Video License: What It Is, Main Types, Where To Buy Them

What is a video license?

A video license is a legal agreement that permits a user (“licensee”), to use a video owned by the copyright holder (“licensor”), for a specific purpose and according to defined terms and conditions. It grants temporary or permanent rights to use the video without granting ownership.

Video licensing is most commonly used in stock footage, which video editors as B-roll, but it also pops up for custom footage.

Types of video licenses

There are three basic types of video licenses, but every platform has its own terms, which are usually just derivatives of one of the licenses.

Royalty-free ($1+)

A royalty-free (RM) video license is a type of video license that grants the user the right to use a video without paying royalties for each use. Instead, the user pays a one-time fee for the license, which gives them the right to use the video for an unlimited number of times.

Many stock video agencies also provide so-called “Extended” forms of this license, which removes limitations on the video product budget and increases the limits of liability.

Rights-managed ($100+)

A rights-managed (RM) video license is a more restrictive type of license that involves an agreement between the copyright owner of the video and another party who wants to use it. The license outlines the terms and conditions of the usage, such as the duration, distribution, and intended audience of the video.

This type of license is typically more expensive than other types of licenses, but it offers more control and is easier to acquire exclusively. Rights-managed licenses are becoming less common as royalty-free licenses become more prevalent.

Creative Commons (free)

A Creative Commons (CC) video license allows content creators to grant permission for others to reuse and edit their work, subject to the terms of the license. On YouTube, creators can mark their videos with a Creative Commons CC BY license, which allows others to reuse and edit the video, provided they give appropriate credit to the original creator.

This type of license is suitable for creators who want to encourage sharing and remixing of their work while retaining the copyright.

How to choose a stock video license

If you’ve carefully read the previous chapter, you now have a good idea of which license you need. And it’s pretty simple in most cases:

• Royalty-free is good enough for most commercial project
• Rights-managed is ideal when you need exclusivity
• Creative Commons can be used commercially, but due to the lack of indemnity, I prefer it for personal projects only

But in some cases, the answers are more nuanced than this. Here are the most popular questions I’ve received over the years:

Do I need a license to show a movie?

Whenever you show a movie or a video outside of your home, it constitutes a public performance. And for public performance, you need to get a video license, even if you’re not making money from it.

How do I legally use a copyrighted video?

First, you need to get a video license from the copyright owners or the stock video agency acting on their behalf. Next, you should check and negotiate the license so it fits your requirements. In the end, you can also sometimes negotiate the price.

How much does it cost to license footage?

This depends on the license, video resolution, and a few other factors. Royalty-free footage costs about $5 to $100 per clip, on average, while exclusive footage goes for between $50 and $100 per second.

Where to buy video license

There are two most common ways to license footage these days: from a stock video website or directly from the creator.

	Stock footage websites	Direct from the creator
Selection of footage	Wide variety	Limited selection
Quality of footage	Varies	May be higher quality
Uniqueness of footage	Less unique	More unique
License options	Royalty-free, rights-managed	Custom (usually rights-managed and exclusive)
Prices	$1–$500 per video	Custom ($50–$1,000 per video)
Support for the creator	Less direct	More direct

In general, it’s better to buy from stock video websites if you need more videos because you will have more selection and lower prices, especially if you buy through video subscriptions. I choose to buy directly from the creator when I need, exclusive footage or when I need to hire a videographer to film custom footage for you.

Most popular stock video websites:

• Envato Elements
• Artlist
• Shutterstock
• Pond5
• Motion Array
• Storyblocks