Pixabay

What it is

Pixabay is a free stock library. Search, hit Free download, drop the file on a timeline. The live homepage calls it royalty-free images and stock, with separate indexes for photos, illustrations, vectors, videos, music, sound effects, 3D models, and GIFs.

It is a Canva Germany GmbH brand (FAQ: Canva bought Pixabay in 2019; About Us lists the Berlin entity). The product is still pixabay.com, not a Canva paywall. There is no Pixabay subscription. Money on the site, if any, is optional contributor donations and sponsored partner tiles (a sample video page showed an iStock 4K video ad). Those partner files are not Pixabay Content License media. Terms exclude third-party paid advertising and sponsored content from the license grant.

For faceless work the useful slice is the videos index plus music and SFX. Homepage counts on 2026-08-30: 4.4M photos, 1.18M illustrations, 170k vectors, 230k videos, 280k music tracks, 130k sound effects, 3k 3D models, 13k GIFs. About Us: 6.3M+ media assets, 6B+ downloads, 400K+ creators. The videos index: “Over 230,000+ free stock video clips & footage.” A sample clip page labeled the file Free for use under the Pixabay Content License, MP4 / MOV, 3840 x 2160, 29 fps. Official API docs: a large video stream is usually 3840x2160 (empty if that size does not exist); medium is usually 1920x1080 and exists for every video.

It is not Pexels. Pexels is photos and silent video. Pixabay adds music, sound effects, illustrations, vectors, GIFs, and 3D. Same job for B-roll: cover a voiceover. Different extra drawers.

Who it’s for

Use it if you never appear on camera and you need footage, stills, or a bed of music without paying Epidemic Sound or a stock house. FAQ examples of allowed “significantly altered” use include adding a photo to a video montage. FAQ also: you may use Pixabay music in commercial video projects you sell or distribute, as long as the track is inside a larger work and not shipped as a standalone file. Social platforms are allowed.

Skip it if you need exclusive shots, model-release guarantees, or music that will not trip YouTube Content ID. Skip it for political ads that use the files, for pornographic or hateful uses, and for dumping an unedited clip or a music-only upload as the whole video. Terms treat filter / crop / resize as still Standalone, which is banned.

If you already live on Pexels and never touch music, you do not need a second free photo site. Pixabay earns the second tab when you also want tracks and SFX in the same license, or when a search is dry on Pexels.

Standout details

• License summary (official Content License Summary): use Content for free; no attribution required (appreciated); modify or adapt into new works. Full terms last updated 18 November 2024. The grant is an irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free right to download, use, copy, modify, or adapt Content for commercial or non-commercial purposes. Other users can get the same rights in the same file.
• Files published before 9 January 2019 are CC0 Content (terms §4). Newer files are the Content License. Practical outcome for a faceless edit is the same: you do not pay, and you do not get exclusivity.
• Attribution (terms §6): not required. Suggested credit if you want one: “ by [Contributor] via Pixabay”.
• FAQ download path: open the media page, Free Download, pick a size. You need to sign up to download full-resolution photos and videos. Upload also requires an account. Browsing does not.
• Music and Content ID (official FAQ): some contributors register tracks with YouTube Content ID, so a legal use can still get an automated claim. A claim is not a copyright strike. Dispute with track title, Pixabay URL, and https://pixabay.com/service/license-summary/. License certificates exist for Content ID-registered tracks (shield icon). Keep download records. Music-only uploads (static image plus the track) are more likely to be flagged.
• Bans that actually bite (terms Prohibited Uses): no Standalone sale or redistribution, including as a stock file, print, wallpaper, poster, merchandise, or NFT. No commercial use of files that depict trademarks, logos, or brands on goods and services. No immoral or illegal use, especially with recognisable people. No political context (promotion, advertisement, or endorsement of a party, candidate, or elected official, or any political party or viewpoint). No using Content as a trademark or business name. Do not imply endorsement. Pixabay does not warrant that model or property releases exist. Third-party rights in faces, logos, buildings, and samples stay your problem.
• Generative AI: uploads of AI-generated Content are allowed if labeled with the “AI-generated” checkbox (terms §7B). Do not treat every clip as camera-shot. Contributors can opt their uploads out of future AI training in account settings.
• API (official docs): free REST search for images and videos under the Content License. Default 100 requests per 60 seconds. Cache responses 24 hours. Systematic mass downloads are not allowed. If you display search results, show users where the files are from. Permanent hotlinking of images is not allowed; download first. Videos may be embedded, with a recommendation to store them yourself. large is usually 4K; not every video has it.
• Edit in Canva appears on media pages. That is a Canva handoff, not a Pixabay editor you have to use.

Honest verdict

Use it. For a faceless channel this is the other default free coverage drawer, and the one that also holds music and SFX under the same license. Search, download, cover the line, move on. You do not pay Pixabay, you do not have to credit, and putting a clip or a track inside a video you actually made is the use the FAQ describes.

The trade is the same as Pexels, plus one extra snag. The same sunset and drone shot will show up on other channels. Music can still pick up a Content ID claim you then dispute with the license. Faces and logos in the frame are still your problem. Sponsored iStock tiles are not free Pixabay files. When the same five clips start repeating in your niche, pay for a library that is less picked over. Until then, start here, and keep the download link if you used a track.