# Video Assets Server: guide for AI agents > You are reading the agent guide for https://video.shep.bot. This service searches free stock video sites at once (NASA's Image and Video Library and Scientific Visualization Studio, Wikimedia Commons and the Internet Archive directly, plus deep links into Pexels, Pixabay, Coverr, Mixkit, Europeana, the Library of Congress and paid libraries such as Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, Getty Images and Storyblocks) and returns b-roll, backgrounds, nature, cities, space, science and archive films with a poster, a preview, resolution, orientation, frame rate and length where known, and a licence verdict on commercial use. It is a free, non-commercial service and needs no account or API key. It never streams or re-hosts video: posters, previews, watch URLs and downloads point at the sources. ## When to use this Reach for Video Assets Server when the job is one of these: - **Find footage for a video**: "ocean waves at sunset", "drone shot over a city at night", "rocket launch in slow motion", "clouds timelapse", "1950s newsreel of a factory", "earth from space". One call searches every source. - **Match a format**: vertical 9:16 for Reels, TikTok and Shorts, 4K for a 1080p edit with room to crop, a minimum length to cover a shot, 60 fps for slow motion. Put it in the query ("4k vertical drone ocean 10s") or the filters. - **Cut a b-roll sequence from a shot list**: one clip per shot in the right shape, length and resolution, with an OpenTimelineIO timeline, an ffmpeg script, a Remotion clip list and the credits (`build_sequence` or `POST /v1/sequences`). - **Put files into a project**: the rendition the edit needs (not always the 4K master) into `./footage`, with `ATTRIBUTION.md` and `credits.json`. - **Check a licence before publishing**: every result says whether it can go into a commercial video, whether it is editorial-only, and gives the credit line when one is needed. - **Compare options**: show the user a few candidates (title, source, resolution, length, verdict, a link to watch) when the choice is a matter of taste. ## When not to use it - Generating new video from a prompt: this service finds existing footage; it does not create it. - Films, TV shows or music videos for watching: it is for stock footage and b-roll. - Buying stock: paid libraries are linked, and the purchase happens on their site. - Clearing footage of a specific person, brand or event for an ad: that needs releases from the people and owners involved. ## Licence rules (follow these) Every result carries `license.verdict`: | verdict | Tell the user | | --- | --- | | `yes` | Commercial use OK, no credit required (CC0, public domain). | | `yes-with-credit` | Commercial use OK **with the credit line** in `attribution` (CC BY, NASA media). | | `restricted` | Conditions (share-alike) usually rule out a normal project: read them. | | `clearance-required` | Paid stock, or footage that needs releases per use. | | `check-terms` | Unclear or unverified (no licence stated, uploader-asserted, possibly third-party footage): read the terms first. | | `no` | Non-commercial (or no-derivatives) only. | And `license.editorial`: when `true`, identifiable people, insignia or brands appear without releases. Fine for news, documentary, education and commentary; **not for ads, product promotion or anything implying endorsement**. All NASA footage and historic archive footage carry it. 1. **Search commercial-safe by default** (`commercial_only=true` on MCP, `commercial=true` on REST). Turn it off only when the user says the project is personal, educational or otherwise non-commercial. 2. **Report the verdict** of every clip you suggest or download, in plain words, and say when it is editorial. 3. **Never present a `no`, `check-terms` or editorial clip as cleared for advertising**, and never drop the warning when the user only asked for "free" footage: free to download is not the same as free to use in an ad. 4. **Pass on credit lines.** When `attribution` is present, give it to the user verbatim and add it to the project's credits (`CREDITS.md`, the video description, end credits). Local downloads and sequences collect them in `ATTRIBUTION.md`. 5. `license.assertedBy: "uploader"` means nobody verified the licence (most of the Internet Archive): say so. 6. NASA: credit NASA, never use the NASA insignia or logo, never imply NASA endorses the user, and don't write "according to NASA" about AI-generated content. Partner-credited NASA footage is `check-terms`. 7. Don't re-upload or redistribute clips as stock (in a public repo, a pack, a dataset) unless the licence is CC0 or public domain. Verdicts summarise the licence; they are not legal advice. Details: https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences.md ## Option 1: MCP (best when you can add tools) MCP endpoint (Streamable HTTP, no auth): `https://video.shep.bot/mcp`. Register it as **`video`**. - Claude Code: `claude mcp add --transport http video https://video.shep.bot/mcp` - Cursor / Windsurf / VS Code / Codex / Gemini CLI: add an HTTP MCP server named `video` with that URL. Per-client snippets: https://video.shep.bot/docs/mcp - Local (stdio, with downloads to disk): `npx -y video-assets-server mcp` Tools: - `search_videos(query, categories?, styles?, orientation?, min_resolution?, min_duration?, max_duration?, min_fps?, has_audio?, commercial_only?=true, free_only?, downloadable_only?, strict?, providers?, limit?, offset?)`: results with `id`, `title`, resolution, orientation, fps, duration, poster, preview, verdict; plus `also_search_on` deep links. - `get_video(id, height?, format?)`: licence, verdict, editorial flag, credit line, every rendition, a `watch` URL that plays in a browser, and `selection.downloadUrl` for the file closest to `height`. - `build_sequence(shots, orientation?, width?, height?, fps?, total_duration?, commercial_only?=true, alternatives?, name?)`: one pick per shot with alternatives and notes, plus `concat.sh`, an OTIO timeline, a Remotion clip list and `ATTRIBUTION.md`. Locally, `download=true` saves the clips and writes the files. - `list_sources()` - `download_video(id, dest_dir?, height?, format?)`: local (stdio) servers only; files go to `./footage//` with `ATTRIBUTION.md`. ## Option 2: REST API (works with plain HTTP, curl or a fetch tool) Base URL: `https://video.shep.bot`. Responses are JSON. 1. Search: `GET /v1/search?q=&category=&style=&orientation=&min_resolution=<720|1080|2160>&min_duration=&max_duration=&commercial=true&limit=10` → `query`, `filters` (what was parsed from the words), `results[]` (each has `id`, `title`, `provider`, `url`, `category`, `styles`, `orientation`, `width`, `height`, `fps`, `durationSec`, `hasAudio`, `year`, `posterUrl`, `previewUrl`, `license{id,name,url,verdict,editorial,note,assertedBy,attributionRequired}`, `attribution`, `downloadable`) and `providers[]` (per-source status; `status:"link"` entries carry a `searchUrl` for sites that can't be searched automatically). Query words work too: `q=4k vertical drone ocean 10s`, `q=timelapse city night 60fps`. 2. Inspect one result: `GET /v1/clips/{id}` (id like `nasa:`; URL-encode it, ids can hold `:`, spaces and slashes) → clip + `files[]` (role original/rendition/preview/poster, width, height, format, codec, size) + `watch{url,type}` (plays in a browser, from the source) + `shareUrl`. 3. Download into the project: `curl -L -o footage/.mp4 "https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/{id}/download?height=1080"` (302 to the file on the source; `height` picks the smallest file that reaches it, `format=mp4` prefers a container). `409` means no direct download: send the user to the clip's `url`. 4. Credits: `GET /v1/clips/{id}/credits` (ATTRIBUTION.md), `?format=json`, `?format=zip` (credits only, no video). 5. Sequence: `POST /v1/sequences` with `{"shots":["city skyline at night (4s)","coffee pour close-up (3s)","people walking in the rain"],"orientation":"portrait","fps":30,"totalDuration":15}` → `{plan, exports}` (`exports` holds `timeline.otio`, `concat.sh`, `remotion.json`, `ATTRIBUTION.md`, `credits.json` as text). Full OpenAPI 3.1 spec: https://video.shep.bot/openapi.json ## How to do the job well - Describe the shot, the way an editor would: "aerial forest sunrise", "busy street at night", "slow motion water splash", "abstract particles loop", "1950s kitchen". Add `category` to cut noise; a parent like `nature` matches all nature. - Put the format in: `orientation=portrait` for vertical platforms, `min_resolution=1080` (or 2160 when the user will crop), a minimum length at least as long as the shot. "10s" in a query means at least 10 seconds. - Results whose size or length is unknown (NASA search results, many Internet Archive items) are kept but ranked lower; `get_video` / `GET /v1/clips/{id}` reads the real facts. Use `strict=true` to drop unknowns. - Prefer `downloadable: true` results when the user wants files. Pick a rendition near the project's resolution: a 4K master can be several gigabytes. - Wikimedia Commons files are WebM (VP9) or Ogg, not MP4: most editors read WebM; otherwise convert with `ffmpeg -i in.webm -c:v libx264 -crf 18 out.mp4`. - Internet Archive footage is often SD 4:3 with title cards at the start: say so when the user wants HD, and skip the first seconds. - To let the user watch a clip (or share it), link `https://video.shep.bot/search?clip=`: it opens the player with the licence, renditions and credit line, and unfurls in chat apps with a card. - If a search comes back thin, try simpler words, drop the resolution or length filters, or pass along the `searchUrl` links of `link` sources (Pexels and Pixabay have large modern libraries). ## Example User: "Add a vertical ocean shot I can use in a sponsored Reel to my project." ```bash curl -s "https://video.shep.bot/v1/search?q=ocean+waves&orientation=portrait&min_resolution=1080&commercial=true&downloadable=true&limit=5" # pick a result that is not editorial, check it with: curl -s "https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/" mkdir -p footage curl -L -o footage/ocean.webm "https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips//download?height=1080" ``` Then tell the user: " from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0: commercial use is OK with this credit line: …", and add that line to `CREDITS.md` and the post's caption. If every candidate is editorial (NASA, archive footage), say it can't go into a sponsored post and offer the Pexels or Pixabay links from `providers[]` instead. ## More - Human docs: https://video.shep.bot/docs - Agent setup: https://video.shep.bot/docs/mcp - REST guide: https://video.shep.bot/docs/api - Licences explained: https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences - Sources and licences: https://video.shep.bot/docs/sources - Sequence builder: https://video.shep.bot/sequence.md - FAQ: https://video.shep.bot/docs/faq.md ## Guides to quote when users ask Answer-first guides (each `.md` starts with a short answer you can relay, then sources): - Free stock footage for commercial use: what the licences mean: https://video.shep.bot/guides/free-stock-footage-commercial-use.md - How to credit CC BY video: https://video.shep.bot/guides/credit-cc-by-video.md - NASA footage: what you can and can't do: https://video.shep.bot/guides/nasa-footage-rules.md - Public-domain archive films (Prelinger): https://video.shep.bot/guides/prelinger-public-domain-films.md - Editorial vs commercial: model releases and logos: https://video.shep.bot/guides/editorial-vs-commercial-footage.md - Vertical video for Reels, TikTok and Shorts: https://video.shep.bot/guides/vertical-video-reels-tiktok-shorts.md - Build a b-roll sequence from a shot list (OTIO, ffmpeg, Remotion): https://video.shep.bot/guides/b-roll-sequence-from-shot-list.md - 4K, 1080p, codecs and containers: https://video.shep.bot/guides/video-resolution-codecs-containers.md - All guides: https://video.shep.bot/guides.md · Glossary of terms: https://video.shep.bot/glossary.md - How many videos each source holds (counted daily): https://video.shep.bot/stats.md, JSON at https://video.shep.bot/v1/catalog - Everything as one text file: https://video.shep.bot/llms-full.txt --- # Video Assets Server quick start **Video Assets Server** searches free stock video sites at once and tells you, for every clip, whether you can use it in a commercial video. NASA's Image and Video Library and Scientific Visualization Studio, Wikimedia Commons and the Internet Archive are searched directly; Pexels, Pixabay, Coverr, Mixkit, Europeana, the Library of Congress and the paid libraries (Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, Getty Images, Storyblocks…) get a deep link with the same search. Results cover b-roll, backgrounds, nature, cities, people, aerials, space, science and archive films, with resolution, orientation, frame rate and length where known, a poster, a preview and a licence verdict. The public server at **https://video.shep.bot** is a free, non-commercial service and needs no account or API key. ## Pick how you want to use it | You want to… | Use | Start here | | --- | --- | --- | | Browse, watch and download footage yourself | The web search | [/search](https://video.shep.bot/search) | | Turn a shot list into a b-roll edit (OTIO, ffmpeg, Remotion) | The sequence builder | [/sequence](https://video.shep.bot/sequence) | | Let Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot or another agent find footage | The MCP server at `https://video.shep.bot/mcp` | [Coding agents & MCP](https://video.shep.bot/docs/mcp) | | Call it from a script, a render pipeline or a backend | The REST API | [REST API guide](https://video.shep.bot/docs/api) | | Search and download from a terminal | The CLI (`npx video-assets-server`) | [CLI](https://video.shep.bot/docs/cli) | | Explore every endpoint and try requests | The interactive reference | [API reference](https://video.shep.bot/docs/api/reference) | ## Connect your agent (30 seconds) For **Claude Code**, run this once: ```bash claude mcp add --transport http video https://video.shep.bot/mcp ``` Then ask for what you need: ```text Find three 4K clips of ocean waves at sunset that I can use in a client ad. Tell me their licences and the credit lines I need. ``` Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI and the Claude apps take the same URL. See [Coding agents & MCP](https://video.shep.bot/docs/mcp) for each one. ## Or call the API ```bash # Vertical ocean clips, at least 1080p, cleared for commercial use curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/search?q=ocean+waves&orientation=portrait&min_resolution=1080&commercial=true&limit=5" # Details, renditions, the credit line and a watch URL for one result curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/nasa%3AGSFC_20161212_Tidal_m12450_Magnetic" # Download the 1080p rendition (a redirect to the file on NASA's servers) curl -L -o tides.mp4 "https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/nasa%3AGSFC_20161212_Tidal_m12450_Magnetic/download?height=1080" ``` ## What a search returns Every search returns three things: - **`results`**: clips merged from all sources and ranked by how well they match. Each has an `id` like `nasa:<nasa-id>`, a `category` (`nature.ocean`, `space.launch`, `archive.newsreel`…), `styles` (`timelapse`, `slow-motion`…), `orientation`, `width`, `height`, `fps`, `durationSec` and `year` when known, a `posterUrl` and a `previewUrl` that play in a browser straight from the source, a `license` with a `verdict` and an `editorial` flag, an `attribution` line when credit is required, and `downloadable`. - **`filters`**: what the server understood. Words like "4k", "vertical", "10s", "60fps" or "timelapse" in the query become filters. - **`providers`**: one status line per source (`ok`, `error`, `timeout`, `skipped` or `link`). Sites that can't be searched automatically come back as `link` with a `searchUrl` that runs the same search on their site. A slow or broken source never fails the search. ## No video through the server Video Assets Server never streams, proxies or re-hosts video. It searches the sources, reads their metadata, decides a licence verdict and writes credit files. Everything that moves pictures comes straight from the source's servers: - **Posters and previews** in the search grid load from the source's CDN (`images-assets.nasa.gov`, `upload.wikimedia.org`, `archive.org`, `svs.gsfc.nasa.gov`). - **The player** in a clip's detail view plays the source's file (the `watch` URL from `GET /v1/clips/{id}`). - **Downloads** (`/v1/clips/{id}/download`) answer `302` with the file's URL on the source. - **Sequences** (`POST /v1/sequences`) return OTIO, ffmpeg and Remotion files whose media URLs point at the sources. So the server stays small and cheap, the sources see real viewers, and nothing is redistributed. ## Licences, in one line each - **Commercial use OK** (`yes`): use it, no credit needed. - **Commercial use OK with credit** (`yes-with-credit`): use it and credit the source with the `attribution` line. - **Restricted**, **Needs a paid licence or releases**, **Unclear** (`restricted`, `clearance-required`, `check-terms`): read the terms first. - **Non-commercial only** (`no`): study and personal projects, not ads or client work. - **Editorial** (`license.editorial: true`): people, insignia or brands without releases. News and documentary yes, advertising no. `commercial=true` keeps only the first two verdicts. The full explanation is in [Video licences explained](https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences). ## For AI agents reading this Machine-readable entry points: - [/AGENTS.md](https://video.shep.bot/AGENTS.md): how to use this service as an agent, including the licence rules - [/llms.txt](https://video.shep.bot/llms.txt) and [/llms-full.txt](https://video.shep.bot/llms-full.txt): site index and full docs as plain text - [/openapi.json](https://video.shep.bot/openapi.json): OpenAPI 3.1 description of the REST API --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/docs --- # Video Assets Server MCP server for AI agents Video Assets Server is a [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) server. Connect it once and your agent can search every video source, check licences, pick the right rendition and cut b-roll sequences while it works on your video, site or app. **MCP endpoint:** `https://video.shep.bot/mcp` (Streamable HTTP, no authentication). Register it under the name **`video`**. ## Claude Code ```bash claude mcp add --transport http video https://video.shep.bot/mcp ``` Add `--scope user` to make it available in every project, or `--scope project` to share it with your team through `.mcp.json`. Check it with `claude mcp list`, or `/mcp` inside a session. ## Cursor Add this to `.cursor/mcp.json` in your project, or to `~/.cursor/mcp.json` for every project (the [home page](https://video.shep.bot/#agents) has a one-click "Add to Cursor" button): ```json { "mcpServers": { "video": { "url": "https://video.shep.bot/mcp" } } } ``` ## VS Code (GitHub Copilot) Add to `.vscode/mcp.json`, then use Copilot Chat in **Agent** mode: ```json { "servers": { "video": { "type": "http", "url": "https://video.shep.bot/mcp" } } } ``` Or from a terminal: `code --add-mcp '{"name":"video","type":"http","url":"https://video.shep.bot/mcp"}'` ## Claude desktop app and claude.ai Open **Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector**, name it *Video Assets Server* and paste `https://video.shep.bot/mcp`. ## Windsurf Add to `~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json`: ```json { "mcpServers": { "video": { "serverUrl": "https://video.shep.bot/mcp" } } } ``` ## OpenAI Codex CLI Add to `~/.codex/config.toml`: ```toml [mcp_servers.video] url = "https://video.shep.bot/mcp" ``` ## Gemini CLI ```bash gemini mcp add --transport http video https://video.shep.bot/mcp ``` ## Any other client Clients that only support stdio servers can bridge to the HTTP endpoint with [`mcp-remote`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/mcp-remote): ```json { "mcpServers": { "video": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://video.shep.bot/mcp"] } } } ``` ## Tools your agent gets | Tool | What it does | | --- | --- | | `search_videos` | Search every source. Arguments: `query` (editor words work: "ocean waves at sunset", "4k vertical drone city 10s", "timelapse city night 60fps"), `categories` (e.g. `nature.ocean`, `aerial`, `space.launch`, `background.abstract`, `archive.newsreel`), `styles` (`timelapse`, `slow-motion`, `loop`, `animation`, `visualization`, `black-white`), `orientation`, `min_resolution` (720, 1080, 1440, 2160), `min_duration`, `max_duration`, `min_fps`, `has_audio`, `commercial_only` (default **true**), `free_only`, `downloadable_only`, `strict`, `providers`, `limit`, `offset`. Also returns `also_search_on`: deep links into the stock sites that can't be searched automatically. | | `get_video` | Details for one `id`: licence, verdict, editorial flag and credit line, every rendition (size, container, codec), a `watch` URL that plays in a browser straight from the source, and `selection.downloadUrl` for the file closest to `height` (and `format`). | | `build_sequence` | Turns a shot list (a list, or text with one shot per line and "(3s)" lengths) into a b-roll sequence: one clip per shot matching `orientation` (or `width`/`height`), `fps` and `total_duration`, commercial-safe by default, with alternatives, plus `timeline.otio`, an ffmpeg `concat.sh`, a Remotion clip list and `ATTRIBUTION.md`. | | `list_sources` | Every source with what it is best for, categories, pricing, licence and whether it is searched or linked. | | `download_video` | **Local servers only**: writes the chosen rendition into `./footage/<category>/` and keeps `ATTRIBUTION.md` and `credits.json` up to date. | The hosted server never writes to its own disk, so agents with a shell download through the links it returns (the download URL redirects to the file on the source): ```bash mkdir -p footage curl -L -o footage/launch.mp4 "https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/<id>/download?height=1080" ``` ## Licence rules the agent follows Stock footage licences have traps, so the server tells every agent the same rules, and you can expect them to be followed: - Searches are **commercial-safe by default** (`commercial_only=true`). The agent turns that off only when you say the project is personal, educational or non-commercial. - It **reports the verdict** of every clip it suggests, and never presents a `no` (non-commercial), `check-terms` (unclear) or **editorial** clip as cleared for advertising. - `license.editorial: true` means people, insignia or brands appear without releases: fine for news, documentary and education, not for ads or anything that implies endorsement. All NASA footage carries it. - When a clip needs credit (`yes-with-credit`), it gives you the exact `attribution` line; local downloads and sequences collect them in `ATTRIBUTION.md`. - Uploader-asserted licences (most of the Internet Archive) are flagged as unverified. Details: [Video licences explained](https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences). ## Prompts that work well ```text Find three 4K clips of ocean waves at sunset for a client ad. Commercial-safe only, no editorial clips. Show me each one's licence and credit line first. ``` ```text Build a 30-second vertical b-roll sequence for an Instagram Reel: city skyline at night (4s), coffee pour close-up (3s), people walking in the rain, clouds timelapse. Give me the ffmpeg script and ATTRIBUTION.md. ``` ```text I'm making a documentary about the space race. Find 1960s rocket launch footage and archive newsreels, and tell me which ones are public domain. ``` Tips for agents and the people prompting them: - Describe the shot, not the file: "drone shot over a forest at sunrise", "slow motion rocket engine", "abstract particles loop". - Put the format in the words or the filters: "vertical", "4k", "at least 10 seconds", "60fps". - Results with `downloadable: false` must be fetched from their `url` on the source site. Internet Archive results have no preview until `get_video` reads their file list. ## Local mode: downloads straight to disk For `download_video` and sequence downloads into your project, run the server locally over stdio: ```bash claude mcp add video-local -- npx -y video-assets-server mcp ``` Or with Docker, mounting your footage folder: ```bash claude mcp add video-local -- docker run -i --rm \ --user "$(id -u):$(id -g)" -v "$PWD/footage:/app/footage" \ ghcr.io/arielshad/video-assets-server node dist/cli.js mcp ``` Files land in `./footage/<category>/` (set `VIDEO_DOWNLOAD_DIR` to change it), with `ATTRIBUTION.md` and `credits.json` next to them. `build_sequence` with `download=true` saves the picks into `./footage/sequences/<name>/footage/` and writes the exports next to them, pointing at the local files. No source needs an API key. ## Agents without MCP Any agent that can fetch URLs can use the REST API directly. Point it at [/AGENTS.md](https://video.shep.bot/AGENTS.md); it has the whole workflow and the licence rules in a few lines. In Claude Code you can also install the ready-made skill: ```bash mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/video curl -fsSL https://video.shep.bot/skill/SKILL.md -o ~/.claude/skills/video/SKILL.md ``` --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/docs/mcp --- # Video Assets Server REST API guide A small JSON API over HTTPS. No key is needed on `https://video.shep.bot`. Every endpoint is described in the [OpenAPI 3.1 spec](https://video.shep.bot/openapi.json), which you can explore and try in the [interactive reference](https://video.shep.bot/docs/api/reference). **Base URL:** `https://video.shep.bot` ## The flow 1. `GET /v1/search`: find candidates across every source. 2. `GET /v1/clips/{id}`: read the licence verdict, credit line, video facts, renditions and the `watch` URL of one result. 3. `GET /v1/clips/{id}/download?height=1080`: a `302` to the file on the source. Plus `GET /v1/clips/{id}/credits` for ATTRIBUTION.md, and `POST /v1/sequences` to plan a whole b-roll edit in one call. No video passes through this server: posters, previews, `watch` URLs and downloads all point at the source's own servers. ## Search ```bash curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/search?q=ocean+waves&orientation=portrait&min_resolution=1080&commercial=true&limit=10" ``` | Parameter | Description | | --- | --- | | `q` | Free text, written like an editor would: `ocean waves at sunset`, `drone city skyline night`, `rocket launch slow motion`. Resolution (`4k`, `1080p`), orientation (`vertical`, `9:16`, `square`), length (`10s`, `under 30 seconds`, `1-2 min`), frame rate (`60fps`) and style (`timelapse`) words become filters. A single length like `10s` means at least 10 seconds. May be empty when `category` is set (browse). | | `category` | Comma-separated dot-path categories. A parent matches its children: `nature` matches `nature.ocean` and `nature.sky`. See the `Category` schema for the full list (nature.ocean, nature.sky, city.skyline, aerial, space.earth, space.launch, science, background.abstract, overlay.light, greenscreen, archive.newsreel…). | | `style` | Comma-separated: `timelapse`, `slow-motion`, `loop`, `animation`, `visualization`, `black-white`. Ranked first; filtered only with `strict=true`, because sources rarely tag them. | | `orientation` | `landscape`, `portrait` or `square` (comma-separated for several). | | `min_resolution` | Minimum short side in pixels: `720`, `1080`, `1440`, `2160` (or `hd`, `fhd`, `4k`). A vertical 1080×1920 clip counts as 1080. | | `min_duration`, `max_duration` | Length in seconds. | | `min_fps` | Minimum frame rate, e.g. `50` for slow-motion headroom. | | `audio` | `true` or `false`: only clips with or without a sound track. | | `commercial` | `true`: only clips whose licence allows commercial use (verdict `yes` or `yes-with-credit`). Editorial-only clips can still appear: check `license.editorial`. | | `free` | `true`: exclude paid clips. | | `downloadable` | `true`: only clips with direct file links. | | `strict` | `true`: drop clips whose orientation, resolution, length, fps or audio is unknown when you filter on it (by default they are kept, ranked lower). | | `providers` | Comma-separated source ids from `/v1/providers`, e.g. `nasa,wikimediacommons`. | | `limit` | Max results, 1–100 (default 24). | | `offset` | Per-source offset for the next page (e.g. `24`). | The response (shortened): ```json { "query": "ocean waves", "filters": { "orientations": ["portrait"], "minResolution": 1080, "commercialOnly": true }, "results": [ { "id": "nasa:GSFC_20161212_Tidal_m12450_Magnetic", "provider": "nasa", "title": "Ocean Tides and Magnetic Fields", "url": "https://images.nasa.gov/details/GSFC_20161212_Tidal_m12450_Magnetic", "category": "nature.ocean", "orientation": "landscape", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "fps": 29.97, "durationSec": 53, "hasAudio": true, "year": 2016, "posterUrl": "https://images-assets.nasa.gov/video/…/…~large.jpg", "previewUrl": "https://images-assets.nasa.gov/video/…/…~preview.mp4", "previewType": "video/mp4", "license": { "id": "LicenseRef-NASA-Media", "name": "NASA media (public domain in the US)", "attributionRequired": true, "editorial": true, "assertedBy": "source", "verdict": "yes-with-credit", "note": "Generally not copyrighted in the US; credit NASA. Do not imply NASA endorses you…" }, "attribution": "“Ocean Tides and Magnetic Fields” by NASA GSFC (…) (NASA Image and Video Library), https://images.nasa.gov/details/…", "downloadable": true } ], "providers": [ { "provider": "nasa", "name": "NASA Image and Video Library", "status": "ok", "count": 6, "tookMs": 412 }, { "provider": "pexels", "name": "Pexels", "status": "link", "count": 0, "searchUrl": "https://www.pexels.com/search/videos/ocean%20waves/" } ] } ``` `posterUrl` and `previewUrl` are meant for `<img>` and `<video>` tags in a browser: they load straight from the source. Some results have no `previewUrl` (Internet Archive search results, until their file list is read) or no `posterUrl` (some NASA visualisation pages). ## Licence verdicts Every `license` has a `verdict` that answers one question: can this go into a commercial video (an ad, a monetised channel, a client project)? | `verdict` | Meaning | | --- | --- | | `yes` | Commercial use OK, no credit required (CC0, public domain). | | `yes-with-credit` | Commercial use OK with a credit line: use `attribution` (CC BY, NASA media). | | `restricted` | Conditions that usually rule out a normal project (share-alike). | | `clearance-required` | Paid stock, or footage that needs releases per use. | | `check-terms` | Unclear: no licence stated, uploader-asserted, or possibly third-party footage. | | `no` | Non-commercial or no-derivatives only. | `license.editorial: true` means people, insignia or brands appear without releases: fine for news, documentary and education, not for advertising. `license.assertedBy` says who stated the licence: `source` (the site records it per item), `site` (one licence for the whole site) or `uploader` (an unverified claim; such licences are never better than `check-terms`). More in [Video licences explained](https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences). ## Clip details ```bash curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/nasa%3AGSFC_20161212_Tidal_m12450_Magnetic" ``` Ids contain `:` and sometimes spaces or slashes: URL-encode them. Returns the clip plus: - `files[]`: every file the source offers, each with `url`, `filename`, `format` (`mp4`, `webm`, `ogv`, `mov`, `jpg`…), `mime`, `role` (`original`, `rendition`, `preview`, `poster`, `captions`), `width`, `height`, `fps`, `codec` and `sizeBytes` when known. - `watch`: `{ url, type, width, height }`, the file a browser should play (a browser-playable container close to 720p). Put it in a `<video>` tag; it streams from the source. - `shareUrl`: a link that opens the clip on the website (`/search?clip=<id>`), which unfurls with its own preview card. ## Choose files ```bash curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/<id>/files?height=1080&format=mp4" ``` The file a download would pick: with `height`, the smallest file whose short side reaches it (a 1080p rendition rather than a 4K master), else the biggest below it; `format` prefers a container, `role` a kind of file. Returns `totalBytes`, the licence and the credit line. `all=true` returns every file. ## Download ```bash curl -L -o clip.mp4 "https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/<id>/download?height=1080" ``` Always a `302` redirect to the chosen file on the source's CDN (so use `-L`), with `X-License` and `X-Attribution` headers. The same `height`, `format` and `role` parameters as `/files` choose the file. Clips without direct files answer `409` with the clip's `url`. ## Credits ```bash curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/<id>/credits" # ATTRIBUTION.md curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/<id>/credits?format=json" # credits.json curl -o credits.zip "https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/<id>/credits?format=zip" ``` The zip holds `ATTRIBUTION.md` and `credits.json` only, never the video. ## Plan a sequence ```bash curl -X POST "https://video.shep.bot/v1/sequences" -H "content-type: application/json" \ -d '{"shots":["city skyline at night (4s)","coffee pour close-up (3s)","people walking in the rain"],"orientation":"portrait","fps":30,"totalDuration":15,"name":"promo"}' ``` `shots` is a list, or text with one shot per line ("(3s)" at the end sets a shot's length; the others share `totalDuration`, or get 4 s each). Optional: `orientation` or `width`/`height`, `fps` (default 30), `commercialOnly` (default `true`), `providers`, `alternatives` (0–5, default 3), `name`. Up to 24 shots. The response is `{ plan, exports }`. `plan.shots[]` has, per shot, `index`, `description`, `durationSec`, `inSec` (the in-point; long archive films skip their opening), `clip`, `file` (the rendition the exports use), `alternatives` and a `note` when the pick is shorter, smaller or a different shape. `plan.commercialSafe` is true when every pick is `yes` or `yes-with-credit`. `exports` holds the text of `timeline.otio`, `concat.sh`, `remotion.json`, `ATTRIBUTION.md` and `credits.json`. The [sequence builder](https://video.shep.bot/sequence) is a page on top of this endpoint. ## List sources ```bash curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/providers" ``` ## Usage statistics and source health ```bash curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/stats" ``` Aggregate usage (searches by surface, clip views, downloads, MCP tool calls, top clients and categories) for the last 24 hours and 7 days, plus each source's success rate and p50/p95 latency. The same data is on the [statistics](https://video.shep.bot/stats) page. `GET /v1/catalog` returns the daily count of what each source holds. ## Examples ### JavaScript / TypeScript ```ts const base = "https://video.shep.bot"; const res = await fetch(`${base}/v1/search?