Free video
Free video refers to video content that is free to use for any purpose, or licensed under a free and open license to such an effect, at least for distribution, and at most for modification and commercial usage. This can also apply to graphical animations.
Free video and included media
To be a free video - referring to freedom (as in free software), not to price - a video's entire content must be previously licensed under a free content license. A video is considered legally unfree if any portion of the video was previously licensed under a proprietary license that restricts usage and prevents derivations and commercial usage.
Under this approach, a video cannot be considered free if it includes snippets or whole copies of any text, image, video or audio that has been previously licensed under a proprietary, unfree license. The legal concept of
Free video licenses
At the moment, there are no known
Free video formats
While the discussion on free video is related to an extent to the advocacy for
However, it is arguable that the free software movement stands to gain from the licensing of video and audio in a freely-usable format under a free content license.
Free video on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Commons
Free video is used extensively on Wikipedia, and is also the exclusive type of video content stored on the Wikimedia Commons. While Wikipedia allows for the uploading of fair use video (only in Ogg Theora format), the Wikimedia Commons strictly forbids the uploading of fair use video or any video containing depiction of symbols or other content that is prior licensed under a proprietary license.
See also
- Free music
- Open content
- Open source film