Commons:Copyright tags/Differences between tags

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The table below compares various licenses, and shows which are eligible for use in Wikimedia Commons. The license must at minimum allow:

Copy, distribute, display and perform the work
Create derived works
Use commercially

License	Required to be accepted in Commons			Mandatory direct attribution^[1]	Sharing with the same license or by a compatible license required^[2]	Accepted in Commons?
License	Copy, distribute, display and perform the work	Create derived works	Use commercially	Mandatory direct attribution^[1]		Accepted in Commons?
Public domain	OK	OK	OK	No	No	OK
{{GFDL}}GNU and similar	OK	OK	OK	No	OK	OK
{{Cc-by-2.5}} and later (Creative Commons By)	OK	OK	OK	OK	No	OK
{{Cc-by-sa-2.5}} and later (Creative Commons By-SA)	OK	OK	OK	OK	OK	OK
{{Copyrighted free use}} (unrestricted copyright)	OK	OK	OK	OK	OK	OK

Copyrighted or registered trademark ^[3]	No	No	No	OK	OK	No
Creative Commons ND NC	No	No	No	OK	OK	No
Restriction to non-commercial use^[4] or For educational purposes only or Creative Commons NC	OK	OK	No	No	OK	No
Publicity material copyright^[5] or work that is called "free" but where modification is prohibited.^[6]' or Creative Commons Nd	OK	No	OK	No	OK	No

References

↑ You must give credit to the original author in the manner specified by the author or licensor. Even if direct attribution to the author is not mandatory, with some licenses the source of the information must be cited, so the original author is indirectly referenced. This is the case with GFDL, for example.
↑ If you alter, transform, or create another work based on this one, you may only distribute the resulting work under a license compatible with the original. This ensures that derivative works remain free.
↑ As this license only allows unrestricted use by the author of this work, it is not accepted on Wikimedia. Even when a work is not officially registered, all copyright is reserved to the author unless a different license is specified when the work is published. See also {{Fair use}}. This is the case with most of the media found on internet. It is also the case with movie scenes, pages of a book, CD or DVD covers, illustrations from a traditional printed encyclopedia such as Larousse Cultural etc. Also note the following: Even if you bought an image, you probably only bought the right to use it for your own purposes, but you do not have the right to sell copies. That is, you did not buy the copyright. Buying the copyright for an image is possible but usually has a very high cost.
↑ This is the case with some Government materials. This type of material is also not accepted.
↑ This is the case of film trailers, posters, stickers, brochures and publicity materials in general. Depending on the context, logos may also be considered "publicity material". This material is not accepted.
↑ Also the case with some government materials, which are also not accepted.

[1] You must give credit to the original author in the manner specified by the author or licensor. Even if direct attribution to the author is not mandatory, with some licenses the source of the information must be cited, so the original author is indirectly referenced. This is the case with GFDL, for example.

[2] If you alter, transform, or create another work based on this one, you may only distribute the resulting work under a license compatible with the original. This ensures that derivative works remain free.

[3] As this license only allows unrestricted use by the author of this work, it is not accepted on Wikimedia. Even when a work is not officially registered, all copyright is reserved to the author unless a different license is specified when the work is published. See also {{Fair use}}. This is the case with most of the media found on internet. It is also the case with movie scenes, pages of a book, CD or DVD covers, illustrations from a traditional printed encyclopedia such as Larousse Cultural etc. Also note the following: Even if you bought an image, you probably only bought the right to use it for your own purposes, but you do not have the right to sell copies. That is, you did not buy the copyright. Buying the copyright for an image is possible but usually has a very high cost.

[4] This is the case with some Government materials. This type of material is also not accepted.

[5] This is the case of film trailers, posters, stickers, brochures and publicity materials in general. Depending on the context, logos may also be considered "publicity material". This material is not accepted.

[6] Also the case with some government materials, which are also not accepted.

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