How do I know if I need a standard or extended license?

Every file downloaded on iStock comes with a standard license that lets you use it in a wide variety of ways. From social media ads to billboards, PowerPoint presentations to feature films, you're free to modify, resize and customize every asset on iStock to fit your projects. With the exception of "Editorial use only" photos (which can only be used in editorial projects and can't be modified), the possibilities are limitless. Just make sure your modifications don't violate the content license agreement.

If, however, you require over 500,000 prints, create products for resale, or share files with multiple users, you'll need to add an extended license to your credit purchase. The cost of an extended license is 18 credits for images and 21 credits for videos, in addition to your standard license.

Learn more

How do I download an image from your site?

Once you find an image or video clip you like, simply click on it to open its detailed information page. From there, follow these simple steps:

1. Choose your image or video size/resolution.

2. Click "Download this image" or "Download this video clip".

3. You'll be redirected to the checkout page (or prompted to sign in if you haven't already done so.)

4. Once you complete your purchase, simply return to the file and click "Download this image/video clip" once more.

5. Locate your video (It may be in your Downloads folder, on your desktop, or the last place you saved a file.)

How do I know if a subscription is right for me? And if so, which should I choose?

If you download as few as four images (photos, illustrations, and vectors) or two videos in a month, you'll get the best value with an iStock subscription.

With any subscription (month-to-month or annual) you can choose 10, 25, 50, or 750 monthly downloads. And if you have an active annual subscription or a subscription with auto-renew enabled, you can rollover up to 250 unused downloads from previous months and get the images you need when you need them.

iStock has three subscriptions to choose from:

Basic subscriptions give you the industry standard photos, vectors, and illustrations in our budget Essentials collection.

Tip: Look for the collection toggle below the search bar on a search results page and select "Essentials" to search only for images available with a Basic subscription.

Premium subscriptions include everything from our Basic subscription, as well as any of the handpicked Signature collection images that you can only get from us.

Premium + Video subscriptions give you access to every image and video that iStock has to offer—no exceptions.

What's a royalty-free license?

Royalty-free licenses let you pay once to use copyrighted images and video clips in personal and commercial projects on an ongoing basis without requiring additional payments each time you use that content. You get the legal right to use the file, and our contributors get paid for the great work they do. It's a win-win, and it's why everything on iStock is only available royalty-free.

What type of protection do I get when I purchase a license from iStock?

Every file licensed comes with a $10,000 USD legal guarantee. That's our promise that when you use our content within the terms of our license agreement, it won't infringe on any copyright, moral right, trademark or other intellectual property rights or violate any right of privacy or publicity. You can also purchase an Extended Legal Guarantee to increase that coverage to $250,000 USD.

There was an error processing your request. Please try again later.

Enter the required information.translation missing: en-us.errors.messages.illegal_input_chars_errorEnter the required information.Please enter a correctly formatted email address.

Enter the required information.

Submit

By continuing, you accept our Privacy Policy (including Use of Cookies and Other Technologies) and Terms of use.

We will do our best to respond to you within 24 business hours.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Contact us

Top frequently asked questions

How do I know if I need a standard or extended license?

How do I download an image from your site?

How do I know if a subscription is right for me? And if so, which should I choose?

What's a royalty-free license?

What type of protection do I get when I purchase a license from iStock?

Sell your work

How to reach us