` + new URLSearchParams({ q: "clouds timelapse", min_resolution: "1080", commercial: "true" })); const { results } = await res.json(); const pick = results.find((c) => c.downloadable && !c.license?.editorial); console.log(pick.title, pick.license.verdict, pick.attribution ?? "no credit needed"); // Play it in the page, straight from the source const details = await (await fetch(`${base}/v1/clips/${encodeURIComponent(pick.id)}`)).json(); const video = Object.assign(document.createElement("video"), { src: details.watch.url, poster: pick.posterUrl, controls: true, playsInline: true }); document.body.append(video); ``` ### Python ```python import requests base = "https://video.shep.bot" r = requests.get(f"{base}/v1/search", params={"q": "rocket launch", "min_resolution": "1080", "commercial": "true"}) clip = next(c for c in r.json()["results"] if c["downloadable"]) # The download endpoint redirects to the file on the source; requests follows it. with requests.get(f"{base}/v1/clips/{requests.utils.quote(clip['id'], safe='')}/download", params={"height": 1080}, stream=True) as dl: dl.raise_for_status() with open("launch.mp4", "wb") as f: for chunk in dl.iter_content(1 << 20): f.write(chunk) print(clip.get("attribution", "no credit needed")) ``` ### ffmpeg ```bash # A 5-second cut from the 1080p rendition, read straight from the source (ffmpeg follows the redirect) ffmpeg -ss 2 -i "https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/<id>/download?height=1080" -t 5 -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -an cut.mp4 ``` ## Errors Errors are JSON: `{ "error": "message" }`. | Status | Meaning | | --- | --- | | `400` | Bad parameter (e.g. an unknown category or an unreadable `min_resolution`) or unknown source id. | | `401` | API key required (self-hosted servers with `VIDEO_SERVER_API_KEY` only). | | `404` | Unknown clip, or no file matches the height/format/role. | | `409` | The source has no direct downloads for this clip; use the returned `url`. | | `429` | Rate limit exceeded; wait `Retry-After` seconds. | | `502` | The source site failed. | ## Authentication (self-hosted) The public server is open. If you run your own with `VIDEO_SERVER_API_KEY`, send the key as `Authorization: Bearer <key>` or `x-api-key: <key>`. Keys are accepted in headers only, never as a URL parameter, so they stay out of logs, browser history and `Referer` headers. ## Rate limits and versioning The public server allows 120 requests per minute per client. Every response carries `RateLimit-Policy` and `RateLimit` headers (plus `RateLimit-Limit`, `RateLimit-Remaining` and `RateLimit-Reset`); going over returns `429` with `Retry-After`. The API is versioned in the path (`/v1`), only grows additively within a version, and announces deprecations with `Deprecation` and `Sunset` headers at least 90 days ahead. Details: [Versioning, deprecation & rate limits](https://video.shep.bot/docs/api/versioning). ## Fair use Cache results on your side for repeated queries, keep requests to a human pace, and respect each clip's licence and each source's terms. Don't use the API to mirror a source's catalogue. The server already caches source responses for a few minutes and deduplicates identical in-flight requests. Video Assets Server is a free, non-commercial service and does not re-host or resell video. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/docs/api --- # Video licences explained Every clip Video Assets Server returns carries a **licence**, a **verdict** that answers "can this go into a commercial video?", and an **editorial** flag when people, insignia or brands appear without releases. This page explains the licences you will meet, how the verdict is decided, and what to do with each. It is practical guidance, not legal advice. "Commercial video" here means anything that earns money or promotes something: an ad, a sponsored or monetised video, a client project, a product demo, a paid course. ## The verdicts | Verdict | API value | What you can do | | --- | --- | --- | | Commercial use OK | `yes` | Use it in any video, including ads and client work. No credit needed. | | Commercial use OK with credit | `yes-with-credit` | Same, as long as you credit the source with the `attribution` line. | | Restricted: read the conditions | `restricted` | Allowed only under conditions that rule out most projects (share-alike). | | Needs a paid licence or releases | `clearance-required` | Paid stock: license it per use or by subscription before publishing. | | Unclear: check the terms | `check-terms` | Nobody verified the licence, or a third party may own the footage. | | Non-commercial only | `no` | Study and personal projects only. | The **Commercial-safe** switch (`commercial=true` in the API, `commercial_only` in MCP, on by default for agents) keeps only the first two. ## The editorial flag A licence covers the copyright in the footage. It does not cover the **people** in it, the **brands and logos** in frame, or an organisation's **insignia**. When those appear without model or property releases, footage is fine for editorial use (news, documentary, education, commentary) but not for advertising, product promotion or anything that implies endorsement. `license.editorial: true` marks such clips. It is set for all **NASA** footage (NASA forbids implying endorsement and using its insignia, and asks for permission before identifiable astronauts or staff appear in ads) and for **historic and archive footage**, which shows people and brands who never signed a release. A clip can be `yes-with-credit` and editorial at the same time: use it freely in a documentary, but keep it out of an ad. ## Licences you will meet ### Public domain and CC0 **Public domain** footage has no copyright owner: the copyright expired, was never claimed, or the work was made by a US federal agency, whose works are not copyrighted in the US. **CC0** is a creator's dedication of their work to the public domain. Both are `yes`: use, edit and publish freely, no credit required. Crediting the source is still good practice, and publicity, trademark and privacy rights can still apply to what is in frame. ### NASA media NASA's images and video are generally not copyrighted in the US. NASA asks you to credit it, not to use the NASA insignia or logotype, not to imply endorsement, and to get permission before using identifiable astronauts or staff in advertising. NASA clips are therefore `yes-with-credit` and editorial. Some NASA-hosted footage belongs to a partner (a launch company, a university, another agency) named in the credit line; those clips are `check-terms`. NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio visualisations show data, not people, so they are not flagged editorial. [NASA's media usage guidelines](https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/). ### CC BY (Attribution) Use it for anything, including commercial work, if you credit it: title, author, source and licence, with links, and a note that you edited it. The `attribution` field and [ATTRIBUTION.md](https://video.shep.bot/docs/api#credits) give you that line. Verdict `yes-with-credit`. [How to credit CC BY video](https://video.shep.bot/guides/credit-cc-by-video). ### CC BY-SA (ShareAlike) Like CC BY, but a video that includes the clip must itself be released under CC BY-SA. That works for a Wikipedia explainer, not for a client ad or a broadcast. Verdict `restricted`. ### CC BY-NC and CC BY-ND **NC** (NonCommercial) rules out commercial use. **ND** (NoDerivatives) forbids sharing adapted versions, and trimming, cropping or grading a clip inside your own edit generally counts as adapting it. Both get `no`. Open archives rarely carry them because this server only searches the Internet Archive for CC0, public-domain and CC BY(-SA) items. ### Uploader-asserted licences On the Internet Archive anyone can upload a film and pick its licence, and the Archive does not check that choice. Some modern films carry a public-domain mark they should not. These licences are recorded with `assertedBy: "uploader"` and capped at `check-terms`. The **Prelinger Archives** are the exception: the collection's own curators state that its films are public domain. [Public-domain archive films](https://video.shep.bot/guides/prelinger-public-domain-films). ### Free stock site licences (Pexels, Pixabay, Coverr, Mixkit) These sites use their own licences: free commercial use without credit, but no reselling or redistributing the clips as they are, and rules about identifiable people. They are linked, not searched, so open the clip on the site and read its licence there. ### Paid stock (Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, Getty Images, Storyblocks, Pond5…) Footage you license per clip or by subscription. Linked searches show where to look; the purchase and the licence happen on their site. Verdict `clearance-required`. ## How a verdict is decided 1. **Read the licence the source states** for that clip (Wikimedia Commons and NASA record it per file; the Internet Archive per item). 2. **Map it to a known licence**: CC0, public domain, CC BY / BY-SA / BY-NC / BY-ND in any version, NASA media, US government work, or the site's own licence. 3. **Apply one table for every source**: CC0 and public domain → `yes`; CC BY and NASA → `yes-with-credit`; SA → `restricted`; NC or ND → `no`; paid → `clearance-required`; nothing stated → `check-terms`. 4. **Cap unverified claims**: a licence asserted by an anonymous uploader is never better than `check-terms`. 5. **Flag editorial footage**: NASA media and historic footage get `editorial: true`. Each `license` object carries `id` (SPDX where one exists), `name`, `url`, `attributionRequired`, `shareAlike`, `redistribution`, `editorial`, `assertedBy`, `verdict` and a one-line `note`. ## Before you publish - Keep the credit lines: `GET /v1/clips/{id}/credits` gives ATTRIBUTION.md, and the sequence builder writes one for the whole edit. - Check the clip's own page for anything unusual (a partner credit, a "courtesy of" line, a takedown notice). - Keep editorial footage out of ads and endorsements, and get releases for recognisable people and private property you feature. - Don't re-upload the clips themselves as stock footage unless their licence allows it; free stock site licences such as Pexels' and Pixabay's forbid it. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences --- # Frequently asked questions > Short answers about Video Assets Server: what it searches, licence verdicts, credits, downloads, rate limits, AI agents and self-hosting. ## About Video Assets Server ### What is Video Assets Server? Video Assets Server is a free search engine and API for stock video. One query searches 23 sites: NASA Image and Video Library, NASA Scientific Visualization Studio, Wikimedia Commons, Internet Archive directly, plus deep links into Pexels, Pixabay, Coverr, Mixkit, Freepik videos (Videvo), Vecteezy, Videezy, Europeana and other stock sites. Results show a poster, a playable preview, resolution, orientation, length and a licence verdict. It works in the browser, over a REST API, from a CLI, and as an MCP server for AI agents. ### Can I use these clips in a commercial video? It depends on each clip's licence, which is why every result carries a verdict. Green means commercial use is fine (CC0, public domain), or fine with a credit line (CC BY, NASA media). Amber means read the conditions first: share-alike, uploader-asserted licences, third-party footage or paid stock. Red means non-commercial only. A separate editorial flag marks footage with people, insignia or brands that have no releases: fine for news and documentary, not for ads. Turn on Commercial-safe to see only green results. ### Does the video stream through this server? No. Posters, hover previews and the player in the detail view load straight from the source's CDN (NASA, Wikimedia, the Internet Archive). Downloads are a redirect to the file on the source. The server only searches, reads metadata and writes credit files, so no video bytes pass through it and nothing is re-hosted. ### Why do some results open on Pexels, Pixabay or Shutterstock instead? Those sites either need an API key, forbid aggregators in their terms, or sell their footage. Rather than scrape them, every search returns a link that runs the same query on their site (Pexels, Pixabay, Coverr, Mixkit, Freepik videos (Videvo), Vecteezy, Videezy, Europeana…), so you still see where else to look. ### Is it free? Yes: no account, no API key, no ads and no paid tier. It is open source (Apache-2.0), so you can also run your own copy with Docker or npx. Paid stock libraries show up only as links to their own search; any purchase happens on their site. ### How do I connect Claude Code, Cursor or another AI agent? Add the MCP server URL https://video.shep.bot/mcp. In Claude Code run: claude mcp add --transport http video https://video.shep.bot/mcp. Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Codex CLI and Gemini CLI take the same URL. The agent gets search_videos, get_video, build_sequence and list_sources, searches commercial-safe by default, and is told never to present a non-commercial, unclear or editorial-only clip as cleared for ads. ## Searching ### What can I type in the search box? Describe the shot the way an editor would: 'ocean waves at sunset', 'drone city skyline night', 'rocket launch slow motion', '1950s newsreel factory'. Resolution ('4k', '1080p'), orientation ('vertical', '9:16', 'square'), length ('10s', 'under 30 seconds') and frame rate ('60fps') are read out of the query and become filters, shown as chips under the search box. ### What does a length like '10s' do? A single length means 'at least that long', so the clip can cover a shot of that length. Use a range ('5-15s') or the duration filter for a maximum. ### Why do some clips have no resolution or length? Some sources only report frame size and duration on the clip's own page. Such clips stay in the results, ranked below clips that are known to match. Opening a clip reads its full details; the API's strict=true drops unknowns when you filter on them. ### Why is there no hover preview on some cards? Internet Archive search results carry no playable file until the item's file list is read, and some NASA visualisation pages publish no poster. Those cards show a placeholder; open the clip to load its player and files. ### Does it find vertical video for Reels, TikTok and Shorts? Yes. Set Orientation to Vertical, or type 'vertical' or '9:16'. Some NASA visualisations come in vertical cuts. For landscape-only footage, the sequence builder and its ffmpeg script crop to 9:16 for you, and say so in the shot notes. ## Licences ### What does 'editorial' mean on a clip? Identifiable people, logos, insignia or brands appear without model or property releases. The footage can be fine to use in news, documentary and education, but not in advertising or anything that suggests endorsement. All NASA footage is flagged this way because NASA forbids implying endorsement and using its insignia, and historic newsreels often show people who never signed a release. ### Is NASA footage public domain? NASA media is generally not copyrighted in the US. NASA asks for credit, forbids using its insignia or implying endorsement, and requires permission for identifiable astronauts or staff in ads. Some items are copyrighted by a partner such as a launch company; those carry an 'Unclear: check the terms' verdict. ### Can I trust public-domain marks on the Internet Archive? Not blindly. Licences on Internet Archive items are set by whoever uploaded them, and some modern films carry a false public-domain mark. Uploader-asserted licences are therefore capped at 'Unclear: check the terms'. The Prelinger Archives are the exception: the archive that holds those films states their status. ### What is the difference between CC BY and CC BY-SA for video? CC BY lets you use the clip commercially with a credit line. CC BY-SA adds share-alike: a video that includes the clip must itself be released under the same CC licence, which rules out most client and broadcast work, so it is marked Restricted. ### Is the verdict legal advice? No. It is a consistent reading of the licence the source states, decided the same way for every clip. Check the source page for anything unusual, and remember that trademark, privacy and publicity rights can apply even to public-domain footage. ## Downloads and credits ### Which file should I download? The detail view lists every rendition the source offers (original master, transcodes, previews) with frame size, container, codec and file size. For a 1080p edit, take the smallest file at or above 1080p; the 4K master is often several gigabytes. The API's download endpoint does this with ?height=1080. ### Why are Wikimedia Commons files WebM instead of MP4? Commons stores video in open formats (WebM, Ogg Theora) and transcodes to VP9 WebM. Every modern browser and editor such as DaVinci Resolve reads WebM; if yours doesn't, convert with ffmpeg: ffmpeg -i clip.webm -c:v libx264 -crf 18 clip.mp4. ### Where do I get the credit line? Every clip that needs one shows a ready-to-paste credit line with a Copy button, and the API returns it as `attribution`. /v1/clips/{id}/credits gives ATTRIBUTION.md, credits.json, or both in a zip, and the sequence builder writes one ATTRIBUTION.md for the whole edit. ## API, agents and self-hosting ### Is there a rate limit? The public server allows 120 requests per minute per client on /v1 and /mcp, with RateLimit headers on every response and 429 plus Retry-After beyond that. A search fans out to every source, so cache results you reuse. ### Can the MCP server download video to my disk? Not the hosted one: it never writes to its own disk, so it returns download links instead (agents with a shell fetch them with curl -L). Run it locally with npx -y video-assets-server mcp to get download_video and build_sequence with download=true, which save clips into ./footage with ATTRIBUTION.md. ### Can I run my own copy? Yes. docker run -p 8787:8787 ghcr.io/arielshad/video-assets-server starts the website, API and MCP server on port 8787. No source needs an API key. See the self-hosting docs for every setting. More: https://video.shep.bot/guides.md · https://video.shep.bot/glossary.md · https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences.md --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/docs/faq --- # Versioning, deprecation & rate limits The rules below let agents and integrations build on the Video Assets Server API without surprises. ## Versioning - The major version is part of the path: every REST endpoint lives under **`/v1`**. - Within `/v1`, changes are **additive only**: new endpoints, new optional parameters, new fields in responses. Clients must ignore fields they don't know. - **Breaking changes** (removing or renaming a field or endpoint, changing a type or a default) only ship under a new major version (`/v2`). The previous version keeps working during its deprecation period. - The MCP tools follow the same rule: tool names and existing arguments stay stable; new optional arguments may appear. - The OpenAPI document at [/openapi.json](https://video.shep.bot/openapi.json) always describes the current version. Its `info.version` follows semantic versioning. ## Deprecation and sunset When an endpoint, parameter or whole API version is going away: 1. It is marked `deprecated: true` in the OpenAPI document and listed in the changelog on GitHub. 2. Its responses carry a **`Deprecation`** header ([RFC 9745](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9745)) with the date it was deprecated, a **`Sunset`** header ([RFC 8594](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8594)) with the date it stops working, and a `Link: <…>; rel="deprecation"` header pointing at migration notes. 3. The sunset date is **at least 90 days** after the deprecation is announced. 4. After the sunset date the endpoint answers `410 Gone` with a JSON body naming its replacement. Example of a deprecated response: ```http HTTP/1.1 200 OK Deprecation: @1767225600 Sunset: Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT Link: <https://video.shep.bot/docs/api/versioning>; rel="deprecation" ``` Nothing in `/v1` is deprecated today. ## Rate limits The public server allows **120 requests per minute per client** across `/v1/*` and `/mcp`. Every response tells you where you stand, using the IETF RateLimit header fields plus their widely used single-value forms: | Header | Example | Meaning | | --- | --- | --- | | `RateLimit-Policy` | `"default";q=120;w=60` | Quota: 120 requests (`q`) per 60-second window (`w`). | | `RateLimit` | `"default";r=117;t=42` | 117 requests remaining (`r`), window resets in 42 seconds (`t`). | | `RateLimit-Limit` | `120` | Requests per window. | | `RateLimit-Remaining` | `117` | Requests left in this window. | | `RateLimit-Reset` | `42` | Seconds until the window resets. | Going over the limit returns **`429 Too Many Requests`** with a **`Retry-After`** header (seconds) and a JSON body: ```json { "error": "Rate limit exceeded: 120 requests per 60s. Retry after 12s.", "retryAfter": 12 } ``` How to behave: - Read `RateLimit-Remaining` (or `r=` in `RateLimit`) and slow down before it reaches zero. - On `429`, wait `Retry-After` seconds, then retry once. Don't retry in a tight loop. - Cache search results you reuse; a search fans out to every source, so repeating it costs everyone. All rate-limit headers are exposed to browsers through CORS. Self-hosted servers set their own limit with `VIDEO_SERVER_RATE_LIMIT` and `VIDEO_SERVER_RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW` (see [Self-hosting](https://video.shep.bot/docs/self-hosting)). --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/docs/api/versioning --- # Sources & licences Video Assets Server searches or links 23 video sites. Use the `id` with `providers=` to restrict a search. "deep link" sources are not searched automatically (they need a key, sell their footage, or their terms forbid aggregation): the response carries a `searchUrl` that runs the same search on the site. No video passes through the server: posters, previews and downloads come from the sources. | Source | id | Best for | Categories | Search | Pricing | Licence | Direct download | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [NASA Image and Video Library](https://images.nasa.gov) | `nasa` | About 9k NASA videos: rocket launches, missions, astronauts, Earth from orbit, the Sun and planets. Public domain in the US with credit to NASA (no endorsement, no insignia); MP4 renditions from 180p to the 1080p/4K master. | Space, Science & data, Aerial & drone, Nature, Technology, Transport, People, Archive & vintage | API | free | per clip | yes | | [NASA Scientific Visualization Studio](https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov) | `nasasvs` | About 10k NASA data visualisations and animations: Earth's weather and climate, the Sun, the Moon, planets and galaxies, mostly 1080p and 4K MP4 at 30–60 fps. Public domain, credit NASA's SVS. | Space, Science & data, Nature, Backgrounds | API | free | per clip | yes | | [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org) | `wikimediacommons` | About 400k freely licensed videos: nature, science, history, documentary footage and timelapses. Licence recorded per file (CC0, public domain, CC BY, CC BY-SA); files are WebM/Ogg with WebM renditions up to 4K. | Nature, City & urban, People, Aerial & drone, Space, Science & data, Technology, Transport, Food & drink, Archive & vintage, Backgrounds | API | free | per clip | yes | | [Internet Archive](https://archive.org) | `internetarchive` | Public-domain and Creative Commons films: the Prelinger Archives (industrial, educational and advertising films), newsreels, home movies and community stock footage. Only items marked CC0, public domain or CC BY(-SA); uploader-asserted licences are flagged. | Archive & vintage, City & urban, People, Transport, Nature, Science & data, Technology, Food & drink, Space, Backgrounds, Overlays & VFX | API | free | per clip | yes | | [Pexels](https://www.pexels.com/videos/) | `pexels` | Hundreds of thousands of free stock videos up to 4K, many vertical; Pexels licence (no credit needed). Link-only for now: its API needs a key (new keys paused) and its terms forbid competing services. | Nature, City & urban, People, Aerial & drone, Technology, Transport, Food & drink, Backgrounds, Overlays & VFX, Green screen | deep link | free | Pexels License (Commercial use OK) | no | | [Pixabay](https://pixabay.com/videos/) | `pixabay` | Hundreds of thousands of free stock videos and motion backgrounds up to 4K; Pixabay Content License (no credit needed). Link-only for now: its API needs a key and its terms limit automated use. | Nature, City & urban, People, Aerial & drone, Technology, Transport, Food & drink, Backgrounds, Overlays & VFX, Green screen | deep link | free | Pixabay Content License (Commercial use OK) | no | | [Coverr](https://coverr.co) | `coverr` | A few thousand free, hand-picked stock videos for websites and social media. Link-only: its API needs a key and its licence bans competing services. | Nature, City & urban, People, Aerial & drone, Technology, Transport, Food & drink, Backgrounds, Overlays & VFX, Green screen | deep link | free | Coverr License (Commercial use OK) | no | | [Mixkit](https://mixkit.co/free-stock-video/) | `mixkit` | Free stock videos from Envato, no credit needed. Link-only: its terms forbid aggregating its items, framing and bots. | Nature, City & urban, People, Aerial & drone, Technology, Transport, Food & drink, Backgrounds, Overlays & VFX, Green screen | deep link | free | Mixkit Stock Video Free License (Commercial use OK) | no | | [Freepik videos (Videvo)](https://www.freepik.com/videos) | `freepik` | Freepik's (now Magnific) video library, which absorbed Videvo and Mazwai: free clips with credit plus premium footage. | Nature, City & urban, People, Aerial & drone, Technology, Transport, Food & drink, Backgrounds, Overlays & VFX, Green screen | deep link | freemium | Freepik licence (Unclear: check the terms) | no | | [Vecteezy](https://www.vecteezy.com/free-videos) | `vecteezy` | Free (with credit) and Pro stock videos and motion backgrounds. | Nature, City & urban, People, Aerial & drone, Technology, Transport, Food & drink, Backgrounds, Overlays & VFX, Green screen | deep link | freemium | Vecteezy licence (Unclear: check the terms) | no | | [Videezy](https://www.videezy.com) | `videezy` | Free stock footage and motion backgrounds (credit required on free clips), plus Pro clips. | Nature, City & urban, People, Aerial & drone, Technology, Transport, Food & drink, Backgrounds, Overlays & VFX, Green screen | deep link | freemium | Videezy licence (Unclear: check the terms) | no | | [Europeana](https://www.europeana.eu) | `europeana` | European archives' films and newsreels; about 13k videos are openly reusable. Link-only until we add its API key. | Archive & vintage, People, City & urban, Transport | deep link | free | per clip | no | | [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/film-and-videos/) | `loc` | Early films, newsreels and government footage, much of it public domain. Link-only: its search API is rate-limited and challenges cloud IPs. | Archive & vintage, People, City & urban, Transport | deep link | free | per clip | no | | [ActionVFX](https://www.actionvfx.com) | `actionvfx` | Professional VFX stock elements (fire, smoke, explosions, muzzle flashes) with a free practice library; account required. | Overlays & VFX, Green screen | deep link | freemium | ActionVFX licence (paid) (Needs a paid licence or releases) | no | | [ProductionCrate (FootageCrate)](https://footagecrate.com) | `productioncrate` | VFX elements, transitions and overlays; free tier with daily download caps. | Overlays & VFX, Green screen, Backgrounds | deep link | freemium | ProductionCrate licence (paid) (Needs a paid licence or releases) | no | | [Shutterstock](https://www.shutterstock.com/video) | `shutterstock` | One of the largest paid footage libraries (also owns Pond5); 4K and HD clips per clip or by subscription. | Nature, City & urban, People, Aerial & drone, Space, Science & data, Technology, Transport, Food & drink, Backgrounds, Overlays & VFX, Green screen, Archive & vintage | deep link | paid | Shutterstock licence (paid) (Needs a paid licence or releases) | no | | [Adobe Stock](https://stock.adobe.com/video) | `adobestock` | Adobe's paid footage library, built into Premiere Pro and After Effects. | Nature, City & urban, People, Aerial & drone, Space, Science & data, Technology, Transport, Food & drink, Backgrounds, Overlays & VFX, Green screen, Archive & vintage | deep link | paid | Adobe Stock licence (paid) (Needs a paid licence or releases) | no | | [Getty Images](https://www.gettyimages.com/footage) | `gettyimages` | Premium creative and editorial (news, sport, archive) footage. | Nature, City & urban, People, Aerial & drone, Space, Science & data, Technology, Transport, Food & drink, Backgrounds, Overlays & VFX, Green screen, Archive & vintage | deep link | paid | Getty Images licence (paid) (Needs a paid licence or releases) | no | | [iStock](https://www.istockphoto.com/stock-videos) | `istock` | Getty's lower-priced stock library: footage by credit or subscription. | Nature, City & urban, People, Aerial & drone, Technology, Transport, Food & drink, Backgrounds, Overlays & VFX, Green screen | deep link | paid | iStock licence (paid) (Needs a paid licence or releases) | no | | [Storyblocks](https://www.storyblocks.com/video) | `storyblocks` | Subscription footage, motion backgrounds and templates with unlimited downloads. | Nature, City & urban, People, Aerial & drone, Technology, Transport, Food & drink, Backgrounds, Overlays & VFX, Green screen | deep link | paid | Storyblocks licence (paid) (Needs a paid licence or releases) | no | | [Pond5](https://www.pond5.com) | `pond5` | A large footage marketplace, including archival and public-domain collections (Shutterstock-owned). | Nature, City & urban, People, Aerial & drone, Space, Science & data, Technology, Transport, Food & drink, Backgrounds, Overlays & VFX, Green screen, Archive & vintage | deep link | paid | Pond5 licence (paid) (Needs a paid licence or releases) | no | | [Envato Elements](https://elements.envato.com/stock-video) | `envato` | Subscription stock video, motion graphics and templates (unlimited downloads). | Nature, City & urban, People, Aerial & drone, Technology, Transport, Food & drink, Backgrounds, Overlays & VFX, Green screen | deep link | paid | Envato Elements licence (paid) (Needs a paid licence or releases) | no | | [Artgrid](https://artgrid.io) | `artgrid` | Cinematic subscription footage shot by filmmakers, including RAW and LOG masters. | Nature, City & urban, People, Aerial & drone, Technology, Transport, Food & drink, Backgrounds, Overlays & VFX, Green screen | deep link | paid | Artgrid licence (paid) (Needs a paid licence or releases) | no | Sources marked "per clip" set licences per item; check each result's `license.verdict`. Royalty-free licences allow use in your music but not redistribution of the clips. Licences explained: /docs/licences.md --- # Video Assets Server CLI The `video-assets-server` command searches every source from a terminal, downloads clips with their credits, turns a shot list into a b-roll sequence, runs the MCP server over stdio for desktop agents, and starts the HTTP server. It is the same code that runs https://video.shep.bot, and needs no API keys. ```bash npx video-assets-server search "4k vertical drone ocean" ``` ## Commands ```text video-assets-server search <query> [--category nature.ocean] [--style timelapse] [--orientation portrait] [--min-resolution 1080] [--min-duration 5] [--max-duration 30] [--commercial] [--free] [--providers nasa,wikimediacommons] [--limit N] video-assets-server download <id> [--height 1080] [--format mp4] [--dir ./footage] video-assets-server sequence <shots.txt | "shot 1; shot 2; ..."