Can I use a motion background on a website?

Yes if its licence allows commercial use, and keep the file small: a 720p or 1080p rendition, muted, a few seconds long and looping. Hosting the clip on your own site is redistribution, which CC0, public-domain and CC BY footage allows.

Where are particle, smoke and light-leak overlays?

Open archives have few of them. The overlay and VFX specialists (ActionVFX, ProductionCrate, and the overlay sections of Pexels and Pixabay) are linked from every search instead.

Footage collections

Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops

A good background moves enough to feel alive and little enough to stay behind the words. These collections gather free abstract animations, data visualisations, seamless loops and slow-motion footage: the clips that sit under titles, lower thirds, presentation slides, stage screens and website hero sections. Many have no people or logos at all, which makes them some of the easiest footage to clear for commercial use.

Updated October 28, 2026, from a live search of 23 sites.

2 collections

Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops
Free motion backgrounds: abstract animations, particles, gradients and data-driven loops for titles, slides, stage screens and websites.
14 clips from 1 source
Free slow-motion footage: high frame rate clips
Free slow-motion stock video: water, launches, animals and motion shot at high frame rates, with the fps shown so you know how far each clip can be slowed down.
19 clips from 2 sources

What makes a usable background

Low contrast where the text goes, slow movement, and no single element that pulls the eye. A seamless loop can play for as long as a slide stays up; otherwise pick a clip longer than the time it is on screen, or ping-pong it. Darken or blur it a little in the edit so titles stay readable.

Slow motion

Slow motion is shot at a high frame rate and played back slower. A 60 fps clip can be slowed to half speed in a 30 fps edit without repeated frames; a 120 fps clip to a quarter. Check a clip's frame rate before slowing it further in the edit, or it will stutter.

Questions

Can I use a motion background on a website?: Yes if its licence allows commercial use, and keep the file small: a 720p or 1080p rendition, muted, a few seconds long and looping. Hosting the clip on your own site is redistribution, which CC0, public-domain and CC BY footage allows.
Where are particle, smoke and light-leak overlays?: Open archives have few of them. The overlay and VFX specialists (ActionVFX, ProductionCrate, and the overlay sections of Pexels and Pixabay) are linked from every search instead.

Search backgrounds and slow motion live

Each link runs a fresh search of every source for one kind of footage. Results preview on hover, show their resolution, shape and length where known, and carry a licence verdict; turn on Commercial-safe to keep only clips you can use in a commercial video.

Also known as: motion backgrounds, background loops, abstract video, slow motion footage.

2 collections