Flickr launched in February 2004 as a side feature of a multiplayer game that never shipped. The game was called Game Neverending and the photo-sharing tool built for it turned out to be the valuable part, so its creators abandoned the game and kept the tool. Yahoo bought it a year later, and SmugMug took it over in 2018.
It became the serious photographer's platform and, more significantly, one of the great experiments in open licensing. Flickr adopted Creative Commons early and at scale, and the result is hundreds of millions of images and a substantial body of video that carry explicit permission to reuse, often including commercially.
That makes it unlike almost everything else on this site. On most platforms the rights position is unstated and you are left to work it out; on Flickr the licence is printed on the page, chosen deliberately by the person who took the photograph or shot the footage.
Saving a Flickr video
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1
Copy the Flickr address
Take the flickr.com address from your browser. It contains the photographer's account name and a numeric identifier for the item.
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2
Check the licence while you are there
The rights are stated on the page itself, usually towards the bottom right. This takes five seconds and tells you exactly what you may do with the file.
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3
Hand the Flickr address to the box above
Paste it into the field at the top of this page, which begins reading it at once.
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4
Take the Flickr file
Tap the row when it turns blue. Downloads on Android, the Files app on an iPhone.
Reading a Flickr licence
Because the licence is stated explicitly, Flickr is one of the few places where you can know with confidence what you are permitted to do. It is worth learning to read the labels.
| Licence on the page | What it permits | Attribution |
|---|---|---|
| Public domain or CC0 | Anything at all | Not required, still polite |
| CC BY | Any use including commercial | Required |
| CC BY-NC | Non-commercial use | Required |
| CC BY-ND | Use, but not modified versions | Required |
| All rights reserved | Personal viewing only | Ask the photographer |
A great deal of Flickr is still all rights reserved, which is the default. The Creative Commons material is a subset, but an enormous one, and the site's own search lets you filter to exactly the licence you need.
Why people save Flickr video
Reuse with confidence is the main one. Anybody making a video, a presentation or a website needs material they can actually use, and Flickr is one of the few places that tells you plainly which items those are.
Institutional collections are another. Museums, libraries and archives publish on Flickr under open licences, and that material is frequently digitised from sources that exist nowhere else online.
And photographers keep their own work. Anyone whose portfolio lives on a platform that has changed hands three times has good reason to hold their own copies.
Flickr download questions
How do I know if I can reuse something?
The licence is printed on the item page, usually at the bottom right. Flickr is unusual in stating this explicitly rather than leaving you to guess.
What does all rights reserved mean here?
That the photographer has kept full copyright. Viewing it is fine; reusing it needs their permission, and their contact details are usually on their profile.
Can I use CC BY material commercially?
Yes, provided you attribute the creator as the licence requires. CC BY-NC is the one that excludes commercial use.
Does Flickr host much video?
Less than photography, and clips are length-limited, but there is a substantial amount including institutional and archival material.
Can I save from a private album on Flickr?
No. Anything requiring a sign-in is out of reach.
Does Flickr have its own download button on Flickr?
On many items, yes, controlled by the photographer's settings. Where it is there it is the simplest route.
Where does the Flickr file save?
Downloads on Android, the Files app on an iPhone.
Can I download a whole album?
No. Each item needs its own address.
Will the photographer be notified?
No. Nothing is reported and no account is used on this side.
Is downloading from Flickr acceptable?
For openly licensed material, entirely — that is what the licence is for, and attribution is the one thing to get right. For all rights reserved work, a personal copy is one thing and reuse is another, and the photographer is usually easy to contact.