Creative Commons guide: licenses, attribution and reuse

Pick the right Creative Commons license by working through the four condition icons, not by reading every deed. Start at the original source page, not a repost or a platform badge. This guide covers the full 4.0 suite, the two public-domain tools, attribution, adaptation, and the limits of what a CC license can and cannot do.

Decide whether you are licensing your own work or reusing someone else's. The two paths below lead to different checklists. If you are a creator, choose an icon set and apply the notice. If you are a reuser, verify the license and attribute.

• Six 4.0 Licenses: CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC BY-ND, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-SA, CC BY-NC-ND. All require attribution.
• Four Conditions: BY (Attribution), SA (ShareAlike), NC (NonCommercial), ND (NoDerivatives).
• Two Public-Domain Tools: CC0 (dedication with waiver) and Public Domain Mark (label for material believed free of copyright). Not part of the six-license suite.
• Version: Use 4.0 International for new licenses unless you have a specific reason for an older port.
• No Registration: Creative Commons does not register works, verify ownership, or enforce licenses. The license is a direct offer from the licensor.

The current suite contains six 4.0 International licenses. All require attribution. The six are:

1. CC BY 4.0, sharing and adaptations, including commercial use; attribution required.
2. CC BY-SA 4.0, the above, plus shared adaptations must use BY-SA 4.0 or a license Creative Commons has officially named as compatible.
3. CC BY-ND 4.0, sharing, including commercial sharing; adapted material may be made for private use but may not be shared under the license.
4. CC BY-NC 4.0, sharing and adaptations only for NonCommercial purposes.
5. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, NonCommercial plus ShareAlike for shared adaptations.
6. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, NonCommercial sharing of unadapted material only.

CC0 And The Public Domain Mark Are Not Licenses

CC0 is a public-domain dedication with a waiver, a fallback license where the waiver is not effective, and a non-assertion promise limited to remaining Copyright and Related Rights. It aims to remove copyright and related-right conditions as far as the affirmer is legally able. The Public Domain Mark changes no rights; it marks material believed to be free of known copyright restrictions worldwide. Neither tool guarantees that privacy, publicity, trademark, patent, contract, cultural-heritage or other law permits a use. Do not call CC0 or PDM one of the six licenses.

Confirm you hold the copyright or have express authority from the copyright holder. Check joint authors, employment ownership, commissioned-work terms, performer rights, samples and third-party inclusions first. A license notice should identify the work and creator, name and link the exact license and version, link the source where useful, and clearly exclude material not covered. No registration with Creative Commons is required. The official chooser helps create a notice but does not validate ownership.

Which License Do You Apply?

Ask yourself three questions. Do you mind if someone uses your work commercially? If yes, avoid NC. Do you mind if someone adapts your work and shares it? If yes, avoid ND or SA. Do you want adaptations to carry the same license? If yes, pick SA. That leaves the six options. For most new work, CC BY 4.0 is the most permissive and the simplest. Use version 4.0 for a new license unless a specific, informed reason requires an older version or port. Do not apply a CC license to software code, to a trademark as though it granted trademark permission, to material you do not control, or to a work meant to remain confidential.

Marking Your Work

A complete notice includes the creator's name, the title of the work, the source URL, and a link to the exact license deed. The official chooser outputs this in a standard format. Attach the notice visibly near the work. If you are uploading to a platform, check the platform's terms for any conflict: platforms with exclusive sublicensing terms, download restrictions or DRM can create a conflict with a CC license. Read the platform's current help page rather than assuming a badge resolves the issue.

Open the original source page. Do not rely on a repost, search thumbnail or platform filter alone. Record the creator, source URL, exact license and version, displayed notices, exclusions and the date checked. Preserve a screenshot when the use matters.

Test Your Intended Use

Confirm the intended activity against the four conditions. Ask four questions. Are you sharing the work unchanged? Yes, you are fine with any license. Are you adapting the work? Yes, check ND. ND prohibits sharing adaptations. Are you using the work commercially? Yes, check NC. NC blocks commercial use. Are you combining the work with another? Yes, check SA and compatibility. SA may require a specific adapter's license. Two inputs can impose incompatible terms. Use the official compatibility chart and distinguish mere aggregation from an integrated adaptation.

