Many businesses are recognizing the power of video and how they can use it to connect with customers.
Video marketing is now an open secret that people use to target their ideal audience.
We see videos in various types, formats and forms.
Whether on a business’ website, through emails or on their social pages, video is everywhere.
Sometimes creating original videos can be time consuming and expensive.
As a result, many creators and small business owners are turning to royalty-free stock footage sites.
These sites provide high-quality footage that you can use for various purposes.
In this post, we’ll be sharing some of the best royalty-free stock footage sites.
Some of these sites offer free footage while others require one-time or subscription fees.
Video Statistics
Let’s quickly examine the statistics on video and why this format is becoming increasingly popular.
A study involving 500 small business owners and marketers found that almost 77% of the participants regard video as an important online marketing tool [1].
In the same study, most of the marketers rated video as the most effective format for digital marketing.
Video is a powerful format.
Forecasts show that digital videos will constitute over 82% of internet traffic by consumers by 2022 [2].
When people open your site, social media page or newsletter, they can instantly connect with videos.
Even if you’re not always sharing videos you created, you can access a ton of resources using royalty-free stock footage sites.
Whether you’re looking for snippets to add to a presentation or accompany social media captions, these stock video websites are available.
We’ve highlighted some of them below and they all have a great collection of HD stock video clips
10 Best Royalty-Free Stock Video Sites
Here we will list what we believe to be the ten best options for you to check out.
Pexels
Pexels is one of the largest stock photo and footage sites.
Through the website, you can access thousands of free stock footage from a variety of categories.
The best part about Pexels is that despite it being free to use, you also don’t need to add attributions when you post.
All the images and videos on the Pexels site are free to use even for commercial use.
So, you’re free to use them on your website, social media pages, blog and many other places.
However, Pexels has a few basic rules regarding footage usage which you can find here.
There are further details and information under the license and terms of service pages.
If you’re looking for short clips in HD and 4K quality, you can find these on Pexels.
Perfect for 4k and HD clips that can be used as b roll footage.
Shutterstock
Like Pexels, Shutterstock is another widely popular stock footage and image site.
This option offers a wider variety of categories you can choose from.
Some of these categories include looping videos, green screen videos, animation, stop motion, time lapse videos, video backgrounds and many more.
The site also makes it easy for you to explore and select based on categories.
Some of these include people, nature, technology and holidays.
You can even choose Zoom video backgrounds to spice up those zoom meetings!
Shutterstock offers videos in SD, HD and 4K formats.
Each of these formats come at varying prices.
The site also offers subscription packages for people who often require stock footage constantly.
So, instead of purchasing a single footage every time, you can opt for a subscription based on your needs.
When you sign up for a free Shutterstock account, you get access to 40 free royalty-free videos.
However, note that there’s a footage use license that you should familiarize yourself with.
Artgrid
Artgrid offers a wide range of options when it comes to stock footage.
On this site, you can sort based on collections, categories and even by filmmakers.
Some of the video themes you can explore include green planet, transportation, arts, fashion, vintage and time lapse.
Artgrid works on a subscription plan ranging from approximately $25 to $50 per month.
With a valid subscription, you can access a catalog of footage for private and commercial use on various platforms.
Artgrid offers a 14-day money-back guarantee on its subscription plans.
With this footage site, you can access video clips of up to 8K video quality.
If you’re not ready to commit financially or want to test the platform, you can create a trial account with Artgrid.
This allows you to download watermarked content from the catalog.
Pixabay
Pixabay is another free stock footage and photo site similar to Pexels.
Although the range and formats are not as vast as paid sites like Shutterstock or Artgrid, you can still get a decent range of videos.
The contents on Pixabay are free to use and edit.
Also, the videos don’t require attribution. You can use the downloaded videos for private and commercial uses.
Pixabay offers HD and 4K videos with most of them being under 1 minute long.
You’ll find several videos on nature and animals on this site.
Pond5
Pond5 has over 25 million royalty-free videos, photos, music and sound effects.