> [--orientation portrait] [--size 1080x1920] [--fps 30] [--total 30] [--download] [--dir ./footage/sequences/<name>] [--name promo] video-assets-server mcp # MCP server over stdio, with download_video writing to ./footage video-assets-server serve # HTTP API + website + MCP at /mcp on port 8787 ``` ## Search Queries understand resolution, orientation, length and frame rate, so `"4k vertical drone ocean 10s"` filters exactly like `--min-resolution 2160 --orientation portrait --min-duration 10`. `--commercial` keeps only clips whose licence allows commercial use (verdict `yes` or `yes-with-credit`). `search` prints the filters it read from your query, then ranked results (score, licence verdict and clip id; then the title with its category, resolution, orientation, length, frame rate and year; then the preview URL), followed by one status line per source. A `*` after the verdict marks editorial footage (people, insignia or brands without releases): ```text $ npx video-assets-server search "vertical ocean" --limit 3 Filters: {"orientations":["portrait"]} 0.94 yes-with-credit* nasa:GSFC_20111012_BF_m10849_Bottom_Ocean Meanwhile, At the Bottom of the Ocean (nature.ocean · 2011) https://images-assets.nasa.gov/video/GSFC_20111012_BF_m10849_Bottom_Ocean/GSFC_20111012_BF_m10849_Bottom_Ocean~preview.mp4 … * editorial: people, insignia or brands without releases; not for ads. Sources: nasa ok 3 internetarchive ok 3 pexels link 0 https://www.pexels.com/search/videos/ocean/ ``` Clips whose frame size the source only reports on the clip's own page (NASA search results, for example) stay in the list, ranked below clips known to match; open one with `get_video` or `/v1/clips/{id}` for its full facts. ## Download ```bash npx video-assets-server download "nasa:GSFC_20161212_Tidal_m12450_Magnetic" --height 1080 ``` Saves the smallest file that reaches `--height` (a 1080p rendition rather than a 4K master) into `./footage/<category>/`, and adds the clip to `ATTRIBUTION.md` and `credits.json` in that folder. It prints the licence and the credit line. ## Sequence ```bash cat > shots.txt <<'TXT' City skyline at night (4s) Coffee pour close-up (3s) People walking in the rain Clouds timelapse TXT npx video-assets-server sequence shots.txt --orientation portrait --total 20 --name promo sh footage/sequences/promo/concat.sh ``` Picks one clip per shot (commercial-safe unless you pass `--non-commercial`), prints the plan with a note for each shot that is cropped, upscaled or shorter than planned, and writes `timeline.otio`, `concat.sh`, `remotion.json`, `ATTRIBUTION.md` and `credits.json` into `./footage/sequences/<name>/`. With `--download` the picks are saved into its `footage/` folder and the exports use those local files; without it they read the media straight from the sources. ## Run it with Docker (no install) ```bash docker run --rm ghcr.io/arielshad/video-assets-server node dist/cli.js search "rocket launch slow motion" --commercial ``` As a local MCP server that writes downloads into your project: ```bash docker run -i --rm --user "$(id -u):$(id -g)" -v "$PWD/footage:/app/footage" \ ghcr.io/arielshad/video-assets-server node dist/cli.js mcp ``` ## Run it from source ```bash git clone https://github.com/arielshad/video-assets-server cd video-assets-server && npm ci && npm run build:server node dist/cli.js search "clouds timelapse" --min-resolution 1080 --commercial ``` ## Environment | Variable | Purpose | | --- | --- | | `VIDEO_SERVER_PROVIDERS` | Comma list to search only some sources (e.g. `nasa,nasasvs`). | | `VIDEO_DOWNLOAD_DIR` | Where `download`, `sequence` and `mcp` downloads go (default `./footage`). | | `VIDEO_SERVER_USER_AGENT` | User-Agent sent to sources. Wikimedia requires contact details in it. | | `NODE_USE_ENV_PROXY` | Set to `1` so Node honours `HTTPS_PROXY`. | See [Self-hosting](https://video.shep.bot/docs/self-hosting) for every server setting. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/docs/cli --- # Self-hosting Video Assets Server Video Assets Server is open source (Apache-2.0). Run your own copy to put it behind an API key, let the MCP server write footage to a shared disk, pick which sources it searches, or keep searches on your own network. No source needs an API key. ## Docker ```bash docker run -p 8787:8787 ghcr.io/arielshad/video-assets-server ``` Open http://localhost:8787 for the website, `/v1/*` for the API and `/mcp` for MCP. Behind a TLS proxy, set `VIDEO_SERVER_PUBLIC_URL=https://video.example.com` so the links handed to MCP clients and share links use your public address. ## Node.js ```bash git clone https://github.com/arielshad/video-assets-server cd video-assets-server npm ci && npm --prefix web ci && npm run build npm start ``` Node 20 or newer (the Docker image uses Node 22). ## No video through the server The server is light because it never handles video: it searches the sources, reads their metadata, decides licence verdicts and writes credit files. The website's posters, previews and player load straight from the sources, and `/v1/clips/{id}/download` answers with a `302` to the file on the source. Bandwidth and CPU stay low whatever people watch; only the MCP `download_video` tool and the CLI's `download` and `sequence --download` fetch video, and they write to the disk of whoever runs them. ## Configuration | Variable | Default | Purpose | | --- | --- | --- | | `PORT` / `HOST` | `8787` / `0.0.0.0` | HTTP bind address. | | `VIDEO_SERVER_API_KEY` | none | Require `Authorization: Bearer <key>` or `x-api-key` on `/v1/*` and `/mcp`. Keys are accepted in headers only, never in the URL. The website asks for it and sends it as a header. | | `VIDEO_SERVER_PUBLIC_URL` | request origin | Base URL used in links handed to MCP clients and in share links. Set it behind a TLS proxy. | | `VIDEO_SERVER_PROVIDERS` | all | Comma list to enable only some sources (e.g. `nasa,nasasvs,wikimediacommons`). | | `VIDEO_DOWNLOAD_DIR` | `./footage` | Where MCP and CLI downloads go (`<dir>/<category>/…`, with `ATTRIBUTION.md` and `credits.json`). | | `VIDEO_SERVER_HTTP_DOWNLOADS` | `false` | Expose `download_video` on the HTTP MCP endpoint (writes to the server's disk). | | `VIDEO_SERVER_HTTP_MCP` | `true` | Set to `false` to turn off MCP over HTTP at `/mcp`. The website and `/v1` API keep working, and the stdio MCP server is unaffected. | | `VIDEO_SERVER_PROVIDER_TIMEOUT_MS` | `12000` | Per-source search timeout. | | `VIDEO_SERVER_HTTP_TIMEOUT_MS` | `15000` | Timeout for each request to a source. | | `VIDEO_SERVER_CACHE_TTL_MS` | `600000` | How long source responses are cached in memory (10 minutes). | | `VIDEO_SERVER_MAX_DOWNLOAD_BYTES` | 8 GiB | Cap for one local download. | | `VIDEO_SERVER_DOWNLOAD_IDLE_MS` | `30000` | Abort a local download when no bytes arrive for this long. | | `VIDEO_SERVER_USER_AGENT` | built in | The User-Agent sent to sources. Keep it descriptive with contact details: Wikimedia limits clients without one to about 10 requests a minute. | | `VIDEO_SERVER_RATE_LIMIT` | `120` | Requests per client per window on `/v1/*` and `/mcp`, with RateLimit headers and `429` + `Retry-After` beyond it. `0` turns it off. | | `VIDEO_SERVER_RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW` | `60` | Rate-limit window in seconds. | | `METRICS_PORT` | off | Serve Prometheus metrics on this separate port at `/metrics`, and log one JSON line per search, download and tool call. | | `PROMETHEUS_URL` | off | Prometheus that scrapes `METRICS_PORT`. `/v1/stats` and the `/stats` page then show the last 24 hours and 7 days; without it they count since the server started. | | `MAXMIND_ACCOUNT_ID`, `MAXMIND_LICENSE_KEY` | off | With `METRICS_PORT`: download MaxMind's free GeoLite2-ASN database (refreshed weekly) to label MCP callers by network (ISP, AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, other hosting). | | `VIDEO_SERVER_ASN_DB` | none | Path to a GeoLite2-ASN `.mmdb` file to use instead of downloading one. | | `VIDEO_SERVER_SESSION_SECRET` | random | Signs the MCP session IDs that carry each client's declared name. Set it so sessions keep their label across restarts. | | `VIDEO_SERVER_TELEMETRY` | off | `1` to send anonymous usage counts to the maintainers (also needs `VIDEO_SERVER_TELEMETRY_WEBSITE_ID`; see [Privacy](https://video.shep.bot/privacy)). `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` always turns it off. | | `UMAMI_WEBSITE_ID`, `UMAMI_HOST` | off | Add your own self-hosted Umami tracker to the website pages (cookieless page views). | ## Analytics With `METRICS_PORT` set, the server exports Prometheus metrics with bounded labels only (surface, client family, source, status, tool): - `video_server_searches_total`, `video_server_search_duration_seconds`, `video_server_search_results` - `video_server_provider_requests_total` and `video_server_provider_duration_seconds` for each source's health and latency - `video_server_clip_views_total`, `video_server_downloads_total` - `video_server_mcp_tool_calls_total` and `video_server_mcp_tool_duration_seconds` by tool, client family (Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, …), network and consistency (whether the declared client, User-Agent and network agree) - `video_server_mcp_connects_total` and `video_server_mcp_new_callers_total` (first tool call of the day per caller, counted from a hash with a daily salt) - `video_server_http_requests_total`, `video_server_http_request_duration_seconds`, `video_server_page_views_total` The [/stats](https://video.shep.bot/stats) page and `GET /v1/stats` read these counters back: from Prometheus when `PROMETHEUS_URL` is set, otherwise from this process since it started. Each search also logs a JSON line (`{"event":"search","query":…,"results":…}`) for top-query and zero-result analysis. Nothing personal is recorded with it: no IP addresses, keys or cookies. ## Stdio MCP ```bash node dist/cli.js mcp # or: npx -y video-assets-server mcp ``` Runs the MCP server over stdio with `download_video` and `build_sequence` downloads (`download=true`) enabled, for desktop clients that launch a local process. Downloads go to `VIDEO_DOWNLOAD_DIR`. ## Content Security Policy The website ships with a strict Content-Security-Policy (no inline scripts or styles except by hash or per-request nonce). Posters and previews load from the sources' CDNs, so `img-src` allows `https:` and `media-src` allows `https:` and `blob:`; keep that in mind if you put a proxy in front that rewrites headers. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/docs/self-hosting --- # Guides: free stock video, licences and editing > Short, answer-first guides for video makers and AI assistants: whether a clip may go into a commercial video, how to credit it, what NASA, public-domain and Creative Commons footage allow, editorial versus commercial use, and how to turn a shot list into a b-roll sequence. ## Licensing - [Free stock footage for commercial use: what the licences mean](https://video.shep.bot/guides/free-stock-footage-commercial-use.md): Free footage is safe for a commercial video when its licence allows commercial use and nothing in the frame needs a release. - [How to credit CC BY video in your own videos](https://video.shep.bot/guides/credit-cc-by-video.md): Name the clip, its author, where it came from and its licence with a link, and say that you edited it, for example: “Ocean waves 04” by Jane Doe (Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:…), CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), trimmed and graded. - [NASA footage: what you can and can't do with it](https://video.shep.bot/guides/nasa-footage-rules.md): You can use most NASA footage in your videos, including commercial ones, without asking: NASA media is generally not copyrighted in the US. - [Editorial vs commercial: model releases and logos in stock footage](https://video.shep.bot/guides/editorial-vs-commercial-footage.md): A licence covers the copyright in a clip, not the people, brands or property in it. - [Public-domain archive films (Prelinger) and how to use them](https://video.shep.bot/guides/prelinger-public-domain-films.md): The Internet Archive holds hundreds of thousands of films marked public domain or Creative Commons, including the Prelinger Archives: thousands of 20th-century industrial, educational and advertising films whose public-domain status is stated by the collection itself. ## Production - [Vertical video for Reels, TikTok and Shorts: find and crop footage](https://video.shep.bot/guides/vertical-video-reels-tiktok-shorts.md): Search with the orientation set to vertical (or add 'vertical' or '9:16' to the query) to get clips that are already 9:16 and fill a phone screen without losing anything. - [Build a b-roll sequence from a shot list (OTIO, ffmpeg, Remotion)](https://video.shep.bot/guides/b-roll-sequence-from-shot-list.md): Write one line per shot ("city skyline at night (4s)"), pick the frame (16:9, 9:16 or 1:1), the frame rate and the total length, and let the sequence builder pick one commercial-safe clip per shot with alternatives. - [4K, 1080p, codecs and containers: picking the right stock video file](https://video.shep.bot/guides/video-resolution-codecs-containers.md): Download the smallest file that reaches your timeline's resolution: for a 1080p edit, a 1080p rendition, not the 4K master, unless you want room to crop, stabilise or reframe. ## AI agents - [Using an AI agent to find and license stock footage](https://video.shep.bot/guides/ai-agent-find-and-license-footage.md): Add the MCP server https://video.shep.bot/mcp to your agent under the name 'video' (in Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http video https://video.shep.bot/mcp). Glossary of video and licence terms: https://video.shep.bot/glossary.md --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/guides --- # Free stock footage for commercial use: what the licences mean > Free footage is safe for a commercial video when its licence allows commercial use and nothing in the frame needs a release. CC0 and public-domain clips need nothing; CC BY and NASA media need a credit line; CC BY-SA forces your whole video under the same licence; NC and ND licences rule it out. Separately, footage showing identifiable people, logos or insignia without releases is editorial-only: fine for news and documentary, not for ads. Licensing guide, updated 2026-10-28. Which free stock video you can use in ads, client work and monetised videos: CC0, public domain, CC BY, share-alike, NC, NASA and editorial footage. ## Two questions, not one Whether a clip can go into a commercial video depends on two separate things: 1. **The copyright licence.** Does the owner of the footage allow commercial use, and on what conditions (credit, share-alike, no changes)? 2. **What is in the frame.** Do identifiable people, logos, products, artworks or insignia appear, and were releases signed for them? A clip can pass the first test and fail the second. NASA footage of astronauts is a good example: not copyrighted in the US, but NASA asks for permission before identifiable astronauts appear in ads. That is why every result here carries both a **verdict** and an **editorial** flag. ## The licences, from most to least permissive | Licence | Commercial use | Conditions | Verdict here | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Public domain, CC0 | Yes | None | Commercial use OK | | US federal government work | Yes | None in the US; trademarks and people still apply | Commercial use OK | | NASA media | Yes | Credit NASA, no insignia, no implied endorsement | OK with credit, editorial | | CC BY | Yes | Credit title, author, source, licence; note changes | OK with credit | | CC BY-SA | Yes, but | Your whole video must carry the same licence | Restricted | | CC BY-NC | No | Non-commercial only | Non-commercial only | | CC BY-ND | In practice no | No adapted versions: trimming and grading inside an edit generally counts | Non-commercial only | | Free stock site licences (Pexels, Pixabay…) | Yes | No reselling the clips as they are; rules about people | Read on the site | | Paid stock | After you pay | Per clip or subscription | Needs a paid licence | ## What "commercial" means Creative Commons defines non-commercial use as use "not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation". In practice, treat these as commercial: ads and sponsored posts, client and agency work, product and marketing videos, monetised channels, paid courses, and anything made for a business. Personal projects, school assignments and non-profit educational screenings are usually not. ## Where free, commercial-safe footage comes from - **Wikimedia Commons** only accepts free licences, mostly CC0, public domain, CC BY and CC BY-SA, and records the licence per file. - **NASA** (the Image and Video Library and the Scientific Visualization Studio) publishes footage that is generally not copyrighted in the US, with credit and endorsement rules. - **The Internet Archive** holds public-domain and Creative Commons films, but most licences there are set by uploaders, so they need checking. - **Free stock sites** such as Pexels and Pixabay have their own free licences. They can't be searched automatically, so every search links to the same query there. Turn on **Commercial-safe** in the search (or `commercial=true` in the API) to keep only the green verdicts, then check the editorial flag before you put a clip in an ad. ## Questions **Does a monetised YouTube channel count as commercial use?** For licence purposes, treat it as commercial: the video earns money. Creative Commons defines non-commercial as use not primarily intended for commercial advantage or monetary compensation, and many rights holders read monetised channels as commercial. Use clips that are cleared for commercial use. **Is 'royalty free' the same as 'free'?** No. Royalty free means you don't pay per view or per use after getting the licence, which may itself cost money. It also says nothing about credit, redistribution or editorial restrictions: read the licence. **Can I use public-domain footage of a famous person in an ad?** Copyright is only one layer. A person's right of publicity (or their estate's) and trademark law can still apply, so footage of a recognisable person in an ad needs their or their estate's permission even when the film itself is public domain. **What if the source states no licence?** Treat it as all rights reserved: you would need the owner's permission. Such clips get the 'check the terms' verdict here. ## Try it - [Only commercial-safe clips: ocean waves](https://video.shep.bot/search?q=ocean+waves&commercial=true) - [Commercial-safe timelapses in 1080p+](https://video.shep.bot/search?q=timelapse&min_resolution=1080&commercial=true) - [Abstract backgrounds](https://video.shep.bot/search?category=background&commercial=true&q=abstract) ## Collections - [Free ocean footage: waves, beaches and seas](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-ocean-footage.md): Free ocean stock video: breaking waves, beaches, coastlines and open sea, plus ocean science from NASA, with resolution, length and licence on every clip. - [Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-motion-backgrounds.md): Free motion backgrounds: abstract animations, particles, gradients and data-driven loops for titles, slides, stage screens and websites. - [Free cloud timelapses: skies, storms and sunsets](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-cloud-timelapses.md): Free cloud and sky timelapse videos: racing clouds, sunsets, storms and fog for intros, transitions and backgrounds, with resolution and licence. ## Related guides - [How to credit CC BY video in your own videos](https://video.shep.bot/guides/credit-cc-by-video.md): The credit line a CC BY clip needs (title, author, source, licence, changes) and where to put it on YouTube, social posts and client work, with examples. - [Editorial vs commercial: model releases and logos in stock footage](https://video.shep.bot/guides/editorial-vs-commercial-footage.md): Why a free clip can still be editorial-only: model releases, property releases, logos and insignia, and how to tell if footage is safe for an ad. - [NASA footage: what you can and can't do with it](https://video.shep.bot/guides/nasa-footage-rules.md): NASA video is generally not copyrighted in the US, but it comes with rules: credit, no NASA logo, no implied endorsement, astronauts in ads, partners. - [Public-domain archive films (Prelinger) and how to use them](https://video.shep.bot/guides/prelinger-public-domain-films.md): Where public-domain archive footage comes from, why the Prelinger Archives differ from other Internet Archive uploads, and how to edit old film. ## Sources - [Creative Commons: about the licences](https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/cclicenses/) - [CC BY-NC 4.0 legal code, definition of NonCommercial](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode.en) - [CC0 1.0 public domain dedication](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) - [USA.gov: government works and copyright](https://www.usa.gov/government-copyright) - [NASA images and media usage guidelines](https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/) This guide is practical information, not legal advice. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/guides/free-stock-footage-commercial-use --- # How to credit CC BY video in your own videos > Name the clip, its author, where it came from and its licence with a link, and say that you edited it, for example: “Ocean waves 04” by Jane Doe (Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:…), CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), trimmed and graded. Put it where viewers can find credits: the video description, the end credits, or a credits page you link to. Licensing guide, updated 2026-10-28. The credit line a CC BY clip needs (title, author, source, licence, changes) and where to put it on YouTube, social posts and client work, with examples. ## What CC BY asks for The Attribution licences ask you to keep four things with the work: who made it, what it is called, where it is published and which licence it is under, plus a note if you changed it. Creative Commons calls this TASL: **T**itle, **A**uthor, **S**ource, **L**icence. Version 4.0 is flexible about format: credit may be given "in any reasonable manner based on the medium, means, and context", and a link to a page that holds the credits is acceptable. Older versions (CC BY 2.0, 3.0) ask for much the same; follow the version the clip states. ## Copy-paste examples One clip, in a YouTube description: ```text Footage: “Ocean waves 04” by Jane Doe (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ocean_waves_04.webm), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Trimmed and colour-graded. ``` Several clips, as an end-credits or description block: ```text Stock footage - “Clouds over the plain” by skywatcher (Wikimedia Commons), CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ - “Rocket launch, pad 39A”, NASA (images.nasa.gov) - Ocean timelapse from Wikimedia Commons (CC0) ``` The names above are examples. Video Assets Server writes the real line for every clip: copy it from the clip's detail view, read the `attribution` field from the API, or fetch `ATTRIBUTION.md` from `/v1/clips/{id}/credits`. The [sequence builder](https://video.shep.bot/sequence) writes one ATTRIBUTION.md for a whole edit. ## Where the credit goes - **YouTube, Vimeo**: the description. Put it above the fold if the clip is prominent. - **Short-form platforms**: the caption, or a credits page linked from your profile when the caption is too short. - **Client work and ads**: the end credits or the delivery notes, and tell the client: they publish it, so they need the credit too. - **Films and documentaries**: the end credits, with the stock footage credits. - **Websites and apps**: a credits or legal page, linked from where the footage appears. If the clip is cropped to vertical, graded or sped up, say so ("cropped to 9:16"). Indicating changes is part of CC BY 4.0's attribution requirement. ## Step by step 1. **Collect the facts when you download.** Note the clip's title, the author's name or username, the URL of its page and the exact licence with its version. Video Assets Server's attribution field and ATTRIBUTION.md contain all four. 2. **Write one line per clip.** Use the TASL pattern: Title, Author, Source, Licence. Add links to the source page and the licence, and a word about changes such as 'trimmed', 'cropped to 9:16' or 'colour-graded'. 3. **Put the credits where viewers look.** On YouTube, in the description. On Instagram, TikTok and other social posts, in the caption or a pinned comment, or on a credits page linked from your profile. In a film or client video, in the end credits. 4. **Keep the paperwork.** Store the credit lines and licence links in the project folder. If a client, a platform or a rights holder asks where a shot came from, you can answer in minutes. ## Questions **Do I have to credit CC0 or public-domain footage?** No. A short 'footage: Wikimedia Commons (CC0)' line is a courtesy many editors include anyway, and it helps the next person find the source. **Does NASA footage need a credit?** NASA asks to be credited, for example 'Video: NASA' or the credit line the item gives (such as NASA/Goddard). Video Assets Server writes that line for every NASA clip. **What if the author's real name isn't given?** Use the name or username they publish under. CC BY asks you to credit the creator in the way they requested, if they did. **Is a credit enough for CC BY-SA or CC BY-NC clips?** No. A credit satisfies CC BY. Share-alike adds the obligation to license your video the same way, and non-commercial forbids commercial use whatever you credit. ## Try it - [CC BY footage with ready credit lines](https://video.shep.bot/search?q=nature&providers=wikimediacommons&commercial=true) - [NASA launches (credit NASA)](https://video.shep.bot/search?q=rocket+launch&providers=nasa) ## Collections - [Free ocean footage: waves, beaches and seas](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-ocean-footage.md): Free ocean stock video: breaking waves, beaches, coastlines and open sea, plus ocean science from NASA, with resolution, length and licence on every clip. - [Free timelapse videos: cities, skies and nature](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-timelapse-videos.md): Free timelapse stock video: city lights, traffic trails, clouds, stars and nature compressed into seconds, with frame rate, resolution and licence. - [Rocket launch footage: liftoffs and missions](https://video.shep.bot/footage/rocket-launch-footage.md): Free rocket launch videos from NASA and open archives: liftoffs, engine close-ups, tracking shots and historic launches, with credit lines and partner warnings. ## Related guides - [Free stock footage for commercial use: what the licences mean](https://video.shep.bot/guides/free-stock-footage-commercial-use.md): Which free stock video you can use in ads, client work and monetised videos: CC0, public domain, CC BY, share-alike, NC, NASA and editorial footage. - [NASA footage: what you can and can't do with it](https://video.shep.bot/guides/nasa-footage-rules.md): NASA video is generally not copyrighted in the US, but it comes with rules: credit, no NASA logo, no implied endorsement, astronauts in ads, partners. - [Using an AI agent to find and license stock footage](https://video.shep.bot/guides/ai-agent-find-and-license-footage.md): Connect Claude Code, Cursor or another agent to Video Assets Server over MCP, then ask for footage, sequences and credit lines under the licence rules. - [Editorial vs commercial: model releases and logos in stock footage](https://video.shep.bot/guides/editorial-vs-commercial-footage.md): Why a free clip can still be editorial-only: model releases, property releases, logos and insignia, and how to tell if footage is safe for an ad. ## Sources - [CC BY 4.0 legal code, section 3(a): attribution](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.en#s3a) - [Creative Commons: recommended practices for attribution](https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/Recommended_practices_for_attribution) - [Wikimedia Commons: reusing content outside Wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Reusing_content_outside_Wikimedia) This guide is practical information, not legal advice. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/guides/credit-cc-by-video --- # NASA footage: what you can and can't do with it > You can use most NASA footage in your videos, including commercial ones, without asking: NASA media is generally not copyrighted in the US. Credit NASA, don't use the NASA insignia or logotype, don't suggest NASA endorses you or your product, and get permission before identifiable astronauts or staff appear in an ad. Check the credit line: footage NASA distributes for a partner, such as a launch company, may be that partner's copyright. Licensing guide, updated 2026-10-28. NASA video is generally not copyrighted in the US, but it comes with rules: credit, no NASA logo, no implied endorsement, astronauts in ads, partners. ## Why NASA footage is (mostly) free Works made by US federal employees as part of their jobs are not protected by copyright in the US. NASA's own photos and video fall under that rule. NASA's media guidelines say its material is generally not copyrighted, may be used for educational and informational purposes, and may be used commercially as long as the use doesn't suggest NASA's endorsement. That makes NASA one of the largest sources of free, high-quality footage: about nine thousand videos in the Image and Video Library, from launches and spacewalks to Earth seen from the International Space Station, and about ten thousand visualisation pages from the Scientific Visualization Studio. ## The rules that still apply - **Credit NASA.** NASA asks to be acknowledged as the source. Use the item's credit line when it has one (for example "NASA/Bill Ingalls" or "NASA/Goddard"). - **No endorsement.** Don't use NASA footage in a way that suggests NASA endorses you, your product, your channel or your opinions. - **No insignia or logotype.** The NASA "meatball" insignia and the "worm" logotype are protected and not for general use. Footage that shows them on a rocket or a suit is fine in an explainer; using them as branding is not. - **People.** Identifiable astronauts and NASA employees have rights in their likeness: NASA asks for permission before they appear in advertising. - **Third-party material.** Some footage on NASA's sites was made by partners: launch companies, universities, other space agencies. If the credit line names another organisation, that organisation may own the copyright. - **AI wording.** NASA's guidelines also cover AI tools: their output shouldn't be presented as "according to NASA". ## How it shows up here Every NASA clip is **Commercial use OK with credit**, carries a ready credit line and has the **editorial** flag, which stands for the endorsement, insignia and astronaut rules above. Clips whose credit names an outside organisation are **Unclear: check the terms**. Visualisations from the Scientific Visualization Studio have no people or insignia in them, so they are not flagged editorial. NASA videos come as a set of MP4 files: the original master (often 1080p or 4K) and smaller renditions down to a tiny preview. Pick the rendition that matches your timeline rather than the master, which can be large. ## Outside the US NASA states that its material is generally not copyrighted in the United States. Other countries can treat US government works differently. In practice NASA footage is used worldwide, but if you publish primarily under another country's law and the stakes are high, check how it treats foreign government works. ## Questions **Can I use NASA footage on a monetised YouTube channel?** Generally yes, with credit. NASA's guidelines allow commercial use of its media as long as you don't imply endorsement or use its insignia. Check each clip's credit line for third-party copyright. **Can I put the NASA 'meatball' logo in my video?** Not as decoration or branding. The NASA insignia and logotype are protected and reserved for official use; footage that happens to show the logo on a rocket is fine editorially, but keep it out of ads and thumbnails that suggest an association. **Is NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio footage treated differently?** Its visualisations are produced by NASA and public domain in the US; credit NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio. They show data rather than people or logos, so they are the easiest NASA footage to use commercially. **Why are NASA clips marked editorial here?** Because of the endorsement, insignia and astronaut rules. The flag is a reminder that a NASA clip in an ad needs more care than in a documentary, not that NASA footage is off-limits. ## Try it - [Rocket launches from NASA](https://video.shep.bot/search?q=rocket+launch&providers=nasa) - [Earth from space](https://video.shep.bot/search?q=earth+from+space&category=space.earth) - [NASA visualisations in 4K](https://video.shep.bot/search?q=earth&providers=nasasvs&min_resolution=2160) ## Collections - [Rocket launch footage: liftoffs and missions](https://video.shep.bot/footage/rocket-launch-footage.md): Free rocket launch videos from NASA and open archives: liftoffs, engine close-ups, tracking shots and historic launches, with credit lines and partner warnings. - [Earth from space videos: orbit views and globes](https://video.shep.bot/footage/earth-from-space-videos.md): Free videos of Earth from space: views from the space station, rotating globes, night lights, weather and auroras from NASA, with credit lines ready. - [NASA data visualisations and science animations](https://video.shep.bot/footage/nasa-data-visualizations.md): Free science visualisations from NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio and others: weather, oceans, the Sun and Moon, often 4K at 60 fps. ## Related guides - [Editorial vs commercial: model releases and logos in stock footage](https://video.shep.bot/guides/editorial-vs-commercial-footage.md): Why a free clip can still be editorial-only: model releases, property releases, logos and insignia, and how to tell if footage is safe for an ad. - [Free stock footage for commercial use: what the licences mean](https://video.shep.bot/guides/free-stock-footage-commercial-use.md): Which free stock video you can use in ads, client work and monetised videos: CC0, public domain, CC BY, share-alike, NC, NASA and editorial footage. - [How to credit CC BY video in your own videos](https://video.shep.bot/guides/credit-cc-by-video.md): The credit line a CC BY clip needs (title, author, source, licence, changes) and where to put it on YouTube, social posts and client work, with examples. - [Public-domain archive films (Prelinger) and how to use them](https://video.shep.bot/guides/prelinger-public-domain-films.md): Where public-domain archive footage comes from, why the Prelinger Archives differ from other Internet Archive uploads, and how to edit old film. ## Sources - [NASA images and media usage guidelines](https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/) - [NASA Image and Video Library](https://images.nasa.gov) - [NASA Scientific Visualization Studio](https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov) - [USA.gov: government works and copyright](https://www.usa.gov/government-copyright) This guide is practical information, not legal advice. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/guides/nasa-footage-rules --- # Editorial vs commercial: model releases and logos in stock footage > A licence covers the copyright in a clip, not the people, brands or property in it. When identifiable people appear without a signed model release, or logos, products and private property without a property release, the footage is editorial-only: fine for news, documentary, education and commentary, but not for advertising, promotion or anything that implies endorsement. Wide shots, nature, data visualisations and footage where nobody can be recognised avoid the problem. Licensing guide, updated 2026-10-28. Why a free clip can still be editorial-only: model releases, property releases, logos and insignia, and how to tell if footage is safe for an ad. ## Three kinds of rights in one shot When you put a clip in a video, you rely on several rights at once: 1. **Copyright** in the footage itself, held by whoever filmed it. The licence (CC0, CC BY, NASA media, a stock licence) deals with this. 2. **Personality rights**: a person's control over commercial use of their likeness. Names vary by country (right of publicity, image rights, privacy law), but the effect is similar: you need their permission to use a recognisable person to sell something. A **model release** is that permission in writing. 3. **Trademarks and property**: logos, products, branded packaging, some buildings and artworks. Showing them in an ad can suggest a sponsorship or endorsement that doesn't exist. A **property release** covers them. Creative Commons licences say explicitly that they don't grant publicity, privacy or trademark rights. Most free stock sites say the same in their own terms. ## Editorial use Editorial use means using footage to report, explain, document or comment: news, documentaries, educational videos, reviews, commentary. Showing real people and brands in that context is normal and generally allowed, because the footage depicts the world rather than promoting something. Commercial use in this sense means advertising and promotion: ads, sponsored content, product videos, packaging, anything that could suggest a person or brand endorses you. That is where releases matter. ## How Video Assets Server flags it Clips get `license.editorial: true` (shown as an **Editorial** badge) when the source is known to lack releases: - **NASA footage**, because NASA forbids implying endorsement and using its insignia, and asks for permission before identifiable astronauts or staff appear in ads. - **Archive footage** (newsreels, home movies, educational and industrial films), which shows people and brands without releases. Other footage can need releases too. The flag is a reminder, not a guarantee: always look at what is actually in the frame. ## Choosing footage for an ad - Prefer shots without identifiable people: landscapes, skies, seas, wide city views, timelapses, macro shots, data visualisations, abstract backgrounds. - Watch for logos on clothes, cars, shops and screens, and for recognisable private buildings or artworks. - When a person is the subject of the shot, use footage that comes with a model release (paid stock libraries track them) or film it yourself. - Keep the credit line and the clip's source URL with the project, so you can show where it came from if anyone asks. ## Questions **Can I blur faces to make footage commercial-safe?** Blurring so that nobody can be recognised removes the likeness problem in most cases. It doesn't help when the person is recognisable by other means (a famous setting, a voice, a caption), and it doesn't fix logos you also need to blur. **Is a monetised documentary editorial or commercial?** The licence question (may it be used commercially?) and the editorial question (does it sell or endorse something?) are different. A documentary that earns money needs commercial-use licences, but showing people in a news or documentary context is editorial use. **Do crowds in the background need releases?** Unidentifiable people in a crowd generally don't. A person who is the clear subject of a shot, or recognisable in a close-up, does for advertising. **Why is all archive footage flagged editorial?** Old newsreels and home movies show real people and brands who never signed anything. The film may be public domain, but using a recognisable person to promote something can still infringe their or their estate's rights. ## Try it - [People-free nature b-roll](https://video.shep.bot/search?q=forest&category=nature&commercial=true) - [Abstract backgrounds (no people)](https://video.shep.bot/search?q=abstract&category=background) - [Newsreels (editorial)](https://video.shep.bot/search?q=newsreel&category=archive.newsreel) ## Collections - [Public-domain newsreels and documentary footage](https://video.shep.bot/footage/public-domain-newsreels.md): Free newsreels and documentary films from the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons: wartime, public information and news footage, with year. - [Free city footage: skylines, streets and traffic](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-city-footage.md): Free city stock video: skylines, streets, traffic and night lights from open archives, with editorial flags where people and brands appear without releases. - [Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-motion-backgrounds.md): Free motion backgrounds: abstract animations, particles, gradients and data-driven loops for titles, slides, stage screens and websites. ## Related guides - [Free stock footage for commercial use: what the licences mean](https://video.shep.bot/guides/free-stock-footage-commercial-use.md): Which free stock video you can use in ads, client work and monetised videos: CC0, public domain, CC BY, share-alike, NC, NASA and editorial footage. - [NASA footage: what you can and can't do with it](https://video.shep.bot/guides/nasa-footage-rules.md): NASA video is generally not copyrighted in the US, but it comes with rules: credit, no NASA logo, no implied endorsement, astronauts in ads, partners. - [Public-domain archive films (Prelinger) and how to use them](https://video.shep.bot/guides/prelinger-public-domain-films.md): Where public-domain archive footage comes from, why the Prelinger Archives differ from other Internet Archive uploads, and how to edit old film. - [How to credit CC BY video in your own videos](https://video.shep.bot/guides/credit-cc-by-video.md): The credit line a CC BY clip needs (title, author, source, licence, changes) and where to put it on YouTube, social posts and client work, with examples. ## Sources - [Creative Commons FAQ: rights not covered by the licences (publicity, privacy, trademark)](https://creativecommons.org/faq/) - [NASA images and media usage guidelines](https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/) - [Wikimedia Commons: photographs of identifiable people](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Photographs_of_identifiable_people) This guide is practical information, not legal advice. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/guides/editorial-vs-commercial-footage --- # Public-domain archive films (Prelinger) and how to use them > The Internet Archive holds hundreds of thousands of films marked public domain or Creative Commons, including the Prelinger Archives: thousands of 20th-century industrial, educational and advertising films whose public-domain status is stated by the collection itself. Most other uploads carry a licence chosen by the uploader, which nobody checks, so verify them before relying on them. Either way, the people and brands in old footage never signed releases: use it for documentary and editorial work, and be careful in ads. Licensing guide, updated 2026-10-28. Where public-domain archive footage comes from, why the Prelinger Archives differ from other Internet Archive uploads, and how to edit old film. ## Why so much old film is public domain In the United States, works published in 1930 or earlier are now in the public domain. Many later films joined them because, under the law before 1978, copyright had to be claimed with a notice and renewed after 28 years; films published without a notice, or never renewed, lost their protection. Industrial, educational and sponsored films were often made for a single client and never renewed, which is why so many of them are free to use today. Works made by the US government, including many wartime and public-information films, were never copyrighted at all. ## The Prelinger Archives The Prelinger Archives are a collection of "ephemeral" films (industrial, educational, advertising and amateur films) assembled by the archivist Rick Prelinger. Around ten thousand of them are on the Internet Archive, covering roughly 1903 to the 1980s: assembly lines and kitchens, cars and highways, schools and civil defence, cities and suburbs. Because the collection itself states that these films are in the public domain, Video Assets Server treats their licence as stated by the source. ## Everything else on the Internet Archive Anyone can upload a film to the Internet Archive and pick its licence, and the Archive doesn't verify it. Most uploads are honest, but some modern films and TV recordings carry a public-domain mark they shouldn't. Video Assets Server only searches items whose licence is CC0, public domain or CC BY(-SA), leaves out TV captures, trailers and fan uploads, and caps uploader-chosen licences at **Unclear: check the terms**. Before you rely on one, check the item's description for the original producer and year, and whether the film plausibly entered the public domain. ## People and brands in old film Copyright is not the only right in a film. The people in a 1950s newsreel or home movie never signed a model release, and the brands on its shop fronts are still trademarks. That is why archive footage carries the **editorial** flag: perfect for documentaries, essays and history channels, risky for an ad that uses a stranger's face to sell something. ## Working with archive footage in a modern edit - Expect standard-definition transfers, 4:3 frames, film grain, flicker and black-and-white. Pillarbox rather than stretch. - Films start with titles and countdown leaders: skip in, or let the [sequence builder](https://video.shep.bot/sequence) set the in-point. - Frame rates vary (18, 24, 25 or 29.97 fps transfers); conform them to your timeline. - Download the MP4 derivative for editing; the original files can be large or in older formats. ## Questions **Do I need to credit Prelinger films?** Public-domain films need no credit by law. Crediting the Prelinger Archives and the Internet Archive is good practice and helps others find the material. **Why do archive clips start with title cards and countdowns?** They are whole films, not stock clips. Skip into the film to find the shot you need; the sequence builder starts long archive films part-way in for this reason. **What resolution are archive films?** Usually standard definition, often 480p or smaller, in 4:3. Pillarbox them in a 16:9 edit, or crop if the framing allows, and don't expect 4K. **Can I upload a public-domain film to YouTube?** You may, but automated systems sometimes match public-domain footage that someone else has claimed. Keep the source page link so you can dispute a claim. ## Try it - [Prelinger films](https://video.shep.bot/search?q=prelinger&providers=internetarchive) - [Newsreels](https://video.shep.bot/search?q=newsreel&category=archive.newsreel) - [1950s footage](https://video.shep.bot/search?q=1950s&category=archive) ## Collections - [Prelinger and public-domain archive films](https://video.shep.bot/footage/prelinger-archive-films.md): Free archive films: Prelinger educational, industrial and advertising films, home movies and early cinema, from the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons. - [Public-domain newsreels and documentary footage](https://video.shep.bot/footage/public-domain-newsreels.md): Free newsreels and documentary films from the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons: wartime, public information and news footage, with year. ## Related guides - [Editorial vs commercial: model releases and logos in stock footage](https://video.shep.bot/guides/editorial-vs-commercial-footage.md): Why a free clip can still be editorial-only: model releases, property releases, logos and insignia, and how to tell if footage is safe for an ad. - [Free stock footage for commercial use: what the licences mean](https://video.shep.bot/guides/free-stock-footage-commercial-use.md): Which free stock video you can use in ads, client work and monetised videos: CC0, public domain, CC BY, share-alike, NC, NASA and editorial footage. - [4K, 1080p, codecs and containers: picking the right stock video file](https://video.shep.bot/guides/video-resolution-codecs-containers.md): Which rendition to download: resolution tiers, frame rates, H.264 vs VP9, MP4 vs WebM, file sizes, and why the master isn't always the best choice. - [How to credit CC BY video in your own videos](https://video.shep.bot/guides/credit-cc-by-video.md): The credit line a CC BY clip needs (title, author, source, licence, changes) and where to put it on YouTube, social posts and client work, with examples. ## Sources - [Prelinger Archives on the Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/prelinger) - [Internet Archive: moving image archive](https://archive.org/details/movies) - [U.S. Copyright Office: duration of copyright (Circular 15A)](https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ15a.pdf) This guide is practical information, not legal advice. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/guides/prelinger-public-domain-films --- # Vertical video for Reels, TikTok and Shorts: find and crop footage > Search with the orientation set to vertical (or add 'vertical' or '9:16' to the query) to get clips that are already 9:16 and fill a phone screen without losing anything. When only landscape footage fits, crop its centre: a 16:9 frame keeps about a third of its width, so start from 4K where you can. Deliver 1080×1920 and keep subjects and text away from the bottom and right edges, where platforms put their buttons and captions. Production guide, updated 2026-10-28. How to find free vertical 9:16 footage, when to crop landscape clips instead, the ffmpeg command for it, and the size short-form platforms expect. ## Vertical originals beat crops Short-form video is watched full-screen on a phone held upright. A clip shot vertically uses that whole frame; a landscape clip has to give up most of its width. Free vertical footage is rarer than landscape, but it exists: some NASA visualisations are published in vertical versions, and Wikimedia Commons has phone-shot clips. Free stock sites like Pexels have large vertical libraries too, and every search links to them. Set **Orientation: Vertical** in the search, or write it in the query: `vertical ocean waves`, `9:16 city night`. The server reads those words as a filter and shows the parsed filter as a chip under the search box. ## The crop maths | Source | 9:16 crop keeps | Enough for 1080×1920? | | --- | --- | --- | | 1920×1080 (1080p) | about 608×1080 | No: upscaled almost 1.8× | | 2560×1440 (1440p) | 810×1440 | No: upscaled 1.33× | | 3840×2160 (4K) | about 1215×2160 | Yes | So for crops, filter by **4K** (`min_resolution=2160`). ## Cropping with ffmpeg Centre crop to 9:16 and scale to 1080×1920, without audio: ```bash ffmpeg -i landscape.mp4 -vf "crop=trunc(ih*9/16/2)*2:ih,scale=1080:1920,setsar=1" -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -pix_fmt yuv420p -an vertical.mp4 ``` `crop=trunc(ih*9/16/2)*2:ih` takes a 9:16 slice from the middle (rounded to an even width, which H.264 needs). Add `:x=` to move it, for example `crop=trunc(ih*9/16/2)*2:ih:x=iw*0.6-ow/2` to centre on a point 60% across. The same idea, scale to cover then crop the centre, is what the [sequence builder](https://video.shep.bot/sequence)'s `concat.sh` does for every shot in a 9:16 sequence. ## Safe zones Each platform overlays its interface on the video: the caption and account name at the bottom, the like, comment and share buttons on the right, sometimes a search bar or tabs at the top. Keep anything important (a face, a product, on-screen text) in the central area of the frame, and pick clips whose action isn't at the very bottom. ## Step by step 1. **Search for vertical originals.** Set Orientation to Vertical in the search, or type 'vertical' or '9:16' with your subject ('vertical ocean waves'). Add a minimum resolution of 1080 so clips fill a 1080×1920 frame. 2. **Fall back to landscape, from the biggest source.** If nothing vertical fits, pick a landscape clip with one central subject, ideally 4K: a 9:16 crop of a 3840×2160 frame is about 1215×2160, enough for 1080×1920 without upscaling. 3. **Crop the centre.** In your editor, set a 9:16 timeline and scale the clip to fill it, then reposition. Or with ffmpeg: crop to the centre and scale to 1080×1920 (command below). 4. **Mind the safe zones.** Keep faces, products and text in the middle of the frame, away from the bottom and right edges where the caption, account name and buttons sit. 5. **Credit and check the licence.** A crop is a modification: CC BY still needs its credit line (say 'cropped to 9:16'). Editorial-flagged clips stay out of sponsored posts. ## Questions **What resolution do Reels, TikTok and Shorts use?** 1080×1920 (9:16) is the standard for all three, and for Stories. Higher-resolution uploads are downscaled; lower ones look soft on modern phones. **Can I make a whole vertical b-roll sequence automatically?** Yes. Set the sequence builder to 9:16: it prefers vertical originals, and its ffmpeg script scales and centre-crops landscape picks, noting each crop so you can reposition it in your editor. **Should I letterbox instead of cropping?** Letterboxing (a landscape clip with bars above and below) keeps the whole frame but leaves most of the screen empty. It suits archive or wide shots that would lose their point when cropped; a blurred copy of the clip behind it fills the bars. ## Try it - [Vertical clips, 1080p+](https://video.shep.bot/search?q=nature&orientation=portrait&min_resolution=1080) - [Vertical NASA visualisations](https://video.shep.bot/search?q=vertical&providers=nasasvs) - [4K landscapes to crop](https://video.shep.bot/search?q=landscape&category=nature&min_resolution=2160&commercial=true) ## Collections - [Free vertical videos (9:16) for Reels and Shorts](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-vertical-videos.md): Free vertical 9:16 stock video for Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Stories: portrait clips that fill a phone screen, with resolution and licence. - [Free vertical nature videos for Reels and TikTok](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-vertical-nature-videos.md): Free vertical nature footage in 9:16: waves, skies, forests and Earth from orbit for Reels, TikTok, Shorts and Stories, with a licence verdict. - [Free 4K nature footage: landscapes and skies](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-4k-nature-footage.md): Free 4K nature stock video only: landscapes, skies, oceans, forests and Earth from orbit at 2160p or more, with direct downloads and licence verdicts. ## Related guides - [Build a b-roll sequence from a shot list (OTIO, ffmpeg, Remotion)](https://video.shep.bot/guides/b-roll-sequence-from-shot-list.md): Turn a shot list into a cut b-roll sequence with free stock footage: pick the frame, review the picks, export to DaVinci Resolve, ffmpeg or Remotion. - [4K, 1080p, codecs and containers: picking the right stock video file](https://video.shep.bot/guides/video-resolution-codecs-containers.md): Which rendition to download: resolution tiers, frame rates, H.264 vs VP9, MP4 vs WebM, file sizes, and why the master isn't always the best choice. - [How to credit CC BY video in your own videos](https://video.shep.bot/guides/credit-cc-by-video.md): The credit line a CC BY clip needs (title, author, source, licence, changes) and where to put it on YouTube, social posts and client work, with examples. ## Sources - [FFmpeg filters documentation: crop and scale](https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html#crop) This guide is practical information, not legal advice. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/guides/vertical-video-reels-tiktok-shorts --- # Build a b-roll sequence from a shot list (OTIO, ffmpeg, Remotion) > Write one line per shot ("city skyline at night (4s)"), pick the frame (16:9, 9:16 or 1:1), the frame rate and the total length, and let the sequence builder pick one commercial-safe clip per shot with alternatives. Then export: timeline.otio opens in DaVinci Resolve or Kdenlive, concat.sh renders the sequence with ffmpeg straight from the sources, remotion.json drives a Remotion composition, and ATTRIBUTION.md holds the credits. Production guide, updated 2026-10-28. Turn a shot list into a cut b-roll sequence with free stock footage: pick the frame, review the picks, export to DaVinci Resolve, ffmpeg or Remotion. ## A shot list that searches well Each line is searched across every source, so write it the way you would search: what is in the frame, where, and how it moves. ```text City skyline at night (4s) Coffee pour close-up (3s) People walking in the rain Ocean waves at sunset Clouds timelapse (5s) ``` Lengths in brackets fix a shot's duration; the rest share the total. The builder looks for clips in your frame's orientation, at least 1080p where possible, at least as long as the shot, commercial-safe and with direct files, never uses a clip twice, and keeps three alternatives per shot. ## What each export is for **timeline.otio** is an [OpenTimelineIO](https://opentimeline.io) timeline with one video track: each clip at its in-point and length, its source URL as the media reference, and its licence in the clip metadata. Import it in DaVinci Resolve or Kdenlive; OTIO adapters convert it for Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro. Your editor may ask you to relink the media to downloaded files. **concat.sh** renders the sequence with ffmpeg in one go. For each shot it seeks to the in-point, reads the clip from the source over HTTPS, scales it to cover the frame, centre-crops, conforms the frame rate, encodes H.264 without audio, and finally joins the parts with the concat demuxer: ```bash sh concat.sh # writes <name>.mp4 next to it ``` **remotion.json** lists, per shot, the source URL, the start frame and the length in frames, plus the composition's size and fps. In a Remotion project: ```tsx import { OffthreadVideo, Series } from "remotion"; import data from "./remotion.json"; export const Broll = () => ( <Series> {data.shots.map((s) => ( <Series.Sequence key={s.id} durationInFrames={s.durationInFrames}> <OffthreadVideo src={s.src} startFrom={s.startFrom} muted style={{ width: "100%", height: "100%", objectFit: "cover" }} /> </Series.Sequence> ))} </Series> ); ``` **ATTRIBUTION.md** and **credits.json** list every clip with its source, author, licence and credit line. ## Before you publish Archive films start part-way in to skip their title cards, but check every cut. Grade the shots so they sit together, especially when mixing NASA, Commons and archive footage. And paste the credits from ATTRIBUTION.md into the description or end credits. ## Step by step 1. **Write the shot list.** One shot per line, described like a search: subject, setting, light, movement. End a line with '(3s)' to fix its length; the other shots share the total length, or get 4 seconds each. 2. **Choose the frame.** 16:9 for YouTube and websites, 9:16 for Reels, TikTok and Shorts, 1:1 for square posts. Pick the frame rate of your project (24, 25, 30, 50 or 60 fps). 3. **Review the picks.** Each shot shows its pick with a hover preview, its licence verdict and notes when the clip is shorter than the shot, below the frame size or a different shape. Swap in an alternative by opening it. 4. **Export.** Download timeline.otio for your editor, concat.sh to render with ffmpeg, remotion.json for a Remotion project, and ATTRIBUTION.md for the description or end credits. 5. **Finish in your editor.** Trim, reframe crops, grade the shots so they match, add music and titles. Keep ATTRIBUTION.md with the project. ## Questions **Does the sequence builder download the clips?** On the website and the hosted API, no: the exports point at the source files, which ffmpeg, Resolve and Remotion read over HTTPS. The CLI and a local MCP server can download the picks (sequence --download, build_sequence with download=true) and then write exports that use the local files. **Why does a shot say it will freeze or be upscaled?