | Credit required, and no modified versions. |
A good credit includes the title, author, source link and licence, for example: “Sunset over Pune” by A. Kumar, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
4. Free stock libraries
Sites such as Pexels, Pixabay and Unsplash publish photos and videos under their own free licences. These generally allow commercial use without credit, but they forbid some things, such as selling unaltered copies or implying endorsement by people shown. Read each site's licence page once so you know the limits.
Fair dealing and fair use
Copyright laws allow some limited uses without permission. In India, Section 52 of the Copyright Act, 1957 lists “fair dealing” for purposes such as private or personal use including research, criticism or review, and reporting current events. The United States has a broader, case-by-case “fair use” doctrine.
These exceptions are narrower than many people think. Using a whole image as decoration on a commercial site almost never qualifies. Quoting a small part of a work to discuss it is much more likely to.
Clearly risky uses
- Re-uploading someone else's video to your own channel.
- Using photos from another business's website for your products or ads.
- Removing watermarks or credits.
- Getting around DRM, logins or paywalls. This is illegal in itself in many countries, separately from any copying.
- Using images of identifiable people for promotion without their consent. This raises personality and privacy rights as well as copyright.
A five-question checklist before reusing media
- Who made it? Find the original source, not a site that copied it. A reverse image search helps.
- Is there a licence? Look for CC marks, “free to use” terms or a licence page.
- What does my use need? Commercial? Modified? Credit possible?
- Does an exception clearly apply? If you have to argue hard that it does, it probably doesn't.
- Can I just ask? A short, polite email to the creator very often gets a yes, sometimes for free with credit.
Where an extractor fits in
A media extractor is like a camera or a browser: a neutral tool. It's very useful for recovering your own content, collecting openly licensed material, auditing websites and research. The responsibility for what happens to the files afterwards stays with the person who downloads them. That's why our terms ask you to download only content you own or have the right to use, and why we never bypass logins or DRM.
Key takeaways
- Everything online is copyrighted by default.
- Your own work, public domain, CC and free stock content are the safe zones. Follow their conditions.
- Fair dealing is narrow. Don't rely on it for commercial use.
- Never bypass DRM or paywalls.
- When unsure, ask the creator.