On the site, it states that over 20000 videos are uploaded each day.
You can search for footage through curated collections like trending, visual style, nature and mood.
You can also explore categories that highlight options like aerials, sports, technology, holidays, lifestyle and many more.
The price range varies depending on the type of footage you want to acquire.
You also have HD and 4K formats to choose from, with some videos having only the HD option.
Videezy
Videezy is an online stock video website that offers HD and 4K resolution clips.
Plus, it has great aerial drone footage!
The site’s videos vary in quality but there are plenty of professional-quality ones too.
All the clips on Videezy can be downloaded as MP4 files with their resolutions labeled below each thumbnail for easy viewing purposes.
There aren’t any free premium downloads like some other sites offer, though.
You’ll need to go pro if you want those new shots from a helicopter’s point of view or your product filmed by drones vs something more run-of-the mill .
That said, this site does still have plenty of high definition (HD) and ultra high definition (UHD/4K
Coverr
Coverr offers an extensive library of free stock footage.
The owners launched the site to “empower entrepreneurs, dreamers and builders”.
Coverr is completely free and the site gives you access to use the videos for various purposes.
You are also free to use the videos you download for commercial purposes.
Most of the videos on the site are in HD format with limited options in 4K quality.
You can use these videos for Zoom backgrounds, social media content, advertisements and so on.
Coverr’s license however doesn’t cover using videos that highlight brands, logos and trademarks.
It also doesn’t cover videos with people’s faces if they’re recognisable.
Depending on how you wish to use such videos, Coverr suggests requesting permission from the brand or individual.
Vidsplay
Vidsplay is a website with free stock videos and new footage added each week.
The quality varies, but there’s plenty of professional clips to be found.
All the content on Vidsplay can be used for personal or commercial purposes without any restrictions as long as you place credit link somewhere visible in your production (usually at the end).
Most of these are delivered in MP4 form which makes them easy to use because they don’t require conversion before uploading into editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2018
Life of Vids
Life of Vids is a site that offers free stock videos, clips, and loops.
Ownership has been passed down from Canada’s Leeroy marketing agency, to the website itself due to a lack of cost-effective copyright protection in North America for promotional content such as video footage.
Lifeofvids provides high quality MP4 files which can be used by anyone with attribution or commercial purposes without asking permission first (though redistribution outside their own platform is limited).
They offer HD resolution selections where you get 10 downloads per item so long as it exists within one particular category like food or nature.
That said, there are more than 20 categories available on this site including people at work and drone photography too!
Dareful
Dareful is a video site full of high-quality, free stock footage that you can use however you want.
Dareful was created by Joel Holland who is the creator and founder of Storyblocks; one of the most popular sites for images and videos on Pexels.
The categories are easy to find with an awesome collection including: aerial shots, fireworks, mountains lakes beach summer etc., which make it possible to find what your project needs in seconds!
Explore Stock Footage
This list offers a range of royalty-free sites that offer high-quality footage available for commercial and non-commercial purposes.
Some of these sites offer free footage while others require one-time fees.
If you’re just starting a business or require footage for private use, you can explore the free options.
However, as you grow, you might want to consider the paid-for sites.
These sites generally offer more options, better formats and more unique varieties.
As a rule of thumb, be sure to read and follow the license terms to make proper and legal use of the content.
Most importantly, have fun sourcing, editing and sharing videos.
Summary
Having access to the best free stock video footage for personal and commercial use is vital for all content creators.
Whether these are free or paid quality free stock videos, you need to always be focusing on video quality.
Add to this, thee sites often provide a large library of hd stock footage, 4k videos, aerial footage, motion graphics, drone footage, stock photos for you to download for personal or commercial projects.
Having high quality video clips available makes your video creation much easier.
By choosing one of the resources in this post, you’ll have access to the best free stock video sites around.
Finally, whatever stock video site you go with, please make sure to understand the attribution license.
So, which free stock video websites do you use?
Let us know below in the comments and also please share this post with anyone you feel would get value from it.