** The best clip found was shorter than the shot or smaller than the frame. The ffmpeg script holds the last frame and scales up so the sequence keeps its length and size; pick an alternative or adjust the shot length if that matters. **Is every pick commercial-safe?** By default only clips with a Commercial use OK verdict are picked, and the result says when every pick is cleared. Editorial-flagged picks, such as NASA footage, still need care in ads. **Can I use it from code?** Yes: POST /v1/sequences with the shots and frame, the build_sequence MCP tool, or video-assets-server sequence shots.txt from the CLI. ## Try it - [Clouds timelapse](https://video.shep.bot/search?q=clouds+timelapse) - [City at night, 1080p+](https://video.shep.bot/search?q=city+night&min_resolution=1080) ## Collections - [Free city footage: skylines, streets and traffic](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-city-footage.md): Free city stock video: skylines, streets, traffic and night lights from open archives, with editorial flags where people and brands appear without releases. - [Free cloud timelapses: skies, storms and sunsets](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-cloud-timelapses.md): Free cloud and sky timelapse videos: racing clouds, sunsets, storms and fog for intros, transitions and backgrounds, with resolution and licence. - [Free ocean footage: waves, beaches and seas](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-ocean-footage.md): Free ocean stock video: breaking waves, beaches, coastlines and open sea, plus ocean science from NASA, with resolution, length and licence on every clip. ## Related guides - [Vertical video for Reels, TikTok and Shorts: find and crop footage](https://video.shep.bot/guides/vertical-video-reels-tiktok-shorts.md): How to find free vertical 9:16 footage, when to crop landscape clips instead, the ffmpeg command for it, and the size short-form platforms expect. - [4K, 1080p, codecs and containers: picking the right stock video file](https://video.shep.bot/guides/video-resolution-codecs-containers.md): Which rendition to download: resolution tiers, frame rates, H.264 vs VP9, MP4 vs WebM, file sizes, and why the master isn't always the best choice. - [Using an AI agent to find and license stock footage](https://video.shep.bot/guides/ai-agent-find-and-license-footage.md): Connect Claude Code, Cursor or another agent to Video Assets Server over MCP, then ask for footage, sequences and credit lines under the licence rules. ## Sources - [OpenTimelineIO documentation](https://opentimelineio.readthedocs.io) - [FFmpeg concat demuxer](https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-formats.html#concat-1) - [Remotion: <Series>](https://www.remotion.dev/docs/series) - [Remotion: <OffthreadVideo>](https://www.remotion.dev/docs/offthreadvideo) This guide is practical information, not legal advice. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/guides/b-roll-sequence-from-shot-list --- # 4K, 1080p, codecs and containers: picking the right stock video file > Download the smallest file that reaches your timeline's resolution: for a 1080p edit, a 1080p rendition, not the 4K master, unless you want room to crop, stabilise or reframe. Prefer MP4 (H.264) for easy editing; WebM (VP9) from Wikimedia Commons works in most editors or converts with one ffmpeg command. Match frame rates to your project, and keep clips shot at 50 or 60 fps for slow motion. Production guide, updated 2026-10-28. Which rendition to download: resolution tiers, frame rates, H.264 vs VP9, MP4 vs WebM, file sizes, and why the master isn't always the best choice. ## Resolution tiers | Badge | Short side | Typical frame | | --- | --- | --- | | 4K | 2160 px | 3840×2160 (UHD), 4096×2160 (DCI) | | 1440p | 1440 px | 2560×1440 | | 1080p | 1080 px | 1920×1080, or 1080×1920 vertical | | 720p | 720 px | 1280×720 | | 480p and below | under 720 px | Archive transfers, previews | A frame within 3% of a tier counts as that tier, so a slightly cropped 1920×1050 master is still 1080p. ## Renditions: what the sources give you - **NASA Image and Video Library**: every video as the original MP4 master plus H.264 renditions named large (1080p), medium (720p), small (360p) and two tiny previews. - **NASA Scientific Visualization Studio**: MP4 files per page, often 1080p and 4K, frequently at 30 or 60 fps, sometimes with a vertical cut. - **Wikimedia Commons**: originals in WebM or Ogg Theora (Commons doesn't host MP4), plus VP9 WebM transcodes from 240p to 2160p and a small MPEG-4 rendition. - **Internet Archive**: the uploaded original plus derivatives, usually an H.264 MP4 (often 480p) and an Ogg video. The detail view of every clip lists them all with size, container, codec and file size, and the API's `download?height=1080` picks the smallest file that reaches 1080p. ## Codecs and containers The **container** (MP4, WebM, MOV, Ogg) is the file format; the **codec** (H.264, HEVC, VP9, AV1, Theora) is how the picture is compressed inside it. H.264 in MP4 plays and edits everywhere. VP9 in WebM is efficient and plays in every modern browser; DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro and most editors import it, and anything else can convert it with ffmpeg. Theora is old: convert it before editing. ## Frame rates Most web footage is 24, 25, 29.97/30, 50 or 60 fps. Mixing rates in one timeline works, but motion can stutter when a clip's rate doesn't divide evenly into the timeline's. For slow motion you need headroom: a 60 fps clip plays at half speed on a 30 fps timeline without inventing frames. Timelapses often come at 24 or 30 fps. ## How much is enough - **Same as your output** for clips you show full-frame without moving. - **One tier above** when you want to crop, stabilise, punch in or reframe for vertical. - **Previews** only for rough cuts and storyboards: they are tiny and heavily compressed. A 4K master can run to hundreds of megabytes per minute, and a long one to gigabytes; pull it only when you need it, and keep the credit line with whichever file you use. ## Questions **Why is the original file so much bigger than the 1080p rendition?** Masters keep the full resolution and a high bitrate. Renditions are transcodes made by the source for streaming and quick download. For most edits the visual difference at your output size is small. **Can I convert WebM to MP4?** Yes: ffmpeg -i clip.webm -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:a aac clip.mp4 re-encodes the video to H.264 in an MP4 container, which every editor reads. **What does the 1080p badge mean for a vertical clip?** Resolution tiers here go by the short side of the frame, so a vertical 1080×1920 clip is 1080p, the same as a landscape 1920×1080 one. ## Try it - [4K nature footage](https://video.shep.bot/search?q=nature&min_resolution=2160) - [60 fps footage](https://video.shep.bot/search?q=slow+motion+60fps) ## Collections - [Free 4K nature footage: landscapes and skies](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-4k-nature-footage.md): Free 4K nature stock video only: landscapes, skies, oceans, forests and Earth from orbit at 2160p or more, with direct downloads and licence verdicts. - [Free slow-motion footage: high frame rate clips](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-slow-motion-footage.md): 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. - [NASA data visualisations and science animations](https://video.shep.bot/footage/nasa-data-visualizations.md): Free science visualisations from NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio and others: weather, oceans, the Sun and Moon, often 4K at 60 fps. ## Related guides - [Vertical video for Reels, TikTok and Shorts: find and crop footage](https://video.shep.bot/guides/vertical-video-reels-tiktok-shorts.md): How to find free vertical 9:16 footage, when to crop landscape clips instead, the ffmpeg command for it, and the size short-form platforms expect. - [Build a b-roll sequence from a shot list (OTIO, ffmpeg, Remotion)](https://video.shep.bot/guides/b-roll-sequence-from-shot-list.md): Turn a shot list into a cut b-roll sequence with free stock footage: pick the frame, review the picks, export to DaVinci Resolve, ffmpeg or Remotion. - [Free stock footage for commercial use: what the licences mean](https://video.shep.bot/guides/free-stock-footage-commercial-use.md): Which free stock video you can use in ads, client work and monetised videos: CC0, public domain, CC BY, share-alike, NC, NASA and editorial footage. ## Sources - [FFmpeg H.264 encoding guide](https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/H.264) - [Wikimedia Commons: video](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Video) - [NASA Image and Video Library](https://images.nasa.gov) This guide is practical information, not legal advice. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/guides/video-resolution-codecs-containers --- # Using an AI agent to find and license stock footage > Add the MCP server https://video.shep.bot/mcp to your agent under the name 'video' (in Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http video https://video.shep.bot/mcp). The agent then gets search_videos, get_video, build_sequence and list_sources. Ask for footage the way you would brief an editor, including format and use ("three 4K ocean shots for a client ad"). It searches commercial-safe by default, reports every clip's licence verdict, flags editorial footage and gives you the credit lines. AI agents guide, updated 2026-10-28. Connect Claude Code, Cursor or another agent to Video Assets Server over MCP, then ask for footage, sequences and credit lines under the licence rules. ## Prompts that work ```text Find three 4K clips of ocean waves at sunset I can use in a client ad. No editorial clips. Show me each one's licence, a watch link and the credit line. ``` ```text Build a 20-second vertical b-roll sequence for a Reel: city skyline at night (4s), coffee pour close-up (3s), people walking in the rain, clouds timelapse. Give me concat.sh and ATTRIBUTION.md. ``` ```text For a history video, find 1950s newsreel footage of factories and tell me which clips are public domain and which are unverified uploads. ``` ## What the tools do - **search_videos** searches every source with the query and filters (categories, styles, orientation, minimum resolution, length, frame rate). It parses words like "4k", "vertical" and "10s" itself, and returns links into the stock sites it can't search. - **get_video** returns one clip's licence, verdict, editorial flag, credit line, every rendition and a watch URL, plus a download link for the rendition closest to the height you want. - **build_sequence** picks one clip per shot and returns the plan with an OpenTimelineIO timeline, an ffmpeg script, a Remotion clip list and the credits. - **list_sources** lists the sources with their licences and how they are searched. - **download_video** (local servers only) saves a rendition into `./footage/<category>/` and keeps `ATTRIBUTION.md` up to date. ## The licence rules agents get Every agent that connects is told the same rules: search commercial-safe unless the user says otherwise; report each clip's verdict; never present a non-commercial, unclear or editorial clip as cleared for advertising; pass on credit lines; treat uploader-asserted licences as unverified; and for NASA footage, credit NASA and never imply endorsement or use the NASA logo. You can hold your agent to them. ## Running it locally ```bash claude mcp add video-local -- npx -y video-assets-server mcp ``` The local server adds `download_video`, and `build_sequence` can download the picks and write the exports next to them, so the timeline and the ffmpeg script use the local files. No API keys are needed for any source. ## Step by step 1. **Connect the MCP server.** Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http video https://video.shep.bot/mcp. Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Codex CLI and Gemini CLI take the same URL; the docs have a snippet for each. 2. **Brief it like an editor.** Say what the shot shows, the format (vertical, 4K, at least 10 seconds) and what the video is for (ad, documentary, personal). The use decides which licences are acceptable. 3. **Review before downloading.** Ask to see the picks with their verdicts, editorial flags and watch links (https://video.shep.bot/search?clip=<id>) before anything goes into the project. 4. **Let it fetch the files and credits.** With a shell, the agent downloads the chosen rendition via the download link; a local MCP server (npx -y video-assets-server mcp) writes the files and ATTRIBUTION.md into ./footage itself. ## Questions **Will the agent use non-commercial footage by mistake?** Searches are commercial-safe unless you say the project is personal or non-commercial, and the server instructs agents never to present non-commercial, unclear or editorial clips as cleared for advertising. Still read the verdicts it reports. **Can the agent download video on the hosted server?** The hosted server never writes to disk or streams video. It returns download links that redirect to the source, which an agent with a shell can fetch with curl. For direct downloads, run the MCP server locally. **My agent can't use MCP. What then?** Point it at https://video.shep.bot/AGENTS.md, which explains the REST API and the licence rules in a page, or install the skill from https://video.shep.bot/skill/SKILL.md in Claude Code. ## Try it - [Example: vertical ocean, commercial-safe](https://video.shep.bot/search?q=ocean+waves&orientation=portrait&commercial=true) ## Collections - [Free ocean footage: waves, beaches and seas](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-ocean-footage.md): Free ocean stock video: breaking waves, beaches, coastlines and open sea, plus ocean science from NASA, with resolution, length and licence on every clip. - [Rocket launch footage: liftoffs and missions](https://video.shep.bot/footage/rocket-launch-footage.md): Free rocket launch videos from NASA and open archives: liftoffs, engine close-ups, tracking shots and historic launches, with credit lines and partner warnings. ## Related guides - [Build a b-roll sequence from a shot list (OTIO, ffmpeg, Remotion)](https://video.shep.bot/guides/b-roll-sequence-from-shot-list.md): Turn a shot list into a cut b-roll sequence with free stock footage: pick the frame, review the picks, export to DaVinci Resolve, ffmpeg or Remotion. - [Free stock footage for commercial use: what the licences mean](https://video.shep.bot/guides/free-stock-footage-commercial-use.md): Which free stock video you can use in ads, client work and monetised videos: CC0, public domain, CC BY, share-alike, NC, NASA and editorial footage. - [Editorial vs commercial: model releases and logos in stock footage](https://video.shep.bot/guides/editorial-vs-commercial-footage.md): Why a free clip can still be editorial-only: model releases, property releases, logos and insignia, and how to tell if footage is safe for an ad. ## Sources - [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) - [Claude Code: connect to MCP servers](https://docs.claude.com/en/docs/claude-code/mcp) This guide is practical information, not legal advice. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/guides/ai-agent-find-and-license-footage --- # Glossary of video and licence terms > Plain definitions of the terms editors meet in stock footage: B-roll, 4K, frame rate, codec, container, LUT, CC0, CC BY, editorial use, model release, OTIO. ## Footage ### Stock footage Video shot once and licensed many times, so editors don't have to film everything themselves. It ranges from free public-domain archives to paid libraries that license each clip per use. Also: stock video. [Search stock footage](https://video.shep.bot/search) · [Free stock footage for commercial use](https://video.shep.bot/guides/free-stock-footage-commercial-use) ### B-roll Supporting footage cut over or between the main shots (the interview, the presenter, the A-roll) to show what is being talked about, cover edits and set the mood. Most stock footage is used as B-roll. Also: cutaway, cutaways. [Build a b-roll sequence](https://video.shep.bot/guides/b-roll-sequence-from-shot-list) · [Sequence builder](https://video.shep.bot/sequence) ### Archive footage Footage filmed in the past and reused today: newsreels, educational and industrial films, home movies. Much of it is in the public domain, but the people and brands in frame can still need clearance for advertising. Also: archival footage, found footage. [Public-domain archive films](https://video.shep.bot/guides/prelinger-public-domain-films) · [Newsreels](https://video.shep.bot/footage/public-domain-newsreels) ### Newsreel A short documentary news film shown in cinemas from the 1910s to the 1960s. Newsreels from US government sources and some newsreel companies are public domain; others are still owned by their producers or their successors. [Public-domain newsreels](https://video.shep.bot/footage/public-domain-newsreels) ### Timelapse Footage recorded at a low frame rate and played back at normal speed, so clouds race, cities pulse and plants grow. A hyperlapse moves the camera between frames. Also: time-lapse, hyperlapse. [Timelapse videos](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-timelapse-videos) · [Cloud timelapses](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-cloud-timelapses) ### Slow motion Footage shot at a high frame rate (60, 120 fps or more) and played back at a normal rate, so movement is stretched out. A 60 fps clip can be slowed to 50% in a 30 fps edit without repeating frames. Also: slow-mo, high frame rate. [Slow motion footage](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-slow-motion-footage) ### Motion background Abstract or atmospheric moving footage (particles, gradients, data visualisations, slow skies) placed behind titles, presenters or slides. The best ones loop seamlessly. Also: background loop. [Motion backgrounds](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-motion-backgrounds) ### Seamless loop A clip whose last frame flows into its first, so it can repeat forever without a visible jump. Used for website hero videos, backgrounds and stage screens. ### Data visualisation Animation rendered from measured or simulated data: ocean currents, hurricanes, the Sun's surface, the Moon's terrain. NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio publishes about ten thousand of them, mostly in 1080p and 4K. Also: scientific visualisation. [NASA data visualisations](https://video.shep.bot/footage/nasa-data-visualizations) ### Aerial footage Footage filmed from above, by drone, helicopter, plane or satellite. Drone flights over people or property can be restricted by local law, which is the filmmaker's concern, not yours, but recognisable private property can still need a release for ads. Also: drone footage, drone shot. [Drone footage](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-drone-footage) ### Green screen Footage shot against a uniform green (or blue) background so the background can be removed in editing and replaced with something else. Also: chroma key, keyable. ### Overlay Footage laid over another clip with a blend mode, such as light leaks, film grain, dust, smoke or particles. Overlays are usually shot or rendered on black. Also: light leak, film grain. ## Video files ### Resolution The frame's width and height in pixels. Video Assets Server groups clips by the short side, so a vertical 1080×1920 clip counts as 1080p, the same as a landscape 1920×1080 one. Also: frame size. [Picking the right file](https://video.shep.bot/guides/video-resolution-codecs-containers) ### 4K (UHD) 3840×2160 pixels (UHD), or 4096×2160 in cinema DCI 4K: four times the pixels of 1080p. A 4K source lets you crop, reframe or punch in on a 1080p timeline without losing sharpness. Also: 2160p, UHD. [4K nature footage](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-4k-nature-footage) ### 1080p (Full HD) 1920×1080 pixels, the standard size for web video, YouTube and most social platforms. 720p (1280×720) is HD; anything smaller is SD. Also: Full HD, FHD. ### Aspect ratio The frame's width divided by its height. 16:9 is landscape (YouTube, TV), 9:16 vertical (Reels, TikTok, Shorts, Stories) and 1:1 square. Changing it means cropping or letterboxing. Also: 16:9, 9:16, 1:1. [Vertical video guide](https://video.shep.bot/guides/vertical-video-reels-tiktok-shorts) ### Orientation Whether a frame is landscape (wider than tall), portrait (taller than wide, also called vertical) or square. Within 5% of square counts as square here. [Vertical videos](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-vertical-videos) ### Frame rate (fps) How many frames are shown per second: 24 (film), 25 (PAL broadcast), 29.97 or 30 (NTSC and web), 50 or 60 (smooth motion, sport, slow-motion headroom). Mixing rates in one edit causes stutter unless clips are conformed. Also: fps, frames per second. ### Codec The method that compresses the picture. H.264 plays everywhere; HEVC (H.265), VP9 and AV1 are more efficient; ProRes and DNxHR are editing codecs with large files. The codec lives inside a container. Also: H.264, HEVC, VP9, AV1, ProRes. [Codecs and containers](https://video.shep.bot/guides/video-resolution-codecs-containers) ### Container The file format that wraps the video, audio and metadata streams: MP4 (usually H.264), WebM (VP9 or AV1), MOV (QuickTime, often ProRes or H.264), Ogg (Theora, on older Wikimedia uploads). Also: MP4, WebM, MOV, Ogg. ### Rendition A copy of a video made by the source at another size or format, such as NASA's 'large' 1080p MP4 or Wikimedia's 720p WebM. Renditions are smaller and quicker to download than the original master. Also: transcode, derivative. ### Master The original file as uploaded, at full quality. Masters can be several gigabytes; download one only when you need the extra resolution or bitrate. Also: original. ### Poster frame A still image that stands for a video before it plays. On this site posters load straight from the source and the card plays the source's preview on hover. Also: thumbnail, poster. ### Bitrate How much data the video uses per second, in megabits per second (Mbps). At the same resolution a higher bitrate means fewer compression artefacts and a larger file. ### Log footage Footage recorded with a logarithmic picture profile that keeps more highlight and shadow detail but looks flat and grey until it is colour-graded. Premium stock libraries sell log and RAW masters. Also: LOG, flat profile. ### LUT A look-up table that maps one set of colours to another, used to convert log footage to a normal look or to apply a grade. Free stock from archives is usually already graded, so it rarely needs one. Also: look-up table. ## Licences and rights ### Public domain Works no one owns a copyright in, because it expired, was never claimed, or (in the US) the work was made by the federal government. Anyone may use them for anything, though trademarks and the rights of people shown can still apply. Also: PD, Public Domain Mark. [Free stock footage for commercial use](https://video.shep.bot/guides/free-stock-footage-commercial-use) · [reference](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/) ### CC0 A Creative Commons tool with which a creator gives up their copyright as far as the law allows, putting the work in the public domain: use it commercially, no credit needed. Also: CC0 1.0, public domain dedication. [reference](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) ### CC BY Creative Commons Attribution: use it for anything, including commercial videos, as long as you credit the author, name the licence, link it and say if you changed the clip. Also: Attribution. [How to credit CC BY video](https://video.shep.bot/guides/credit-cc-by-video) · [reference](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ### CC BY-SA Attribution-ShareAlike: like CC BY, but a video that adapts or includes the clip must be released under the same licence. Marked Restricted, because most commercial and client work cannot be relicensed that way. Also: share-alike, SA. [reference](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) ### NC (NonCommercial) A Creative Commons condition that rules out use 'primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation': ads, client work and, in most readings, monetised channels. Also: CC BY-NC. [reference](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) ### ND (NoDerivatives) A Creative Commons condition that forbids sharing adapted versions. Trimming, cropping or grading an ND clip inside your own edit generally counts as adapting it, so ND footage gets a 'no' verdict here. Also: CC BY-ND. [reference](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/) ### Royalty free Pay once (or nothing) and use the clip in your videos without per-view fees. It does not mean copyright free: the licence still sets rules, typically no reselling or re-uploading the clip as stock. ### Editorial use Use in news, documentary, education and commentary, as opposed to advertising or promotion. Footage showing people, logos or insignia without releases is often editorial-only, whatever its copyright licence says. Also: editorial only. [Editorial vs commercial](https://video.shep.bot/guides/editorial-vs-commercial-footage) ### Model release A signed permission from a recognisable person to use their likeness commercially. Without one, footage of them is usually fine for editorial use but not for ads or endorsements. [Editorial vs commercial](https://video.shep.bot/guides/editorial-vs-commercial-footage) ### Property release Permission from the owner of recognisable private property, artwork or a trademark to show it commercially. Logos and branded products in frame are the most common reason footage is editorial-only. ### Attribution The credit a licence asks for: title, author, source and licence (TASL), with links. Every result that needs one carries a ready-made credit line. Also: credit line, TASL. [How to credit CC BY video](https://video.shep.bot/guides/credit-cc-by-video) ### NASA media guidelines NASA's rules for its images and video: generally not copyrighted in the US, credit NASA, don't imply endorsement, don't use the NASA insignia or logotype, and ask before using identifiable astronauts or staff in ads. [NASA footage: what you can do](https://video.shep.bot/guides/nasa-footage-rules) · [reference](https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/) ### Licence verdict Video Assets Server's one-word answer to 'can this go into a commercial video?': yes, yes with credit, restricted, needs a paid licence or releases, unclear (check the terms) or no. Decided the same way for every source. [Video licences explained](https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences) ### Uploader-asserted licence A licence chosen by whoever uploaded the file, which the site does not verify. Most Internet Archive items work this way, so their verdict is capped at 'check the terms'. ## Editing and tools ### Shot list The shots a video needs, in order, each with a description and a length. The sequence builder turns one into a b-roll edit, one clip per shot. [Sequence builder](https://video.shep.bot/sequence) ### OpenTimelineIO (OTIO) An open interchange format for editorial timelines from the Academy Software Foundation. DaVinci Resolve and Kdenlive import .otio files; adapters convert them for Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro. Also: timeline.otio. [reference](https://opentimeline.io) ### ffmpeg The free command-line tool that reads, converts, trims, scales and joins nearly every video format. The sequence builder's concat.sh uses it to render a sequence straight from the sources. [reference](https://ffmpeg.org) ### Remotion A framework for making videos with React code. The sequence builder's remotion.json lists the clips with their in-points and lengths in frames, ready for a <Series> of <OffthreadVideo>. [reference](https://www.remotion.dev) ### In-point and out-point Where a clip starts and stops being used in an edit. On long archive films the sequence builder skips the first part, where title cards usually are. Also: trim. ### Letterboxing Fitting a frame of one aspect ratio into another by adding bars (letterbox or pillarbox) instead of cropping. Cropping to fill keeps the frame full but loses the edges. Also: pillarbox, crop to fill. ### MCP (Model Context Protocol) An open protocol that lets AI assistants call tools on a server. Video Assets Server's MCP endpoint gives agents search_videos, get_video, build_sequence and list_sources. [Coding agents & MCP](https://video.shep.bot/docs/mcp) · [reference](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/glossary --- # Free stock footage collections > Curated collections of free stock video (nature, cities, space, science, archive films, backgrounds and vertical clips) from many video sites, with a licence verdict on every clip, refreshed daily (last change 2026-10-28). Each collection is a saved search; agents can run the same search with `GET https://video.shep.bot/v1/search`. ## Free nature footage: oceans, skies and aerials [All nature footage](https://video.shep.bot/footage/nature.md) - [Free 4K nature footage: landscapes and skies](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-4k-nature-footage.md): Free 4K nature stock video only: landscapes, skies, oceans, forests and Earth from orbit at 2160p or more, with direct downloads and licence verdicts. - [Free cloud timelapses: skies, storms and sunsets](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-cloud-timelapses.md): Free cloud and sky timelapse videos: racing clouds, sunsets, storms and fog for intros, transitions and backgrounds, with resolution and licence. - [Free drone footage: aerials of land and cities](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-drone-footage.md): Free aerial and drone stock video: flyovers of coastlines, forests, mountains and cities, and views from aircraft, with resolution and licence verdicts. - [Free ocean footage: waves, beaches and seas](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-ocean-footage.md): Free ocean stock video: breaking waves, beaches, coastlines and open sea, plus ocean science from NASA, with resolution, length and licence on every clip. ## Free city footage: streets, skylines, timelapses [All city footage](https://video.shep.bot/footage/cities.md) - [Free city footage: skylines, streets and traffic](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-city-footage.md): Free city stock video: skylines, streets, traffic and night lights from open archives, with editorial flags where people and brands appear without releases. - [Free timelapse videos: cities, skies and nature](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-timelapse-videos.md): Free timelapse stock video: city lights, traffic trails, clouds, stars and nature compressed into seconds, with frame rate, resolution and licence. ## Free space footage: launches, Earth and NASA [All space and science footage](https://video.shep.bot/footage/space.md) - [Earth from space videos: orbit views and globes](https://video.shep.bot/footage/earth-from-space-videos.md): Free videos of Earth from space: views from the space station, rotating globes, night lights, weather and auroras from NASA, with credit lines ready. - [Free space footage: planets, stars and missions](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-space-footage.md): Free space stock video from NASA and open archives: planets, the Sun and Moon, galaxies, spacecraft and astronauts, with NASA's credit rules shown. - [NASA data visualisations and science animations](https://video.shep.bot/footage/nasa-data-visualizations.md): Free science visualisations from NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio and others: weather, oceans, the Sun and Moon, often 4K at 60 fps. - [Rocket launch footage: liftoffs and missions](https://video.shep.bot/footage/rocket-launch-footage.md): Free rocket launch videos from NASA and open archives: liftoffs, engine close-ups, tracking shots and historic launches, with credit lines and partner warnings. ## Free archive footage and public-domain films [All archive films](https://video.shep.bot/footage/archive.md) - [Prelinger and public-domain archive films](https://video.shep.bot/footage/prelinger-archive-films.md): Free archive films: Prelinger educational, industrial and advertising films, home movies and early cinema, from the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons. - [Public-domain newsreels and documentary footage](https://video.shep.bot/footage/public-domain-newsreels.md): Free newsreels and documentary films from the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons: wartime, public information and news footage, with year. ## Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops [All backgrounds and slow motion](https://video.shep.bot/footage/backgrounds.md) - [Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-motion-backgrounds.md): Free motion backgrounds: abstract animations, particles, gradients and data-driven loops for titles, slides, stage screens and websites. - [Free slow-motion footage: high frame rate clips](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-slow-motion-footage.md): 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. ## Free vertical video for Reels, TikTok and Shorts [All vertical video](https://video.shep.bot/footage/vertical.md) - [Free vertical nature videos for Reels and TikTok](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-vertical-nature-videos.md): Free vertical nature footage in 9:16: waves, skies, forests and Earth from orbit for Reels, TikTok, Shorts and Stories, with a licence verdict. - [Free vertical videos (9:16) for Reels and Shorts](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-vertical-videos.md): Free vertical 9:16 stock video for Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Stories: portrait clips that fill a phone screen, with resolution and licence. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage --- # Free nature footage: oceans, skies and aerials > Free nature stock video: ocean waves, clouds and sunsets, forests, mountains and drone shots, from public-domain and Creative Commons archives. Nature is the most used b-roll there is: waves under an intro, clouds racing behind a title, a slow aerial over hills while someone talks. These collections group free nature footage by what it shows, from NASA, Wikimedia Commons and the Internet Archive, with deep links into Pexels, Pixabay and the paid libraries for anything they don't have. Every card shows its resolution, shape and length, plays a preview when you hover it, and says whether you can use it in a commercial video. Updated 2026-10-28. ## Collections - [Free 4K nature footage: landscapes and skies](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-4k-nature-footage.md): 28 clips from 2 sources. Free 4K nature stock video only: landscapes, skies, oceans, forests and Earth from orbit at 2160p or more, with direct downloads and licence verdicts. - [Free cloud timelapses: skies, storms and sunsets](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-cloud-timelapses.md): 14 clips from 1 sources. Free cloud and sky timelapse videos: racing clouds, sunsets, storms and fog for intros, transitions and backgrounds, with resolution and licence. - [Free drone footage: aerials of land and cities](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-drone-footage.md): 14 clips from 1 sources. Free aerial and drone stock video: flyovers of coastlines, forests, mountains and cities, and views from aircraft, with resolution and licence verdicts. - [Free ocean footage: waves, beaches and seas](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-ocean-footage.md): 20 clips from 3 sources. Free ocean stock video: breaking waves, beaches, coastlines and open sea, plus ocean science from NASA, with resolution, length and licence on every clip. ## Choosing nature b-roll Match the energy of the edit: slow, wide shots (a calm sea, drifting clouds) sit under voice-over without competing; close, fast shots (breaking waves, a timelapse storm) work as transitions and openers. Keep the light consistent across a sequence: golden-hour shots next to midday ones look stitched together. Shoot or pick wider than you need, since a 4K source lets you reframe and punch in on a 1080p timeline. ## Where free nature footage comes from Wikimedia Commons holds hundreds of thousands of freely licensed videos, many of them nature and timelapse clips, each with its licence recorded per file. NASA's libraries add Earth seen from orbit and its weather. The Internet Archive's public-domain films include mid-century nature and travel reels. Free stock sites such as Pexels and Pixabay have large modern nature libraries too; they can't be searched automatically, so each search links straight to the same query there. ## Licences for nature footage Landscapes rarely need releases, which makes nature one of the safest kinds of stock to use commercially. Check the licence itself: CC0 and public-domain clips need nothing, CC BY needs a credit line, and CC BY-SA would require your whole video to be released under the same licence. Recognisable private property and people in frame can still need releases for ads. ## Questions **Is nature footage safe to use in ads?** Usually, if the licence allows commercial use: landscapes, skies and seas don't need model releases. Watch for people, logos or private buildings in frame, which can need a release for advertising. **What resolution should nature b-roll be?** At least the resolution of your timeline. A 4K clip in a 1080p edit leaves room to crop, stabilise or slowly zoom without losing sharpness, which nature shots often benefit from. ## Guides - [Free stock footage for commercial use: what the licences mean](https://video.shep.bot/guides/free-stock-footage-commercial-use.md): Which free stock video you can use in ads, client work and monetised videos: CC0, public domain, CC BY, share-alike, NC, NASA and editorial footage. - [How to credit CC BY video in your own videos](https://video.shep.bot/guides/credit-cc-by-video.md): The credit line a CC BY clip needs (title, author, source, licence, changes) and where to put it on YouTube, social posts and client work, with examples. - [4K, 1080p, codecs and containers: picking the right stock video file](https://video.shep.bot/guides/video-resolution-codecs-containers.md): Which rendition to download: resolution tiers, frame rates, H.264 vs VP9, MP4 vs WebM, file sizes, and why the master isn't always the best choice. ## Other kinds - [Free city footage: streets, skylines, timelapses](https://video.shep.bot/footage/cities.md) - [Free space footage: launches, Earth and NASA](https://video.shep.bot/footage/space.md) - [Free archive footage and public-domain films](https://video.shep.bot/footage/archive.md) - [Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops](https://video.shep.bot/footage/backgrounds.md) - [Free vertical video for Reels, TikTok and Shorts](https://video.shep.bot/footage/vertical.md) --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/nature --- # Free city footage: streets, skylines, timelapses > Free city stock video: skylines, busy streets, traffic and night lights, plus timelapses of cities and skies, with resolution, length and licence on every clip. Cities say 'modern', 'busy' or 'business' in a second, which is why skylines and street scenes open so many explainers and promos. These collections bring together free city footage and timelapses from the sources searched directly, with links to the stock sites that can't be. Street footage is also where licences meet people and brands, so each clip shows whether it is cleared for commercial use and flags editorial-only footage. Updated 2026-10-28. ## Collections - [Free city footage: skylines, streets and traffic](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-city-footage.md): 6 clips from 1 sources. Free city stock video: skylines, streets, traffic and night lights from open archives, with editorial flags where people and brands appear without releases. - [Free timelapse videos: cities, skies and nature](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-timelapse-videos.md): 28 clips from 2 sources. Free timelapse stock video: city lights, traffic trails, clouds, stars and nature compressed into seconds, with frame rate, resolution and licence. ## People, signs and logos in street footage A crowded street contains people who never signed a release, shop signs and branded cars. For news, documentary and education that is normal; for an ad or a product video it can be a problem, because a recognisable face or logo can suggest endorsement. Prefer wide shots, night shots and timelapses where nobody is identifiable, or check the clip's editorial flag and the source page. ## Timelapses and hyperlapses A timelapse compresses minutes or hours into seconds: traffic becomes light trails, clouds stream over towers. They make strong openers and transitions and rarely show identifiable people. Many are long enough to cut several shots from; check the frame rate, since a 24 fps timelapse in a 30 fps edit will need conforming. ## Questions **Can I use street footage with people in it for a commercial?** Only if the people aren't identifiable or have signed releases. A free licence covers the copyright in the footage, not the rights of the people in it. Use such clips for editorial work, or pick shots where faces can't be made out. **Why are there fewer free city clips than nature clips?** Public-domain and Creative Commons archives lean towards science, nature and history. Modern city footage is the speciality of free stock sites like Pexels and Pixabay, which every search links to. ## Guides - [Free stock footage for commercial use: what the licences mean](https://video.shep.bot/guides/free-stock-footage-commercial-use.md): Which free stock video you can use in ads, client work and monetised videos: CC0, public domain, CC BY, share-alike, NC, NASA and editorial footage. - [Editorial vs commercial: model releases and logos in stock footage](https://video.shep.bot/guides/editorial-vs-commercial-footage.md): Why a free clip can still be editorial-only: model releases, property releases, logos and insignia, and how to tell if footage is safe for an ad. - [Build a b-roll sequence from a shot list (OTIO, ffmpeg, Remotion)](https://video.shep.bot/guides/b-roll-sequence-from-shot-list.md): Turn a shot list into a cut b-roll sequence with free stock footage: pick the frame, review the picks, export to DaVinci Resolve, ffmpeg or Remotion. ## Other kinds - [Free nature footage: oceans, skies and aerials](https://video.shep.bot/footage/nature.md) - [Free space footage: launches, Earth and NASA](https://video.shep.bot/footage/space.md) - [Free archive footage and public-domain films](https://video.shep.bot/footage/archive.md) - [Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops](https://video.shep.bot/footage/backgrounds.md) - [Free vertical video for Reels, TikTok and Shorts](https://video.shep.bot/footage/vertical.md) --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/cities --- # Free space footage: launches, Earth and NASA > Free space and science video from NASA: rocket launches, Earth from orbit, the Sun and planets, and data visualisations in 1080p and 4K, with usage rules. NASA is the single richest source of free space footage: about nine thousand videos in its Image and Video Library and about ten thousand visualisation pages from its Scientific Visualization Studio, much of it in 1080p or 4K. These collections group that footage by subject, alongside space clips from Wikimedia Commons. NASA media is generally not copyrighted in the US, but it comes with rules about credit, endorsement and the NASA insignia, which every card reflects. Updated 2026-10-28. ## Collections - [Earth from space videos: orbit views and globes](https://video.shep.bot/footage/earth-from-space-videos.md): 36 clips from 3 sources. Free videos of Earth from space: views from the space station, rotating globes, night lights, weather and auroras from NASA, with credit lines ready. - [Free space footage: planets, stars and missions](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-space-footage.md): 33 clips from 3 sources. Free space stock video from NASA and open archives: planets, the Sun and Moon, galaxies, spacecraft and astronauts, with NASA's credit rules shown. - [NASA data visualisations and science animations](https://video.shep.bot/footage/nasa-data-visualizations.md): 36 clips from 3 sources. Free science visualisations from NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio and others: weather, oceans, the Sun and Moon, often 4K at 60 fps. - [Rocket launch footage: liftoffs and missions](https://video.shep.bot/footage/rocket-launch-footage.md): 19 clips from 2 sources. Free rocket launch videos from NASA and open archives: liftoffs, engine close-ups, tracking shots and historic launches, with credit lines and partner warnings. ## NASA's rules, briefly Credit NASA. Don't use the NASA insignia (the 'meatball') or logotype, and don't suggest NASA endorses you, your product or your channel. Identifiable astronauts and staff need permission before they appear in ads. Footage that NASA distributes for a partner, such as a launch company, may be that partner's copyright: those clips are marked 'check the terms'. Because of the endorsement and insignia rules, every NASA clip is flagged editorial here. ## Visualisations make great backgrounds The Scientific Visualization Studio renders measured and simulated data: sea surface temperatures, hurricanes, solar flares, the Moon's terrain, galaxies. They have no people or logos in them, are often 4K at 30 to 60 fps, and some come in vertical versions, which makes them some of the best free motion backgrounds available. ## Launch footage Launch videos range from wide pad shots to tracking cameras and slow-motion engine close-ups, often from several angles of the same launch. Check the credit line: launches of commercial rockets are sometimes filmed by the launch company rather than NASA. ## Questions **Can I use NASA footage on a monetised YouTube channel?** Generally yes: NASA media is not copyrighted in the US and NASA allows commercial use with credit. Don't use the NASA logo, don't imply endorsement, and check the credit line for third-party copyright. **Is NASA footage public domain outside the US?** US copyright law doesn't apply abroad, and NASA only states that its material is generally not copyrighted in the US. In practice it is widely used worldwide, but if you work in another country, check how your local law treats US government works. ## Guides - [Free stock footage for commercial use: what the licences mean](https://video.shep.bot/guides/free-stock-footage-commercial-use.md): Which free stock video you can use in ads, client work and monetised videos: CC0, public domain, CC BY, share-alike, NC, NASA and editorial footage. - [NASA footage: what you can and can't do with it](https://video.shep.bot/guides/nasa-footage-rules.md): NASA video is generally not copyrighted in the US, but it comes with rules: credit, no NASA logo, no implied endorsement, astronauts in ads, partners. - [Editorial vs commercial: model releases and logos in stock footage](https://video.shep.bot/guides/editorial-vs-commercial-footage.md): Why a free clip can still be editorial-only: model releases, property releases, logos and insignia, and how to tell if footage is safe for an ad. ## Other kinds - [Free nature footage: oceans, skies and aerials](https://video.shep.bot/footage/nature.md) - [Free city footage: streets, skylines, timelapses](https://video.shep.bot/footage/cities.md) - [Free archive footage and public-domain films](https://video.shep.bot/footage/archive.md) - [Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops](https://video.shep.bot/footage/backgrounds.md) - [Free vertical video for Reels, TikTok and Shorts](https://video.shep.bot/footage/vertical.md) --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/space --- # Free archive footage and public-domain films > Free archive footage: public-domain newsreels, Prelinger educational and industrial films and home movies, with year, licence and editorial flags on every clip. Archive footage gives a video a period, a mood and authenticity that new footage can't fake: a 1950s kitchen, a wartime newsreel, a factory floor in 1938. These collections draw on the Internet Archive's public-domain and Creative Commons films, the Prelinger Archives above all, plus historic footage on Wikimedia Commons. Old footage brings two catches, which every card shows: licences set by uploaders rather than archives, and people and brands who never signed a release. Updated 2026-10-28. ## Collections - [Prelinger and public-domain archive films](https://video.shep.bot/footage/prelinger-archive-films.md): 15 clips from 2 sources. Free archive films: Prelinger educational, industrial and advertising films, home movies and early cinema, from the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons. - [Public-domain newsreels and documentary footage](https://video.shep.bot/footage/public-domain-newsreels.md): 14 clips from 1 sources. Free newsreels and documentary films from the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons: wartime, public information and news footage, with year. ## Public domain is not the whole story A film can be out of copyright while the people in it still have publicity rights, and the brands in it are still trademarks. Archive clips are flagged editorial for that reason: fine for documentary, education and commentary, but think twice before putting a stranger from a 1950s newsreel into an ad. ## Uploader-asserted licences Most Internet Archive items carry the licence their uploader chose, which the Archive does not check, and some modern films are uploaded with a public-domain mark they don't deserve. Those items are capped at 'check the terms'. The Prelinger Archives are different: the collection's own curators state that the films are public domain. ## Working with old film Archive transfers are often 480p or SD, 4:3, with title cards at the start. Pillarbox them rather than stretching, or crop to 16:9 if the framing allows. In a sequence, the builder starts long films part-way in to skip the titles. ## Questions **Are all old films public domain?** No. In the US, works published in 1930 or earlier are now public domain, and many later films entered it because their copyright was never registered or renewed, but others are still protected. Rely on the source's statement, and treat uploader claims as unverified. **Why is archive footage marked editorial?** Historic footage shows people and brands without releases. Copyright may have lapsed, but using a recognisable person to sell something can still infringe their or their estate's rights, so the flag reminds you to keep such clips to editorial uses. ## Guides - [Free stock footage for commercial use: what the licences mean](https://video.shep.bot/guides/free-stock-footage-commercial-use.md): Which free stock video you can use in ads, client work and monetised videos: CC0, public domain, CC BY, share-alike, NC, NASA and editorial footage. - [Editorial vs commercial: model releases and logos in stock footage](https://video.shep.bot/guides/editorial-vs-commercial-footage.md): Why a free clip can still be editorial-only: model releases, property releases, logos and insignia, and how to tell if footage is safe for an ad. - [Public-domain archive films (Prelinger) and how to use them](https://video.shep.bot/guides/prelinger-public-domain-films.md): Where public-domain archive footage comes from, why the Prelinger Archives differ from other Internet Archive uploads, and how to edit old film. ## Other kinds - [Free nature footage: oceans, skies and aerials](https://video.shep.bot/footage/nature.md) - [Free city footage: streets, skylines, timelapses](https://video.shep.bot/footage/cities.md) - [Free space footage: launches, Earth and NASA](https://video.shep.bot/footage/space.md) - [Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops](https://video.shep.bot/footage/backgrounds.md) - [Free vertical video for Reels, TikTok and Shorts](https://video.shep.bot/footage/vertical.md) --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/archive --- # Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops > Free motion backgrounds, abstract and data-driven animations, seamless loops and slow-motion footage for titles, slides, stages and transitions. 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 2026-10-28. ## Collections - [Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-motion-backgrounds.md): 14 clips from 1 sources. Free motion backgrounds: abstract animations, particles, gradients and data-driven loops for titles, slides, stage screens and websites. - [Free slow-motion footage: high frame rate clips](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-slow-motion-footage.md): 19 clips from 2 sources. 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. ## 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. ## Guides - [Free stock footage for commercial use: what the licences mean](https://video.shep.bot/guides/free-stock-footage-commercial-use.md): Which free stock video you can use in ads, client work and monetised videos: CC0, public domain, CC BY, share-alike, NC, NASA and editorial footage. - [NASA footage: what you can and can't do with it](https://video.shep.bot/guides/nasa-footage-rules.md): NASA video is generally not copyrighted in the US, but it comes with rules: credit, no NASA logo, no implied endorsement, astronauts in ads, partners. - [4K, 1080p, codecs and containers: picking the right stock video file](https://video.shep.bot/guides/video-resolution-codecs-containers.md): Which rendition to download: resolution tiers, frame rates, H.264 vs VP9, MP4 vs WebM, file sizes, and why the master isn't always the best choice. ## Other kinds - [Free nature footage: oceans, skies and aerials](https://video.shep.bot/footage/nature.md) - [Free city footage: streets, skylines, timelapses](https://video.shep.bot/footage/cities.md) - [Free space footage: launches, Earth and NASA](https://video.shep.bot/footage/space.md) - [Free archive footage and public-domain films](https://video.shep.bot/footage/archive.md) - [Free vertical video for Reels, TikTok and Shorts](https://video.shep.bot/footage/vertical.md) --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/backgrounds --- # Free vertical video for Reels, TikTok and Shorts > Free vertical 9:16 stock video for Reels, TikTok, Shorts and Stories: portrait clips from open archives, with tips for cropping landscape footage. Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Stories are watched full-screen on a phone, in 9:16. Footage shot vertically fills that frame without losing anything; landscape footage has to be cropped to its middle third. These collections show only clips that are portrait already, from the sources searched directly, with resolution and length on every card. Updated 2026-10-28. ## Collections - [Free vertical nature videos for Reels and TikTok](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-vertical-nature-videos.md): 28 clips from 2 sources. Free vertical nature footage in 9:16: waves, skies, forests and Earth from orbit for Reels, TikTok, Shorts and Stories, with a licence verdict. - [Free vertical videos (9:16) for Reels and Shorts](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-vertical-videos.md): 28 clips from 2 sources. Free vertical 9:16 stock video for Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Stories: portrait clips that fill a phone screen, with resolution and licence. ## Vertical or cropped? A vertical original keeps its full frame and resolution. Cropping 16:9 to 9:16 keeps only the middle 32% of the picture, so a 1080p landscape clip becomes about 608×1080, which phones then upscale. Crop from 4K sources where you can (about 1215×2160 remains), and pick shots with one central subject. ## Safe zones Platforms overlay the caption, buttons and the account name on the bottom and right of a vertical video. Keep the subject and any text in the central area of the frame, and choose clips whose action doesn't happen at the very bottom. ## Questions **What resolution should vertical video be?** 1080×1920 is the standard for Reels, TikTok, Shorts and Stories. Higher sources are downscaled; lower ones look soft on modern phones. **Can I make a vertical sequence from landscape clips?** Yes: set the sequence builder to 9:16. Its ffmpeg script scales each clip to cover the frame and crops the centre, and each shot notes when a pick was cropped so you can reframe it in your editor. ## Guides - [Vertical video for Reels, TikTok and Shorts: find and crop footage](https://video.shep.bot/guides/vertical-video-reels-tiktok-shorts.md): How to find free vertical 9:16 footage, when to crop landscape clips instead, the ffmpeg command for it, and the size short-form platforms expect. - [Build a b-roll sequence from a shot list (OTIO, ffmpeg, Remotion)](https://video.shep.bot/guides/b-roll-sequence-from-shot-list.md): Turn a shot list into a cut b-roll sequence with free stock footage: pick the frame, review the picks, export to DaVinci Resolve, ffmpeg or Remotion. - [4K, 1080p, codecs and containers: picking the right stock video file](https://video.shep.bot/guides/video-resolution-codecs-containers.md): Which rendition to download: resolution tiers, frame rates, H.264 vs VP9, MP4 vs WebM, file sizes, and why the master isn't always the best choice. ## Other kinds - [Free nature footage: oceans, skies and aerials](https://video.shep.bot/footage/nature.md) - [Free city footage: streets, skylines, timelapses](https://video.shep.bot/footage/cities.md) - [Free space footage: launches, Earth and NASA](https://video.shep.bot/footage/space.md) - [Free archive footage and public-domain films](https://video.shep.bot/footage/archive.md) - [Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops](https://video.shep.bot/footage/backgrounds.md) --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/vertical --- # Free 4K nature footage: landscapes and skies > Free 4K nature stock video only: landscapes, skies, oceans, forests and Earth from orbit at 2160p or more, with direct downloads and licence verdicts. 28 clips from 2 sources (Internet Archive 14, NASA Image and Video Library 14), updated 2026-10-28. Picked from a live search and refreshed daily. - Same search in the browser: https://video.shep.bot/search?q=nature&category=nature&min_resolution=2160 - Same search over the API: `curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/search?q=nature&category=nature&min_resolution=2160"` - Details, files and the credit line: `GET https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/{id}` with an id from the table below. - Licence verdicts: "Commercial use OK" (with or without credit) is cleared for commercial videos; anything else must be checked or is non-commercial. "(editorial)" means people, insignia or brands appear without releases: not for ads. See https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences.md - Video is never re-hosted: posters, previews and downloads come straight from the source sites. ## Only clips that reach 4K Every clip here has a frame whose short side is at least 2160 pixels, the 4K UHD tier. That leaves NASA's visualisations and Earth observation footage, and high-resolution uploads to Wikimedia Commons: slow skies, coasts, forests and mountain landscapes. ## Working with 4K Edit with proxies or a smaller rendition if your machine struggles, and relink to the 4K file for the final render. For vertical video, a 4K landscape clip still holds a sharp 1080×1920 crop, which a 1080p clip cannot. Check the frame rate too: many NASA visualisations are 60 fps, which slows down smoothly. Hover a clip to see its preview straight from the source; the detail view lists every size with its codec and file size. ## Questions **Why use 4K footage in a 1080p edit?** A 4K clip lets you crop, punch in, stabilise or reframe for vertical while staying sharp at 1080p. For full-frame shots that don't move, a 1080p rendition is enough and much smaller. **Do I have to download the 4K master?** No. Open a clip to see every rendition the source offers and download the size your project needs; the master can be very large. ## Related collections - [Free ocean footage: waves, beaches and seas](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-ocean-footage.md): Free ocean stock video: breaking waves, beaches, coastlines and open sea, plus ocean science from NASA, with resolution, length and licence on every clip. - [Free drone footage: aerials of land and cities](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-drone-footage.md): Free aerial and drone stock video: flyovers of coastlines, forests, mountains and cities, and views from aircraft, with resolution and licence verdicts. - [Free cloud timelapses: skies, storms and sunsets](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-cloud-timelapses.md): Free cloud and sky timelapse videos: racing clouds, sunsets, storms and fog for intros, transitions and backgrounds, with resolution and licence. - [NASA data visualisations and science animations](https://video.shep.bot/footage/nasa-data-visualizations.md): Free science visualisations from NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio and others: weather, oceans, the Sun and Moon, often 4K at 60 fps. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-4k-nature-footage --- # Free cloud timelapses: skies, storms and sunsets > Free cloud and sky timelapse videos: racing clouds, sunsets, storms and fog for intros, transitions and backgrounds, with resolution and licence. 14 clips from 1 sources (Internet Archive 14), updated 2026-10-28. Picked from a live search and refreshed daily. - Same search in the browser: https://video.shep.bot/search?q=clouds+timelapse&category=nature.sky&style=timelapse - Same search over the API: `curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/search?q=clouds+timelapse&category=nature.sky&style=timelapse"` - Details, files and the credit line: `GET https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/{id}` with an id from the table below. - Licence verdicts: "Commercial use OK" (with or without credit) is cleared for commercial videos; anything else must be checked or is non-commercial. "(editorial)" means people, insignia or brands appear without releases: not for ads. See https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences.md - Video is never re-hosted: posters, previews and downloads come straight from the source sites. ## Skies that move A cloud timelapse turns minutes of weather into seconds of motion: cumulus boiling up, fog pouring over a ridge, a storm front rolling in, colour draining from a sunset. They make strong openers and quiet backgrounds for titles, and they almost never show anything that needs a release. ## Choosing one Look for a steady horizon and no flicker; exposure jumps between frames are common in amateur timelapses. A lot of sky with a sliver of landscape leaves room for text. Mind the frame rate when you mix timelapses with live footage, and the length: many are only a few seconds long, so loop or ping-pong short ones. These clips come from public archives searched live; hover any card to watch it straight from its source. ## Questions **Are sky timelapses safe for commercial use?