Attribution Under 4.0

Under 4.0, you must retain, when supplied by the licensor: identification of the creator and designated attribution parties, a copyright notice, a notice referring to the license, a warranty disclaimer, and a URI or hyperlink to the material where reasonably practicable. You must link or refer to the license and indicate modifications, retaining earlier modification notices. This may be done in any reasonable manner for the medium. Version 4.0 does not separately require the work's title, although including it is useful practice. If the licensor requests it, attribution information must be removed where reasonably practicable. Attribution must not imply endorsement.

License	Share Unchanged	Adapt & Share	Commercial Use	ShareAlike Required
CC BY 4.0	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
CC BY-SA 4.0	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
CC BY-ND 4.0	Yes	No	Yes	No
CC BY-NC 4.0	Yes	Yes	No	No
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0	Yes	No	No	No

A collection keeps separate works separate, such as unchanged essays in an anthology. Each work retains its own license; the collection's overall license does not replace those licenses. Adapted Material is based on and modifies the licensed work in a way requiring copyright permission. Only the contribution made by the adapter is covered by the adapter's license; notices for the original must remain.

Combining material is not automatically lawful because each input uses a CC license. ND may block sharing the combination if it is an adaptation. SA may require a specific adapter's license. Two inputs can impose incompatible terms. Use the official compatibility chart and distinguish mere aggregation from an integrated adaptation. Creative Commons lists one-way compatibility from BY-SA 4.0 to GPLv3 for adapted material; this does not turn a CC license into a software license or create compatibility in the reverse direction.

What Is And Is Not An Adaptation

Translation is normally an adaptation. Synchronising music with a moving image is expressly Adapted Material under 4.0. Reproduction in a different format alone does not create Adapted Material under the 4.0 definition. Whether cropping, excerpting, editing or combining creates an adaptation can depend on applicable copyright law; do not declare a universal boundary.

Creative Commons uses four condition icons. Every CC 4.0 license includes BY. The other three are optional and combine in the six licenses.

BY, Attribution

Under 4.0, a reuser must retain, when supplied by the licensor: identification of the creator and designated attribution parties; a copyright notice; a notice referring to the license; a warranty disclaimer; and a URI or hyperlink to the material where reasonably practicable. The reuser must link or refer to the license and indicate modifications, retaining earlier modification notices. This may be done in any reasonable manner for the medium. Version 4.0 does not separately require the work's title, although including it is useful practice and older versions may require it when supplied. If the licensor requests it, attribution information must be removed where reasonably practicable. Attribution must not imply endorsement.

SA, ShareAlike

This condition is triggered when Adapted Material is shared, not when unchanged material merely appears beside other separate works in a collection. The adapter applies the license named by the applicable SA clause or an officially designated compatible license. Do not assume two SA licenses are compatible. The official compatibility list controls.

NC, NonCommercial

Version 4.0 defines it as not primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or monetary compensation. The identity of the user, business, nonprofit, school or individual, does not decide the issue by itself. Advertising, sponsorship, fundraising, internal business use and mixed purposes require context. Do not invent a bright-line rule. If the planned use has material commercial risk, get separate permission or local legal advice.

ND, NoDerivatives

Sharing Adapted Material is not permitted under an ND license. Reproduction in a different format alone does not create Adapted Material under the 4.0 definition. Translation is normally an adaptation. Synchronising music with a moving image is expressly Adapted Material under 4.0. Whether cropping, excerpting, editing or combining creates an adaptation can depend on applicable copyright law; do not declare a universal boundary.

Copyright status depends on jurisdiction, author, publication facts, term, restoration rules and the type of work. Do not compute a specific work's status from a single publication year or assume a US result applies worldwide. PDM is appropriate only for material believed free of known copyright restrictions worldwide. CC0 should be applied by a person who controls the rights being waived. Credit is not a CC0 legal condition, but citation, research integrity, community norms and avoidance of false authorship can still make credit proper.

When To Use CC0

Use CC0 if you control the rights and you want to dedicate your work to the public domain to the fullest extent possible under applicable law. The tool includes a waiver of rights, a fallback license if the waiver is not effective, and a non-assertion promise limited to remaining Copyright and Related Rights. It does not affect rights you do not control, such as privacy, publicity, or trademark rights.

Creative Commons does not enforce individual licenses for licensors or decide whether a particular use is lawful. If you find a use that violates your license terms, do the following. Preserve the source page, license notice, dates, files, communications and the challenged use. Correct an attribution or stop a noncompliant use promptly. A licensor should identify the work, exact condition and requested cure before escalating. Platform reporting and statutory takedown processes have legal consequences and vary by jurisdiction; use qualified advice for a real dispute.