Differentiate Between The 7 Creative Commons Licenses

Creative Commons (CC) is an alternative to traditional copyrights. It efficiently lets others know that you give blanket permission for your creation to be used in certain ways. But there are seven types of licenses. Which one works for you?

The best Creative Commons license for your project depends on:

• Will you credit the authors?

• Can release it with particular permissions?

• Will you use the piece as a whole or will you crop it, remix it, or use it in another derivative work?

• Will your project be released commercially?

All information in this Byte comes from the CC website.

A piece marked CC0 has been released into the public domain. You can use it without restriction.

• You do not need to credit the authors.

• You do not need to release it with particular permissions.

• You can use it in whole or in derivative works.

• You can use this in commercial works.

CC-BY requires you to attribute the original creator of the media you're going to use.

• You do need to credit the authors.

• You do not need to release it with particular permissions.

• You can use it in whole or in derivative works.

• You can use this in commercial works.

CC-BY-SA requires you to attribute the original creator of the media you're going to use. You must also distribute any work you create using the media as CC-BY-SA.

• You do need to credit the authors.

• You do need to release it with particular permissions, specifically also as a CC-BY-SA licensed piece of media.

• You can use it in whole or in derivative works.

• You can use this in commercial works.

CC-BY-NC requires you to attribute the original creator of the media you're going to use. You may not use this media in any commercial work.

• You do need to credit the authors.

• You do not need to release it with particular permissions.

• You can use it in whole or in derivative works.

• You cannot use this in commercial works.

CC-BY-NC-SA requires you to attribute the original creator of the media you're going to use. You may not use this media in any commercial work. Also, you must share your new creation with a CC-BY-NC-SA license.

• You do need to credit the authors.

• You do need to release it with particular permissions, specifically with a CC-BY-NC-SA license.

• You can use it in whole or in derivative works.

• You cannot use this in commercial works.

CC-BY-ND requires you to attribute the original creator of the media you're going to use. You may not edit this media, such as cropping an image, remixing audio, or taking a clip from a larger video file.

• You do need to credit the authors.

• You do not need to release it with particular permissions.

• You cannot useit in derivative works.

• You can use this in commercial works.

CC-BY-NC-ND requires you to attribute the original creator of the media you're going to use. You cannot use this in a commercial piece. Also, you may not edit this media, such as cropping an image, remixing audio, or taking a clip from a larger video file.

• You do need to credit the authors.

• You do not need to release it with particular permissions.

• You cannot useit in derivative works.

• You cannot use this in commercial works.

Now that you can differentiate between the different Creative Commons licenses, you'll be able to choose which licensed media fit your project best. This week, look for websites that specialize in hosting CC licensed media for others to share. Also, you can release one of your own creations with the appropriate CC license.