Is this image copyrighted?
Almost certainly, unless you can show otherwise. A photo is protected from the moment it is taken, whether or not it carries a © mark. What you can find out is who owns it and what they allow. Upload the image to read the ownership details saved in the file, then follow the steps below to find the source and its licence.
Drop or paste an image to read its ownership details
Copyright notice, creator, credit line and licence terms, when the file still has them.
Choose an image →Use the original file if you can. Screenshots and images saved from social media usually lose these details.
How to check if an image is copyrighted
- Read the ownership details in the file. Photographers, agencies and many cameras write a copyright notice, the creator's name, a credit line and sometimes licence terms into the file. The reader above shows them.
- Find the original. Run a reverse image search with Google Lens, TinEye or Bing Visual Search and follow the earliest, largest copy. It usually leads to the photographer, an agency or a stock library. How to find where an image came from.
- Read the licence where you found it. A stock library, a Creative Commons notice or a terms page says what you may do. A watermarked preview on a stock site is not a licence.
- Search the registration records if it matters. In the US, the Copyright Office's public records list registered works. Registration is not required for protection, so a missing record proves nothing.
- Ask. If no licence covers your use, contact the owner and ask for permission in writing.
No © mark does not mean free to use
Under the Berne Convention, which most countries follow, copyright applies automatically when a work is created. A missing notice, missing metadata or a missing registration says nothing about whether an image is protected. The details are also easy to lose. Instagram, Facebook, X and WhatsApp remove them from every upload, so most images saved from social media show nothing here even when they belong to someone.
What the fields in a file mean
Each field is what the file claims. Anyone can write or change them, so treat them as a lead to confirm at the source, not as proof of ownership.
Royalty-free, public domain and Creative Commons
- Royalty-free means you pay for a licence once instead of for each use. It does not mean free of charge or free of conditions.
- Public domain means no one holds copyright, because the term ran out, the owner gave it up (for example with CC0), or the work was never protected. Works made by US federal government employees as part of their jobs are generally public domain in the US.
- Creative Commons licences let you use a work on stated conditions, most often credit (BY), no commercial use (NC) or no changes (ND). Follow the exact licence named next to the image.
Are AI-generated images copyrighted?
In the US, the Copyright Office's position is that copyright protects human authorship, so material generated entirely by AI is not protected, while a person's own selection, arrangement or changes can be. Other countries take different positions. An AI image can still copy someone else's protected work or a trademark, and the service that made it may set terms of its own. The reader above shows AI-generation tags and Content Credentials when the file has them, and the AI image checker looks at the pixels.
This page is not legal advice. It explains how to find out who owns an image and what they allow. For a commercial use or a dispute, ask a lawyer.
Frequently asked questions
Is every image on the internet copyrighted?
Most are. A photo or drawing is protected automatically when it is created, in the US and the EU usually for the creator's life plus 70 years. The exceptions are works whose term has run out, works the owner has released into the public domain, and some government works.
How do I check if an image is copyrighted?
Assume it is. Then read the copyright notice and creator saved in the file, run a reverse image search to find the original, and read the licence where the original is published. If no licence covers your use, ask the owner.
Does no copyright notice mean an image is free to use?
No. Copyright does not depend on a © notice or on registration, and the details saved in a file are often stripped when images are shared online.
What does royalty-free mean?
You pay for a licence once and can then use the image as that licence allows, without paying again for each use. It does not mean free of charge or free of conditions.
Are AI-generated images copyrighted?
In the US, the Copyright Office's position is that material generated entirely by AI is not protected, because copyright requires a human author, while a person's own edits or arrangement can be. Other countries take different positions.
Is my image stored?
No. The image is deleted right after it is read.
Related: metadata checker · where did this image come from? · Content Credentials checker · remove metadata from your own photos.