Find the original source of an image

How to find the original image

1. Search by image. Drop the image in the box above, or paste its address. Use the largest copy you have.
2. Look for the oldest and largest copy. The original is usually the earliest one published, at the highest resolution. Compare post dates, a Wikimedia Commons upload date or an early capture on the Wayback Machine.
3. Follow the credits. Captions, photo credits and links often name the source. Keep following them until a page stops crediting someone else.
4. Check the file. Creator and copyright fields in the metadata can name the photographer, if the site didn't strip them.
5. Confirm the license on the source page before you reuse the image. Is this image copyrighted? explains what to look for.

How to spot the original in the results

• A stock agency listing (Getty Images, Shutterstock, Alamy, Adobe Stock and others) names the photographer or contributor and has an image ID. That's who sells the license.
• A Wikimedia Commons file page names the author, the date and the license. Older photos often link on to the archive that holds the original, such as the Library of Congress.
• A news photo is credited in the caption, like "Photograph: Name/Agency". The agency owns or represents it.
• A photographer's portfolio, Flickr page or the brand's own press page is often the first place an image was published.

Get better matches

• Use the largest, least edited copy you have. Thumbnails and screenshots still work, but large copies match more pages.
• Crops and resized copies match. Heavily edited, flipped or recolored copies may not.
• For a picture inside a web page, paste the page's address: Trace Any Image traces the page's main image.
• Links to X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Threads and Pinterest aren't fetched. Save the image and upload the file instead.

Why Pinterest and reposts aren't the source

Pinterest, Reddit and social posts are usually copies. A pin links to wherever it was saved from, and that page may be a copy too. Treat them as a clue and keep following the trail until you reach a page that names the photographer, an agency or an archive.

When there's no clear source

If an image is on 10 or more sites and nobody is named as its owner, it's usually a news or agency photo copied around without credit: treat it as licensed.

If it's on a few sites or none, the source may simply not be indexed. That doesn't make it free to use. If you can't find the owner, use a different image: Find Any Photo has public-domain photos from US archives.