Stock footage licences explained
A stock footage licence is permission to use someone else's footage in your own work, under conditions they set. The three that decide whether a clip is safe for your project are: can you use it commercially, does an identifiable person appear, and must you credit the source.
The terms that actually matter
| Term | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Royalty-free | Pay once, use many times. Says nothing about price. |
| Public domain | Nobody owns it. Rare, and often claimed incorrectly. |
| Editorial use only | News and commentary only. No ads, no promotion. |
| Model release | Written consent from anyone recognisable in the shot. |
| Attribution | You must credit the source, usually in the description. |
Three ways editors get caught out
- Assuming free means unrestricted. Plenty of free libraries still require attribution, and a few restrict commercial use entirely. Free to download is not the same as free to use however you like.
- Using footage of people in an ad. If someone is recognisable and there is no model release, a commercial use exposes you rather than the library.
- Letting Content ID claim licensed footage. Registering a video containing licensed stock can put a claim on footage other people are equally entitled to use.
What the Supareels licence allows
Every one of the 67 clips in the library carries the same terms, so there is nothing to check clip by clip.
- Commercial use: yes. Client work, ads, monetised YouTube, social, and paid campaigns.
- Attribution: not required. Welcome, never demanded.
- Editing: unrestricted. Cut, crop, grade, retime, and layer as your edit needs.
- Model releases: not applicable. No identifiable person appears in any clip, because every clip is AI-generated and curated to exclude faces.
- What you cannot do: resell or redistribute the raw clips. Use them inside your work rather than republishing them as stock.
Because the clips are AI-generated, there is no filmed location and no performer behind them, which removes the two clauses that cause most stock footage disputes.
FAQ
Does royalty-free mean free?
No. Royalty-free describes how you pay, not how much. It means you pay once (or nothing) and then use the clip repeatedly without paying a further royalty each time it is viewed. A royalty-free clip can still cost hundreds of pounds. Supareels clips happen to be both royalty-free and free of charge.
What is the difference between royalty-free and copyright-free?
Royalty-free means someone still owns the copyright and has licensed you specific uses. Copyright-free, or public domain, means nobody owns it and you can do anything. Most stock footage is royalty-free, not copyright-free, so the licence terms still bind you.
Do I need a model release for stock footage?
You need one if an identifiable person appears and you use the clip commercially. This is the most common way editors get caught out, because free stock sites often host clips uploaded without releases. No identifiable person appears in any Supareels clip, so the question does not arise.
Can I use stock footage in a monetised YouTube video?
Under most commercial licences, yes, including ours. What you cannot usually do is upload the raw clip on its own as your content, or register it with Content ID, which would claim ownership over footage you only licensed.
What does attribution required mean?
It means you must credit the source, usually in the description or on screen. Several free libraries require it and a lot of editors miss the requirement. Supareels does not require attribution, though it is welcome.
Can I edit, crop or recolour a licensed clip?
Under our licence, yes. Cut it, crop it, speed it up, grade it, and layer it however your edit needs. Some libraries restrict derivative works, so it is worth checking that clause wherever you download.
Browse the library
67 clips across 8 scenes, all under the licence above. Start with the scenes, or read what b-roll is and how the free libraries compare.