Can I Use That Video on My Website?

Let's face it. The Internet has gone "video." People just like it. Within the next couple of years, video will account for 69 percent of all consumer Internet traffic.

It's definitely easier to grab great videos off the Internet to put on your website or blog than to make them. But is it legal?

We looked into the rules about using videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Vine, and Instagram. Here's what we found.

In general, it's fine to post video that you create yourself on your website. Once you create a video, it is automatically copyrighted and you have full rights to it, unless stated otherwise by a sharing service.

If the video includes images of people under 18, you'll probably need a release form from a parent or guardian. See our blog post, Can You Use Your Own Photos on Your Website? Maybe Not.

If you want to use a video created by someone else, you may well need to get permission from the creator to post it or use it in any way. There are important exceptions, though.

The Rules for YouTube

Google's video sharing service, YouTube, is the big dog in online videos. It has almost half a billion videos.

Currently the site has a billion users, who view 4 billion videos per day on average. The average length of the most viewed YouTube videos is 4 minutes and 20 seconds.

Lots of YouTube videos are ones you can use on your website or blog. In 2011, YouTube started letting people post their videos with Creative Commons licenses. YouTube currently has just two primary copyright types:

• Conventional copyright, in which the creator has full rights. The standard YouTube license is restrictive. You must get permission from the creator to post it or use it in any way.
• Creative Commons CC BY copyright provides a standard way for content creators to grant someone else permission to use their work with attribution (giving them due credit). These videos are available for posting on your website or blog, even if it's a commercial one. CC BY is the most permissive CC license.

The easiest way to find Creative Commons licensed YouTube videos is through the Creative Commons Search Tool. Licensing information on YouTube videos can be very hard to find, so I am assuming that videos you find from the Creative Commons Search Tool are in fact OK to repost.

Click on the "Share" icon and then the "Embed" icon to get the embed code for putting the video on your website or blog. The YouTube embed code will automatically include an attribution link back to the source that will show up beneath the video.

The Rules for Vimeo

Vimeo is another major video-sharing website. It attracts more than 100 million unique visitors per month and hosts more than a million videos. It was originally founded as a place for film artists to share and promote their work, so it encourages quality commenting.

Vimeo has a section for Creative Commons-copyrighted videos. It has videos in all six Creative Commons licenses types. Here's how to find Vimeo videos you can post:

• Sign up for a free basic membership Vimeo account.
• Go to the Vimeo Creative Commons section.
• Click on the browse button beneath one of the six license headings (such as Attribution, Attribution Share Alike, and so on).
• Click on the magnifying glass icon in the upper right of the screen to search that entire section.
• Find a download button beneath the video.

The Creative Commons licensing requires that you provide a link back to the original Vimeo video if you want to repost it. Vimeo also says in its legal stuff FAQ: "It's always a good idea to contact the video maker if you want to use a video."

The Rules for Instagram

Instagram is a popular photo and short video-sharing service that is owned by Facebook. Users take pictures and videos with their smartphones and post them on Instagram's website via the Instagram free app. The service currently has more than 300 million users.

If Instagram videos are public, you can repost them on your website or blog as long as you use Instagram's embed codes.

Creators fully own the content they post on Instagram. However, the Instagram Privacy Policy says: "Other Users may search for, see, use, or share any of your User Content that you make publicly available through the Service."

The Rules for Vine

Vine is another popular short video tool that is mainly geared to smartphones and other mobile devices. It is a Twitter company that has about 100 million users each month. The free Vine app allows users to record and edit six-second videos directly on their phones and post them on Vine.

Of the four video services I'm reviewing, Vine is the least clear on the rules for posting someone's Vines on your website or blog. Vine creators retain full rights to any content they submit, post, or display on Vine. However, Vine is a social-media video-sharing platform, and it states in its privacy statement that publicly posted content is going to be shared in various ways.

TechSoup's interactive events and video producer, Ale Bezdikian, advises against using other people's Vine content without explicit permission from the creator.

Resources

• Can I Use That Image for My Website or Newsletter?
• TechSoup's Storymakers Resources
• Benchmarks for Nonprofit Video and Guide for Creators
• A Beginner's Guide to Vine
• The Instagram Help Center

Video 1: Amazing Places on our Planet / CC BY-NC-SA

Video 2: Harvard Medical School / CC BY-NC-ND

Video 3: TechSoup / CC BY-NC-ND

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