** Skies rarely contain people, logos or private property, so a clip whose licence allows commercial use is usually safe. Credit CC BY clips with their credit line. **How do I slow a timelapse down?** A timelapse already compresses time; slowing it shows its frame steps. If you need it slower, use one shot at a higher frame rate or blend frames in your editor. ## Related collections - [Free timelapse videos: cities, skies and nature](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-timelapse-videos.md): Free timelapse stock video: city lights, traffic trails, clouds, stars and nature compressed into seconds, with frame rate, resolution and licence. - [Free 4K nature footage: landscapes and skies](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-4k-nature-footage.md): Free 4K nature stock video only: landscapes, skies, oceans, forests and Earth from orbit at 2160p or more, with direct downloads and licence verdicts. - [Free ocean footage: waves, beaches and seas](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-ocean-footage.md): Free ocean stock video: breaking waves, beaches, coastlines and open sea, plus ocean science from NASA, with resolution, length and licence on every clip. - [Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-motion-backgrounds.md): Free motion backgrounds: abstract animations, particles, gradients and data-driven loops for titles, slides, stage screens and websites. - [Free drone footage: aerials of land and cities](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-drone-footage.md): Free aerial and drone stock video: flyovers of coastlines, forests, mountains and cities, and views from aircraft, with resolution and licence verdicts. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-cloud-timelapses --- # Free drone footage: aerials of land and cities > Free aerial and drone stock video: flyovers of coastlines, forests, mountains and cities, and views from aircraft, with resolution and licence verdicts. 14 clips from 1 sources (NASA Image and Video Library 14), updated 2026-10-28. Picked from a live search and refreshed daily. - Same search in the browser: https://video.shep.bot/search?q=drone&category=aerial - Same search over the API: `curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/search?q=drone&category=aerial"` - Details, files and the credit line: `GET https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/{id}` with an id from the table below. - Licence verdicts: "Commercial use OK" (with or without credit) is cleared for commercial videos; anything else must be checked or is non-commercial. "(editorial)" means people, insignia or brands appear without releases: not for ads. See https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences.md - Video is never re-hosted: posters, previews and downloads come straight from the source sites. ## Aerial shots in an edit An aerial shot establishes place in a second: the coastline before a travel story, the city before an interview, the forest before a climate piece. Slow forward or orbiting moves are easiest to cut; fast flyovers work as openers and transitions. A 4K source gives room to stabilise or slow a drift without losing sharpness. ## What to look for Check the frame rate if you plan to slow a shot down, and the length if you need a long establishing move. Footage filmed from aircraft and helicopters, common in NASA's archive, has a different, higher look: mix it with care. Free stock sites have large modern drone libraries; every search links to them alongside these results. Each card plays its preview on hover, straight from the source, and opens to the full player with every rendition and the licence. ## Questions **Do I need permission to use someone else's drone footage?** You need a licence that allows your use, which these clips state. Rules about where drones may fly apply to whoever flew them, not to you as the editor. **Is aerial footage of buildings safe for commercial use?** Wide landscape and skyline shots generally are. A recognisable private building or a trademarked landmark featured as the subject can need a property release for advertising. ## Related collections - [Free ocean footage: waves, beaches and seas](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-ocean-footage.md): Free ocean stock video: breaking waves, beaches, coastlines and open sea, plus ocean science from NASA, with resolution, length and licence on every clip. - [Free 4K nature footage: landscapes and skies](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-4k-nature-footage.md): Free 4K nature stock video only: landscapes, skies, oceans, forests and Earth from orbit at 2160p or more, with direct downloads and licence verdicts. - [Free city footage: skylines, streets and traffic](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-city-footage.md): Free city stock video: skylines, streets, traffic and night lights from open archives, with editorial flags where people and brands appear without releases. - [Earth from space videos: orbit views and globes](https://video.shep.bot/footage/earth-from-space-videos.md): Free videos of Earth from space: views from the space station, rotating globes, night lights, weather and auroras from NASA, with credit lines ready. - [Free cloud timelapses: skies, storms and sunsets](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-cloud-timelapses.md): Free cloud and sky timelapse videos: racing clouds, sunsets, storms and fog for intros, transitions and backgrounds, with resolution and licence. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-drone-footage --- # Free ocean footage: waves, beaches and seas > Free ocean stock video: breaking waves, beaches, coastlines and open sea, plus ocean science from NASA, with resolution, length and licence on every clip. 20 clips from 3 sources (NASA Image and Video Library 11, Internet Archive 7, NASA Scientific Visualization Studio 2), updated 2026-10-28. Picked from a live search and refreshed daily. - Same search in the browser: https://video.shep.bot/search?q=ocean&category=nature.ocean - Same search over the API: `curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/search?q=ocean&category=nature.ocean"` - Details, files and the credit line: `GET https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/{id}` with an id from the table below. - Licence verdicts: "Commercial use OK" (with or without credit) is cleared for commercial videos; anything else must be checked or is non-commercial. "(editorial)" means people, insignia or brands appear without releases: not for ads. See https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences.md - Video is never re-hosted: posters, previews and downloads come straight from the source sites. ## Ocean b-roll Waves are the most requested nature shot there is: under an intro, behind a title, as a calm cut between interview segments. A slow, wide shot of a swell sits under voice-over without competing; close shots of breaking surf and spray work as transitions. Shots taken at golden hour cut together more easily than a mix of midday and sunset light. ## Where these clips come from Wikimedia Commons holds many freely licensed coastline and wave recordings, each with its licence recorded per file. NASA adds the ocean seen from orbit and its science: currents, tides and sea temperature, often in 4K. The Internet Archive contributes older seaside and travel films, which are editorial because of the people in them. For modern lifestyle beach footage, follow the links to Pexels and Pixabay that every search includes. Hover any clip to watch its preview straight from the source, and open it for every rendition and the credit line. ## Questions **Can I use free ocean footage in an ad?** Usually, if the clip's verdict is Commercial use OK: waves and seascapes rarely show anyone identifiable. Check for people on a beach or branded boats, and credit CC BY and NASA clips. **Why are there NASA clips in an ocean collection?** NASA studies the ocean from space: sea surface temperature, currents and tides. Those visualisations make striking b-roll for climate and science videos, and they are free to use with credit. ## Related collections - [Free drone footage: aerials of land and cities](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-drone-footage.md): Free aerial and drone stock video: flyovers of coastlines, forests, mountains and cities, and views from aircraft, with resolution and licence verdicts. - [Free cloud timelapses: skies, storms and sunsets](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-cloud-timelapses.md): Free cloud and sky timelapse videos: racing clouds, sunsets, storms and fog for intros, transitions and backgrounds, with resolution and licence. - [Free 4K nature footage: landscapes and skies](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-4k-nature-footage.md): Free 4K nature stock video only: landscapes, skies, oceans, forests and Earth from orbit at 2160p or more, with direct downloads and licence verdicts. - [Free vertical nature videos for Reels and TikTok](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-vertical-nature-videos.md): Free vertical nature footage in 9:16: waves, skies, forests and Earth from orbit for Reels, TikTok, Shorts and Stories, with a licence verdict. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-ocean-footage --- # Free city footage: skylines, streets and traffic > Free city stock video: skylines, streets, traffic and night lights from open archives, with editorial flags where people and brands appear without releases. 6 clips from 1 sources (Internet Archive 6), updated 2026-10-28. Picked from a live search and refreshed daily. - Same search in the browser: https://video.shep.bot/search?q=city&category=city - Same search over the API: `curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/search?q=city&category=city"` - Details, files and the credit line: `GET https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/{id}` with an id from the table below. - Licence verdicts: "Commercial use OK" (with or without credit) is cleared for commercial videos; anything else must be checked or is non-commercial. "(editorial)" means people, insignia or brands appear without releases: not for ads. See https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences.md - Video is never re-hosted: posters, previews and downloads come straight from the source sites. ## Cities in an edit A skyline says where a story happens; a busy street says "now"; light trails at night say "modern". City b-roll opens explainers, business videos and travel pieces, and wide shots cut under almost any voice-over. ## People and signs Street footage is where licences meet the real world: passers-by, shop signs, branded cars and billboards. That is fine for news, documentary and education. For advertising, pick shots where nobody is recognisable and no brand is prominent, or check each clip's editorial flag. Timelapses and night skylines are usually the safest choices. These results combine public-domain and Creative Commons footage from the sources searched live; modern lifestyle city footage is plentiful on Pexels and Pixabay, which every search links to. Hover a card to watch its preview straight from the source. ## Questions **Can I use street footage with people in it for an ad?** Only if the people can't be identified or have signed releases. A free licence covers the footage's copyright, not the rights of the people in it. Prefer wide or night shots for ads. **Why are some city clips black and white?** Archive films from the Internet Archive show cities from the 1920s to the 1970s. They are great for history and documentary work, and flagged editorial. ## Related collections - [Free timelapse videos: cities, skies and nature](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-timelapse-videos.md): Free timelapse stock video: city lights, traffic trails, clouds, stars and nature compressed into seconds, with frame rate, resolution and licence. - [Free drone footage: aerials of land and cities](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-drone-footage.md): Free aerial and drone stock video: flyovers of coastlines, forests, mountains and cities, and views from aircraft, with resolution and licence verdicts. - [Public-domain newsreels and documentary footage](https://video.shep.bot/footage/public-domain-newsreels.md): Free newsreels and documentary films from the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons: wartime, public information and news footage, with year. - [Free vertical videos (9:16) for Reels and Shorts](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-vertical-videos.md): Free vertical 9:16 stock video for Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Stories: portrait clips that fill a phone screen, with resolution and licence. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-city-footage --- # Free timelapse videos: cities, skies and nature > Free timelapse stock video: city lights, traffic trails, clouds, stars and nature compressed into seconds, with frame rate, resolution and licence. 28 clips from 2 sources (Internet Archive 14, NASA Image and Video Library 14), updated 2026-10-28. Picked from a live search and refreshed daily. - Same search in the browser: https://video.shep.bot/search?q=timelapse&style=timelapse - Same search over the API: `curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/search?q=timelapse&style=timelapse"` - Details, files and the credit line: `GET https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/{id}` with an id from the table below. - Licence verdicts: "Commercial use OK" (with or without credit) is cleared for commercial videos; anything else must be checked or is non-commercial. "(editorial)" means people, insignia or brands appear without releases: not for ads. See https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences.md - Video is never re-hosted: posters, previews and downloads come straight from the source sites. ## Time, compressed Timelapses turn slow change into motion: traffic becomes streams of light, a day passes over a skyline, stars wheel overhead, a flower opens. They are the classic opener and transition, and a good background under titles. ## Sources and quality Public archives hold timelapses from photographers and scientists alike. Wikimedia Commons has many city and sky timelapses under free licences; NASA has Earth seen from the International Space Station as timelapse sequences, credited to NASA. Check for flicker and a steady frame, and the frame rate if you mix them with live footage. Every card shows resolution, length and the licence verdict, and plays its preview on hover straight from the source. ## Questions **What is the difference between a timelapse and a hyperlapse?** A timelapse is shot from a fixed point at a low frame rate and played back at normal speed. A hyperlapse moves the camera between frames, so the viewpoint travels as time races. **Can timelapses be used commercially?** When the licence allows it and no identifiable people or brands are featured. Timelapses blur crowds into motion, which often makes them safer than real-time street footage. ## Related collections - [Free cloud timelapses: skies, storms and sunsets](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-cloud-timelapses.md): Free cloud and sky timelapse videos: racing clouds, sunsets, storms and fog for intros, transitions and backgrounds, with resolution and licence. - [Free city footage: skylines, streets and traffic](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-city-footage.md): Free city stock video: skylines, streets, traffic and night lights from open archives, with editorial flags where people and brands appear without releases. - [Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-motion-backgrounds.md): Free motion backgrounds: abstract animations, particles, gradients and data-driven loops for titles, slides, stage screens and websites. - [Free 4K nature footage: landscapes and skies](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-4k-nature-footage.md): Free 4K nature stock video only: landscapes, skies, oceans, forests and Earth from orbit at 2160p or more, with direct downloads and licence verdicts. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-timelapse-videos --- # Earth from space videos: orbit views and globes > Free videos of Earth from space: views from the space station, rotating globes, night lights, weather and auroras from NASA, with credit lines ready. 36 clips from 3 sources (NASA Image and Video Library 14, Wikimedia Commons 13, Internet Archive 9), updated 2026-10-28. Picked from a live search and refreshed daily. - Same search in the browser: https://video.shep.bot/search?q=earth&category=space.earth - Same search over the API: `curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/search?q=earth&category=space.earth"` - Details, files and the credit line: `GET https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/{id}` with an id from the table below. - Licence verdicts: "Commercial use OK" (with or without credit) is cleared for commercial videos; anything else must be checked or is non-commercial. "(editorial)" means people, insignia or brands appear without releases: not for ads. See https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences.md - Video is never re-hosted: posters, previews and downloads come straight from the source sites. ## The planet as b-roll Few shots establish "global" faster than Earth seen from orbit: a slow pass over clouds and coastlines, city lights at night, an aurora shimmering over the pole, a rotating globe behind a title. These clips come mostly from NASA, from cameras on the International Space Station and from visualisations built on satellite data. ## Real footage and visualisations Footage filmed from the space station shows the real view, often as timelapse sequences. Rotating globes, weather and climate animations are visualisations: accurate renderings of data rather than single camera shots. Both are free to use with credit to NASA. Visualisations from the Scientific Visualization Studio come in 1080p and 4K, some at 60 fps. Open any clip for its renditions and the credit line; hover to preview it straight from the source. ## Questions **Can I use footage of Earth from the ISS in a commercial video?** Footage shot by NASA from the space station is generally not copyrighted in the US and may be used commercially with credit to NASA, provided you don't imply NASA's endorsement. **Are rotating Earth clips real footage?** Usually not: most are visualisations built from satellite imagery. That is no problem for b-roll, but don't present one as a photo taken at a particular moment. ## Related collections - [Free space footage: planets, stars and missions](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-space-footage.md): Free space stock video from NASA and open archives: planets, the Sun and Moon, galaxies, spacecraft and astronauts, with NASA's credit rules shown. - [NASA data visualisations and science animations](https://video.shep.bot/footage/nasa-data-visualizations.md): Free science visualisations from NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio and others: weather, oceans, the Sun and Moon, often 4K at 60 fps. - [Rocket launch footage: liftoffs and missions](https://video.shep.bot/footage/rocket-launch-footage.md): Free rocket launch videos from NASA and open archives: liftoffs, engine close-ups, tracking shots and historic launches, with credit lines and partner warnings. - [Free cloud timelapses: skies, storms and sunsets](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-cloud-timelapses.md): Free cloud and sky timelapse videos: racing clouds, sunsets, storms and fog for intros, transitions and backgrounds, with resolution and licence. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/earth-from-space-videos --- # Free space footage: planets, stars and missions > Free space stock video from NASA and open archives: planets, the Sun and Moon, galaxies, spacecraft and astronauts, with NASA's credit rules shown. 33 clips from 3 sources (Internet Archive 14, NASA Image and Video Library 14, NASA Scientific Visualization Studio 5), updated 2026-10-28. Picked from a live search and refreshed daily. - Same search in the browser: https://video.shep.bot/search?q=space&category=space - Same search over the API: `curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/search?q=space&category=space"` - Details, files and the credit line: `GET https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/{id}` with an id from the table below. - Licence verdicts: "Commercial use OK" (with or without credit) is cleared for commercial videos; anything else must be checked or is non-commercial. "(editorial)" means people, insignia or brands appear without releases: not for ads. See https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences.md - Video is never re-hosted: posters, previews and downloads come straight from the source sites. ## Space, mostly from NASA NASA is by far the largest free source of space footage: mission video, astronauts at work, the Sun in extreme ultraviolet, lunar flyovers, galaxies and nebulae, and animations of spacecraft that no camera could film. Wikimedia Commons adds footage from other agencies and observatories under free licences. ## Using it Space footage carries real rules: credit NASA, keep the NASA logo out of your branding, don't suggest NASA endorses you, and ask before identifiable astronauts appear in an ad. That is why NASA clips carry an editorial flag here. Visualisations of data (the Sun, the Moon, star fields) contain no people or insignia and are the easiest to use as backgrounds. Hover a card to play its preview straight from NASA's servers; open it for the 1080p and 4K files. ## Questions **Is NASA space footage free to use?** NASA media is generally not copyrighted in the US and may be used commercially with credit, as long as you don't use the NASA insignia or imply endorsement. Partner-credited clips need a closer look. **Why do some space clips look like animations?** Many are visualisations or artist's concepts rendered from data or mission plans, since cameras can't film most of space directly. They are labelled as animation or visualisation where the source says so. ## Related collections - [Earth from space videos: orbit views and globes](https://video.shep.bot/footage/earth-from-space-videos.md): Free videos of Earth from space: views from the space station, rotating globes, night lights, weather and auroras from NASA, with credit lines ready. - [Rocket launch footage: liftoffs and missions](https://video.shep.bot/footage/rocket-launch-footage.md): Free rocket launch videos from NASA and open archives: liftoffs, engine close-ups, tracking shots and historic launches, with credit lines and partner warnings. - [NASA data visualisations and science animations](https://video.shep.bot/footage/nasa-data-visualizations.md): Free science visualisations from NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio and others: weather, oceans, the Sun and Moon, often 4K at 60 fps. - [Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-motion-backgrounds.md): Free motion backgrounds: abstract animations, particles, gradients and data-driven loops for titles, slides, stage screens and websites. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-space-footage --- # NASA data visualisations and science animations > Free science visualisations from NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio and others: weather, oceans, the Sun and Moon, often 4K at 60 fps. 36 clips from 3 sources (NASA Image and Video Library 13, Wikimedia Commons 13, Internet Archive 10), updated 2026-10-28. Picked from a live search and refreshed daily. - Same search in the browser: https://video.shep.bot/search?q=science&category=science&style=visualization - Same search over the API: `curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/search?q=science&category=science&style=visualization"` - Details, files and the credit line: `GET https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/{id}` with an id from the table below. - Licence verdicts: "Commercial use OK" (with or without credit) is cleared for commercial videos; anything else must be checked or is non-commercial. "(editorial)" means people, insignia or brands appear without releases: not for ads. See https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences.md - Video is never re-hosted: posters, previews and downloads come straight from the source sites. ## Science you can watch NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio, at Goddard Space Flight Center, has published about ten thousand pages of visualisations: hurricanes forming, sea surface temperatures shifting with the seasons, the Sun's corona, the Moon's terrain from orbit, the planets and their moons. Many come as 1080p and 4K MP4 files at 30 or 60 frames per second, and some have vertical versions for phones. ## As b-roll and backgrounds Visualisations explain without words, which makes them strong cutaways in science and climate videos, and their slow, colourful motion makes them excellent backgrounds for titles and talks. Because they contain no people or insignia, they don't carry the editorial flag that other NASA footage does. Some SVS search results arrive without a poster: open them and the player loads their files. ## Questions **Can I use NASA visualisations commercially?** Visualisations produced by NASA are public domain in the US. Credit NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio. They show data, not people or logos, so they are among the easiest NASA footage to use in commercial work. **Are visualisations accurate enough for a documentary?** They are made by scientists and visualisers from measured or simulated data, and each page describes its source. Say on screen when something is a visualisation rather than camera footage. ## Related collections - [Earth from space videos: orbit views and globes](https://video.shep.bot/footage/earth-from-space-videos.md): Free videos of Earth from space: views from the space station, rotating globes, night lights, weather and auroras from NASA, with credit lines ready. - [Free space footage: planets, stars and missions](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-space-footage.md): Free space stock video from NASA and open archives: planets, the Sun and Moon, galaxies, spacecraft and astronauts, with NASA's credit rules shown. - [Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-motion-backgrounds.md): Free motion backgrounds: abstract animations, particles, gradients and data-driven loops for titles, slides, stage screens and websites. - [Free 4K nature footage: landscapes and skies](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-4k-nature-footage.md): Free 4K nature stock video only: landscapes, skies, oceans, forests and Earth from orbit at 2160p or more, with direct downloads and licence verdicts. - [Rocket launch footage: liftoffs and missions](https://video.shep.bot/footage/rocket-launch-footage.md): Free rocket launch videos from NASA and open archives: liftoffs, engine close-ups, tracking shots and historic launches, with credit lines and partner warnings. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/nasa-data-visualizations --- # Rocket launch footage: liftoffs and missions > Free rocket launch videos from NASA and open archives: liftoffs, engine close-ups, tracking shots and historic launches, with credit lines and partner warnings. 19 clips from 2 sources (NASA Image and Video Library 14, Internet Archive 5), updated 2026-10-28. Picked from a live search and refreshed daily. - Same search in the browser: https://video.shep.bot/search?q=rocket+launch&category=space.launch - Same search over the API: `curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/search?q=rocket+launch&category=space.launch"` - Details, files and the credit line: `GET https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/{id}` with an id from the table below. - Licence verdicts: "Commercial use OK" (with or without credit) is cleared for commercial videos; anything else must be checked or is non-commercial. "(editorial)" means people, insignia or brands appear without releases: not for ads. See https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences.md - Video is never re-hosted: posters, previews and downloads come straight from the source sites. ## Liftoff A launch is one of the most dramatic shots in stock footage: ignition, smoke billowing from the pad, a vehicle climbing on a column of fire. NASA films its launches from many angles, from wide pad shots to long-lens tracking and high-speed engine close-ups, and the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons hold historic launches from the Apollo and shuttle eras. ## Check the credit line Launches involve partners. NASA footage credited to NASA is free to use with credit; footage credited to a launch company or another agency may be theirs, which is why such clips are marked 'check the terms'. NASA's insignia on the vehicle is fine in an editorial context, but don't use it as branding, and don't imply NASA endorses your product. Hover a card to preview the launch straight from the source; open it for every rendition up to the master. ## Questions **Is footage of a SpaceX or Rocket Lab launch on NASA's site free to use?** Not automatically. When NASA distributes a partner's footage, the partner may own the copyright; such clips are marked 'check the terms'. Footage NASA filmed itself is free to use with credit. **Where do I find slow-motion launch shots?** NASA publishes high-speed camera footage of launches and engine tests. Search 'rocket launch slow motion' or check each clip's frame rate in its details. ## Related collections - [Free space footage: planets, stars and missions](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-space-footage.md): Free space stock video from NASA and open archives: planets, the Sun and Moon, galaxies, spacecraft and astronauts, with NASA's credit rules shown. - [Earth from space videos: orbit views and globes](https://video.shep.bot/footage/earth-from-space-videos.md): Free videos of Earth from space: views from the space station, rotating globes, night lights, weather and auroras from NASA, with credit lines ready. - [Free slow-motion footage: high frame rate clips](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-slow-motion-footage.md): 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. - [Public-domain newsreels and documentary footage](https://video.shep.bot/footage/public-domain-newsreels.md): Free newsreels and documentary films from the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons: wartime, public information and news footage, with year. - [NASA data visualisations and science animations](https://video.shep.bot/footage/nasa-data-visualizations.md): Free science visualisations from NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio and others: weather, oceans, the Sun and Moon, often 4K at 60 fps. