CC Attribution Generator

Credit Creative Commons works properly: title, author, source and license — as plain text, Markdown or HTML.

Work 1

Missing: title, creator, source link (http/https) — shown as [placeholders] below, so the credit you copy shows what it still needs.

"[title]" by [creator] ([source URL]) is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Combining several works? Check that their licenses are compatible first →

What it does

  • Builds the four parts a Creative Commons credit is expected to carry: title, creator, source and licence, and adds the changes you made when you are crediting an adaptation.
  • Writes it in plain text, Markdown or HTML. The Markdown and HTML versions link the title to your source URL and the licence name to its deed on creativecommons.org.
  • Uses the right wording per licence: CC0 is "dedicated to the public domain under", the Public Domain Mark is "marked with", and everything else is "licensed under".
  • Shows anything still missing as a visible [placeholder], including [source URL], so a half-finished credit can never look finished. The copy button says so too.
  • Credits several works at once, and carries works over from the compatibility checker.

Everything happens in this tab. Nothing you type is uploaded, saved or shared, so nothing is kept when you close it.

What it cannot do

  • It cannot confirm the work is really under that licence. You supply the facts; the generator formats them. If the licence on the source page changes or was wrong, the credit will be wrong too.
  • It cannot read a licence from a URL. Paste the page you took the work from; the tool does not fetch it.
  • It is not legal advice. Some licensors ask for a specific credit format, and that request comes first.

Example

A photo called "Harbour at dusk" by Jane Doe, taken from https://example.org/photos/harbour under CC BY-SA 4.0 and cropped by you, becomes:

"Harbour at dusk" by Jane Doe (https://example.org/photos/harbour) is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Cropped.

Leave the source blank and the credit reads ([source URL]) instead, so you can see what it still needs before you publish it.

FAQ

Do I have to credit CC0 or public domain works?
No, attribution is not a condition of CC0 or the Public Domain Mark. It is still good practice, and the generator will write the credit if you want one.
Where do I put the credit?
Next to the work where a reader can see it: a caption, a line under the image, or a credits section you link to from the page. The HTML version is ready to paste.
What counts as a source link?
The page you took the work from, not the raw image file, so a reader can see the licence for themselves. A bare domain is read as https://.
Do I need to say what I changed?
If you adapted the work, yes: say briefly what you did, for example "Cropped and colour-corrected". For an unchanged copy you can leave it blank.
Several works in one credit?
Add each one; the output lists them in the order you added them. If you are combining works, check first whether their licences allow it with the CC License Compatibility Checker.

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