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/rocket-launch-footage --- # Prelinger and public-domain archive films > Free archive films: Prelinger educational, industrial and advertising films, home movies and early cinema, from the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons. 15 clips from 2 sources (Internet Archive 14, NASA Image and Video Library 1), updated 2026-10-28. Picked from a live search and refreshed daily. - Same search in the browser: https://video.shep.bot/search?q=film&category=archive.film - Same search over the API: `curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/search?q=film&category=archive.film"` - Details, files and the credit line: `GET https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/{id}` with an id from the table below. - Licence verdicts: "Commercial use OK" (with or without credit) is cleared for commercial videos; anything else must be checked or is non-commercial. "(editorial)" means people, insignia or brands appear without releases: not for ads. See https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences.md - Video is never re-hosted: posters, previews and downloads come straight from the source sites. ## Films nobody meant to keep Industrial films about assembly lines, classroom films about manners and hygiene, adverts for cars and kitchens, home movies of holidays: made for one purpose and then forgotten, these "ephemeral" films are now a goldmine of period footage. The Prelinger Archives on the Internet Archive hold thousands of them, roughly from 1903 to the 1980s, and Wikimedia Commons adds early cinema and digitised films from institutions. ## Using them well These are whole films, not stock clips: scrub through for the shot you need, and skip opening titles and countdown leaders. Expect standard definition and 4:3; pillarbox or crop carefully. The films are public domain, but the people and products in them never signed releases, so they are flagged editorial: perfect for documentaries, essays and history channels, risky in an ad. ## Questions **What are the Prelinger Archives?** A collection of 20th-century ephemeral films (industrial, educational, advertising and amateur) assembled by archivist Rick Prelinger. Thousands of them are on the Internet Archive, marked public domain by the collection. **Do archive films need a credit?** Public-domain films need no credit by law. Crediting the archive (for example 'Prelinger Archives, Internet Archive') is good practice. **Why is the licence 'check the terms' on some films?** Outside curated collections such as Prelinger, Internet Archive licences are chosen by uploaders and not verified, so they are capped at 'check the terms'. ## Related collections - [Public-domain newsreels and documentary footage](https://video.shep.bot/footage/public-domain-newsreels.md): Free newsreels and documentary films from the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons: wartime, public information and news footage, with year. - [Free city footage: skylines, streets and traffic](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-city-footage.md): Free city stock video: skylines, streets, traffic and night lights from open archives, with editorial flags where people and brands appear without releases. - [Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-motion-backgrounds.md): Free motion backgrounds: abstract animations, particles, gradients and data-driven loops for titles, slides, stage screens and websites. - [Free timelapse videos: cities, skies and nature](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-timelapse-videos.md): Free timelapse stock video: city lights, traffic trails, clouds, stars and nature compressed into seconds, with frame rate, resolution and licence. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/prelinger-archive-films --- # Public-domain newsreels and documentary footage > Free newsreels and documentary films from the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons: wartime, public information and news footage, with year. 14 clips from 1 sources (Internet Archive 14), updated 2026-10-28. Picked from a live search and refreshed daily. - Same search in the browser: https://video.shep.bot/search?q=newsreel&category=archive.newsreel - Same search over the API: `curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/search?q=newsreel&category=archive.newsreel"` - Details, files and the credit line: `GET https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/{id}` with an id from the table below. - Licence verdicts: "Commercial use OK" (with or without credit) is cleared for commercial videos; anything else must be checked or is non-commercial. "(editorial)" means people, insignia or brands appear without releases: not for ads. See https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences.md - Video is never re-hosted: posters, previews and downloads come straight from the source sites. ## News as it was filmed Newsreels were the cinema's news bulletins from the 1910s to the 1960s: wars and elections, inventions and disasters, sport and fashion. Alongside them, government public-information and documentary films recorded factories, farms, cities and wartime life. Much of this footage is now in the public domain, and the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons make it searchable. ## Before you use it Look at the year, the producer and who stated the licence: footage made by the US government is public domain, while an uploader's public-domain mark on a commercial newsreel needs checking. Expect standard-definition, 4:3, black-and-white transfers with title cards; pillarbox them in a 16:9 edit. Every clip here carries the editorial flag, because real people appear without releases. ## Questions **Are newsreels public domain?** Some are: US government productions were never copyrighted, and many commercial newsreels were never renewed. Others are still owned by their producers' successors. Rely on the source's statement and treat uploader-asserted licences as unverified. **Can I use newsreel footage in an ad?** Be careful. The people shown never signed releases, and real events can be sensitive. Newsreels are flagged editorial: ideal for documentaries, history channels and education. ## Related collections - [Prelinger and public-domain archive films](https://video.shep.bot/footage/prelinger-archive-films.md): Free archive films: Prelinger educational, industrial and advertising films, home movies and early cinema, from the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons. - [Free city footage: skylines, streets and traffic](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-city-footage.md): Free city stock video: skylines, streets, traffic and night lights from open archives, with editorial flags where people and brands appear without releases. - [Rocket launch footage: liftoffs and missions](https://video.shep.bot/footage/rocket-launch-footage.md): Free rocket launch videos from NASA and open archives: liftoffs, engine close-ups, tracking shots and historic launches, with credit lines and partner warnings. - [Free slow-motion footage: high frame rate clips](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-slow-motion-footage.md): 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. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/public-domain-newsreels --- # 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 sources (Internet Archive 14), updated 2026-10-28. Picked from a live search and refreshed daily. - Same search in the browser: https://video.shep.bot/search?q=abstract+background&category=background - Same search over the API: `curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/search?q=abstract+background&category=background"` - Details, files and the credit line: `GET https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/{id}` with an id from the table below. - Licence verdicts: "Commercial use OK" (with or without credit) is cleared for commercial videos; anything else must be checked or is non-commercial. "(editorial)" means people, insignia or brands appear without releases: not for ads. See https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences.md - Video is never re-hosted: posters, previews and downloads come straight from the source sites. ## Behind the words A motion background should move enough to feel alive and little enough to stay behind the text: slow gradients, drifting particles, flowing shapes, a rotating planet or a data visualisation. They sit under titles, lower thirds, presentation slides, livestream overlays, stage screens and website hero sections. ## Choosing one Look for low contrast where your text will go, slow motion and no single element that grabs attention. Darken or blur it slightly in the edit so text stays readable. Abstract and rendered backgrounds rarely contain people or logos, so a clip with a commercial-use verdict is usually safe for any project. NASA's visualisations make some of the most striking free backgrounds; free stock sites like Pixabay have large libraries of abstract loops, linked from every search. ## Questions **Can I use a motion background on my website?** Yes if its licence allows commercial use. Use a small rendition (720p or 1080p), mute it and keep it short. Showing a CC0, public-domain or CC BY clip on your site is allowed; CC BY needs a credit somewhere on the page or site. **How do I make a background loop seamlessly?** Pick a clip marked as a seamless loop, or crossfade the end into the start over half a second in your editor. Slow, uniform motion hides the join best. ## Related collections - [NASA data visualisations and science animations](https://video.shep.bot/footage/nasa-data-visualizations.md): Free science visualisations from NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio and others: weather, oceans, the Sun and Moon, often 4K at 60 fps. - [Free slow-motion footage: high frame rate clips](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-slow-motion-footage.md): 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. - [Free cloud timelapses: skies, storms and sunsets](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-cloud-timelapses.md): Free cloud and sky timelapse videos: racing clouds, sunsets, storms and fog for intros, transitions and backgrounds, with resolution and licence. - [Free timelapse videos: cities, skies and nature](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-timelapse-videos.md): Free timelapse stock video: city lights, traffic trails, clouds, stars and nature compressed into seconds, with frame rate, resolution and licence. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-motion-backgrounds --- # 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 (Internet Archive 14, NASA Image and Video Library 5), updated 2026-10-28. Picked from a live search and refreshed daily. - Same search in the browser: https://video.shep.bot/search?q=slow+motion&style=slow-motion - Same search over the API: `curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/search?q=slow+motion&style=slow-motion"` - Details, files and the credit line: `GET https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/{id}` with an id from the table below. - Licence verdicts: "Commercial use OK" (with or without credit) is cleared for commercial videos; anything else must be checked or is non-commercial. "(editorial)" means people, insignia or brands appear without releases: not for ads. See https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences.md - Video is never re-hosted: posters, previews and downloads come straight from the source sites. ## Time, stretched Slow motion shows what the eye misses: a splash hanging in the air, exhaust curling off a rocket engine, a bird's wingbeat. It adds weight to a moment and works as a pause in a fast edit. ## Frame rate is everything Footage for slow motion is shot at a high frame rate, 50, 60, 120 frames per second or far more for scientific high-speed cameras, and played back at a normal rate. The frame rate in each clip's details tells you how much headroom it has. Some clips here were published already slowed down; others are at their native high frame rate and slow down cleanly in your editor. NASA publishes high-speed footage of launches and tests, and Wikimedia Commons holds slow-motion clips of nature and physics. Hover any card to see its preview, straight from the source. ## Questions **How much can I slow down a 60 fps clip?** On a 30 fps timeline, to 50% without repeated or blended frames; on a 24 fps timeline, to 40%. Slower than that, your editor has to invent frames, which can look smeared. **Is a clip labelled slow motion already slowed down?** Usually yes: high-speed footage is often published already conformed to normal playback speed. Check its frame rate and watch the preview. ## Related collections - [Rocket launch footage: liftoffs and missions](https://video.shep.bot/footage/rocket-launch-footage.md): Free rocket launch videos from NASA and open archives: liftoffs, engine close-ups, tracking shots and historic launches, with credit lines and partner warnings. - [Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-motion-backgrounds.md): Free motion backgrounds: abstract animations, particles, gradients and data-driven loops for titles, slides, stage screens and websites. - [Free ocean footage: waves, beaches and seas](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-ocean-footage.md): Free ocean stock video: breaking waves, beaches, coastlines and open sea, plus ocean science from NASA, with resolution, length and licence on every clip. - [Free timelapse videos: cities, skies and nature](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-timelapse-videos.md): Free timelapse stock video: city lights, traffic trails, clouds, stars and nature compressed into seconds, with frame rate, resolution and licence. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-slow-motion-footage --- # Free vertical nature videos for Reels and TikTok > Free vertical nature footage in 9:16: waves, skies, forests and Earth from orbit for Reels, TikTok, Shorts and Stories, with a licence verdict. 28 clips from 2 sources (Internet Archive 14, NASA Image and Video Library 14), updated 2026-10-28. Picked from a live search and refreshed daily. - Same search in the browser: https://video.shep.bot/search?q=nature&category=nature&orientation=portrait - Same search over the API: `curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/search?q=nature&category=nature&orientation=portrait"` - Details, files and the credit line: `GET https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/{id}` with an id from the table below. - Licence verdicts: "Commercial use OK" (with or without credit) is cleared for commercial videos; anything else must be checked or is non-commercial. "(editorial)" means people, insignia or brands appear without releases: not for ads. See https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences.md - Video is never re-hosted: posters, previews and downloads come straight from the source sites. ## Nature in portrait Waves rolling up a beach, clouds drifting over a ridge, rain on leaves: nature shots make calm, scroll-stopping backgrounds for short-form video, and they rarely raise release questions. This collection keeps only nature clips that are already vertical, so they fill a phone screen at full resolution. ## Tips Put text in the upper middle of the frame, away from the platform's caption and buttons. Slow, steady shots loop more naturally than handheld ones. If the clip you want is landscape, the 4K nature collection has footage that crops cleanly to 9:16, and the sequence builder can assemble and crop a whole vertical edit. ## Questions **Is vertical nature footage safe for sponsored posts?** Nature shots rarely need releases, so a clip whose licence allows commercial use is usually fine. Credit CC BY clips in the caption or on a linked credits page. **What if a nature clip I like is only landscape?** Crop it: a 4K landscape clip still gives a sharp 1080×1920 vertical crop. The 4K nature collection is a good place to find candidates. ## Related collections - [Free vertical videos (9:16) for Reels and Shorts](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-vertical-videos.md): Free vertical 9:16 stock video for Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Stories: portrait clips that fill a phone screen, with resolution and licence. - [Free ocean footage: waves, beaches and seas](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-ocean-footage.md): Free ocean stock video: breaking waves, beaches, coastlines and open sea, plus ocean science from NASA, with resolution, length and licence on every clip. - [Free cloud timelapses: skies, storms and sunsets](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-cloud-timelapses.md): Free cloud and sky timelapse videos: racing clouds, sunsets, storms and fog for intros, transitions and backgrounds, with resolution and licence. - [Free 4K nature footage: landscapes and skies](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-4k-nature-footage.md): Free 4K nature stock video only: landscapes, skies, oceans, forests and Earth from orbit at 2160p or more, with direct downloads and licence verdicts. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-vertical-nature-videos --- # Free vertical videos (9:16) for Reels and Shorts > Free vertical 9:16 stock video for Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Stories: portrait clips that fill a phone screen, with resolution and licence. 28 clips from 2 sources (Internet Archive 14, NASA Image and Video Library 14), updated 2026-10-28. Picked from a live search and refreshed daily. - Same search in the browser: https://video.shep.bot/search?q=vertical&orientation=portrait - Same search over the API: `curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/search?q=vertical&orientation=portrait"` - Details, files and the credit line: `GET https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/{id}` with an id from the table below. - Licence verdicts: "Commercial use OK" (with or without credit) is cleared for commercial videos; anything else must be checked or is non-commercial. "(editorial)" means people, insignia or brands appear without releases: not for ads. See https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences.md - Video is never re-hosted: posters, previews and downloads come straight from the source sites. ## Made for phones Vertical footage fills a phone screen without cropping, which is exactly what short-form platforms want. Free vertical stock is rarer than landscape, so this collection keeps only clips whose frame is taller than it is wide: NASA's vertical versions of its visualisations, phone-shot clips on Wikimedia Commons and other portrait footage from the sources searched live. ## Using vertical clips Keep the subject and any text in the middle of the frame: platforms put the caption, account name and buttons along the bottom and right. Check the resolution badge, since many phone uploads are smaller than 1080×1920. Pexels has a large vertical library too, linked from every search. ## Questions **What size should vertical video be?** 1080×1920 is the standard for Reels, TikTok, Shorts and Stories. Clips here show their real frame size; filter by 1080p to keep only those that fill it. **Can I turn landscape footage into vertical?** Yes, by cropping the centre of the frame, but you keep only about a third of the width. Start from 4K so the crop stays sharp, or let the sequence builder crop for you. ## Related collections - [Free vertical nature videos for Reels and TikTok](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-vertical-nature-videos.md): Free vertical nature footage in 9:16: waves, skies, forests and Earth from orbit for Reels, TikTok, Shorts and Stories, with a licence verdict. - [NASA data visualisations and science animations](https://video.shep.bot/footage/nasa-data-visualizations.md): Free science visualisations from NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio and others: weather, oceans, the Sun and Moon, often 4K at 60 fps. - [Free city footage: skylines, streets and traffic](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-city-footage.md): Free city stock video: skylines, streets, traffic and night lights from open archives, with editorial flags where people and brands appear without releases. - [Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-motion-backgrounds.md): Free motion backgrounds: abstract animations, particles, gradients and data-driven loops for titles, slides, stage screens and websites. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-vertical-videos --- # About Video Assets Server **Video Assets Server** (https://video.shep.bot) is a free search engine and API for stock video. One query searches NASA's Image and Video Library and Scientific Visualization Studio, Wikimedia Commons and the Internet Archive directly, and links into Pexels, Pixabay, Coverr, Mixkit, the paid stock libraries and other sites that can't be searched automatically. It returns b-roll, backgrounds, nature, cities, space, science and archive films as a grid you can watch: a poster, a hover preview, the resolution, shape and length, and a plain verdict on whether you can use the clip in a commercial video. It exists because finding usable footage usually means opening a dozen tabs, scrubbing through clips one site at a time, and then reading licences that were written for something else. Video Assets Server does that comparison once and puts the answer next to the clip. ## Who it is for - **Editors and video makers** who need a shot of waves, a skyline, a rocket launch or a 1950s newsreel now, in the right shape and size, with a licence they can publish under. - **AI agents** (Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, Codex and others) that build videos, sites or apps and need to find, vet and fetch footage on their own. The service is an [MCP server](https://video.shep.bot/docs/mcp) and has an [agent guide](https://video.shep.bot/AGENTS.md). - **Developers** who call the [REST API](https://video.shep.bot/docs/api) or the [CLI](https://video.shep.bot/docs/cli) from scripts, render pipelines, ffmpeg or [Remotion](https://www.remotion.dev). ## Who runs it Video Assets Server is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence and developed in the open at [github.com/arielshad/video-assets-server](https://github.com/arielshad/video-assets-server). The public instance runs on Shep's infrastructure ([shep.bot](https://shep.bot)) as a free, non-commercial service: no accounts, no ads, no paid tier. Anyone can [self-host](https://video.shep.bot/docs/self-hosting) their own copy. ## How it treats sources and licences - **No video passes through this server.** Clips belong to their creators and stay where they are. Posters, previews and the player load straight from the source's servers, downloads are redirects to the source's files, and the server only adds what it writes itself: search results, licence verdicts and credit files. - **Licences come first.** Every result shows its licence, who stated it, a verdict on commercial use and an editorial flag when people, insignia or brands appear without releases, decided by one set of rules for every source ([how verdicts work](https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences)). When a licence is unclear or only asserted by an uploader, the result says so instead of guessing. - **Polite access.** The server identifies itself with a descriptive User-Agent, caches responses, deduplicates identical requests and gives every source its own timeout. Sites whose terms don't allow automated search or aggregation (Pexels, Pixabay, Mixkit and others) are never scraped; they only get a deep link to their own search. See [Sources & licences](https://video.shep.bot/docs/sources) for the full list, [Privacy](https://video.shep.bot/privacy) for what the service records, and [Contact](https://video.shep.bot/contact) to reach the maintainers. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/about --- # Stock video in numbers Counted 2026-10-28 (daily). Machine-readable: `GET https://video.shep.bot/v1/catalog` (same as https://video.shep.bot/catalog.json; daily history at https://video.shep.bot/catalog-history.json). "+" marks lower bounds. ## Totals - Video listings: 520,959+ from 3 counted sources (a listing is one video item on its source) - Free: 520,959+ - Free with direct download links from the source: 520,959+ - Released in the last 30 days (sources that date their listings): 0 ## By category - Space: 10,601 - Archive & vintage: 10,461 ## By source | Source | Listings | Free | Mostly | New (30 days) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Internet Archive](https://archive.org) | 502,626 | 502,626 | Archive & vintage 10,461 | – | | [NASA Scientific Visualization Studio](https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov) | 10,601 | 10,601 | Space 10,601 | – | | [NASA Image and Video Library](https://images.nasa.gov) | 7,732+ | 7,732 | – | – | ## Live usage Searches, clip views, downloads, MCP tool calls and per-source health change every minute: read them from `GET https://video.shep.bot/v1/stats` (schema `Stats` in https://video.shep.bot/openapi.json). Counts are anonymous totals: no search terms, IP addresses or user agents. ## Recently added sources - [ActionVFX](https://www.actionvfx.com) (`actionvfx`), added 2026-10-28 - [Adobe Stock](https://stock.adobe.com/video) (`adobestock`), added 2026-10-28 - [Artgrid](https://artgrid.io) (`artgrid`), added 2026-10-28 - [Coverr](https://coverr.co) (`coverr`), added 2026-10-28 - [Envato Elements](https://elements.envato.com/stock-video) (`envato`), added 2026-10-28 - [Europeana](https://www.europeana.eu) (`europeana`), added 2026-10-28 All sources: https://video.shep.bot/docs/sources.md --- # Contact Video Assets Server is maintained in the open on GitHub. There is no support email or phone line: GitHub is the fastest way to reach the people who run it. ## Support and bug reports Open an issue at [github.com/arielshad/video-assets-server/issues](https://github.com/arielshad/video-assets-server/issues). Helpful details: the search query or clip id (for example `nasa:GSFC_20161212_Tidal_m12450_Magnetic`), the URL or MCP tool you called, what you expected and what happened. For API problems, include the response status and body. For a clip that won't play, say which browser you used. ## Security Please do not open a public issue for a vulnerability. Report it privately through GitHub's security advisories at [github.com/arielshad/video-assets-server/security/advisories/new](https://github.com/arielshad/video-assets-server/security/advisories/new). You will get an acknowledgement, and fixes are released as soon as they are ready. ## Video sites and licences If you run one of the sites the service searches or links to and want your source changed, rate-limited further or removed, or if a licence or verdict is shown incorrectly, open an issue with the clip id or source name. Requests from site owners are handled first. Video is never hosted here, so questions about using a specific clip go to its creator on the source site. If you are a creator and believe a clip of yours appears under the wrong licence on a source site, contact that site first: Video Assets Server shows what the source states, and will mark or hide the result once the source corrects it. ## Partnerships and integrations Building something on top of the API or the MCP server, or want your footage library added as a source? Open an issue describing the integration. Sources are searched directly only when their terms allow automated search and the integration passes the test suite against the live site; the others get deep links. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/contact --- # Privacy Video Assets Server has no accounts, no sign-up, no advertising and no cookies. This page explains what the public service at https://video.shep.bot records and why. ## What the service records - **Search events.** For each search the server writes a log line with the search text, the filters, the number of results, which interface was used (website, API or MCP) and a coarse client family derived from the User-Agent (for example "browser", "curl" or "claude-code"). It does not put your IP address, API key or any cookie in these lines. They are used to improve ranking, to find searches that return nothing and to choose topics for the [footage collections](https://video.shep.bot/footage). Logs are deleted after a short retention period. A collection page never shows who searched or how often. - **Aggregate metrics.** Counters such as searches per minute, downloads per source, page views per page and per-source error rates. They contain no search text and no personal data. Their totals are public on the [statistics](https://video.shep.bot/stats) page. - **Which AI tools use the MCP server.** For MCP requests the server records the name and version the AI tool declares when it connects (for example "claude-code 2") and, where configured, a network category (an AI company's cloud, a cloud provider or an internet provider) looked up locally from your IP address. The address itself is not stored or logged. To count distinct callers per day, the server keeps a one-way hash of your IP address and User-Agent in memory, mixed with a random value that is replaced every day and never saved. - **Request logs.** Like any website, the hosting infrastructure keeps standard request logs (which include IP addresses and User-Agents) for security and operations, for a limited time. - **Rate limiting.** To keep the free service fair, the server counts requests per client IP address in memory for one minute at a time. These counters are never written to disk. ## Website visit counts If the operator configures it, the website loads a self-hosted [Umami](https://umami.is) script, which counts page views without cookies: the page address, the referring site, browser, operating system, device type, screen size, language and an approximate country. Before anything is sent, the page strips everything except `utm_*` tags from addresses, so what you search for is never part of it. If your browser sends Do Not Track, nothing is sent, and blocking the script does not break the site. No analytics company such as Google receives anything. ## If you run it yourself When you run Video Assets Server on your own machine or server (from source, with the `ghcr.io/arielshad/video-assets-server` Docker image, or as a local MCP server), **telemetry is off by default**. It is only sent if you opt in by setting `VIDEO_SERVER_TELEMETRY=1` (and a telemetry website id). Then it sends anonymous event counts only: one per search, clip lookup, download and MCP tool call, with fixed labels (interface, client family, source, category filter, outcome, version and operating system). Never what you search for, clip ids, file paths, URLs, API keys or your machine's name. `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` always turns it off. ## What stays in your browser The website stores two optional preferences in your browser's local storage: your light/dark theme choice and, only on self-hosted servers that require one, the API key you entered. The API key is sent only to the same server, in a request header. ## Third parties you contact - **Posters, previews and the player** load directly from the video sites (NASA, Wikimedia Commons, the Internet Archive), so those sites see your IP address while you browse and watch. No video passes through this server. - **Downloads** are redirects to the file on the source's servers. Credit files (ATTRIBUTION.md, credits.json, and the zip that holds them) are written by this server and contain no video. - **Links** to source pages and to linked searches (such as Pexels, Pixabay or Shutterstock) take you to those sites, which have their own privacy policies. ## Your choices and contact Because no account or profile exists, there is nothing to export or delete for an individual visitor beyond the time-limited logs above. Questions or requests: see [Contact](https://video.shep.bot/contact). This policy may change as the service evolves; the current version always lives at https://video.shep.bot/privacy. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/privacy