Getty Images Search Guide

Learn to search and find the best visual content for your next project.

The Getty Images homepage with highlights on how to begin your search for the perfect image or video
Getting started
Begin your search on the homepage for Creative content, Editorial coverage, and Videos.

  1. Sign in to get the most out of your search experience.
  2. Enter keywords describing the content you need.
  3. Find inspiration for your searches by exploring the latest visual trends and curated imagery on our homepage.
  4. Create, edit, and manage Boards, which allow you to save, organize, and share content that you find in your searches.
  5. Use Search by Image or Video to upload a file and search for visually similar Creative content.
  6. Select from Creative, Editorial, Video, or Music, or explore our blog and curated collections.
A search results page for the term solo travel with highlights detailing further exploration
Exploring your search results
Discover what you can do with the results of your initial keyword search.
  1. Further focus your search with popular keywords similar to yours.
  2. Select an image or video to view larger and see additional details.
  3. Specify a content type: Photos, Illustrations, or Vectors.
  4. Choose your preferred display style: detailed grid or optimized size (shown).
  5. Hover to show actions: view Similar images, Add to cart, or Save to Board.

Examples of the filters used for refining search results
Refining your results
Focus your results on content that fits your specific needs.

  1. Add or remove keywords to expand or narrow your search.
  2. Open the Filters panel to explore the different ways you can refine your results.
  3. Filter by orientation, resolution, number of people, age, ethnicity, color, and more.
  4. Serve up the most relevant content and sort your results by: 
    • Best match—closest to your keywords, then by date and popularity
    • Newest—most recent images uploaded to the site
    • Most popular—prioritizes most interacted with and clicked on

An asset page featuring a black woman working remotely in an RV to provide details for picking your visuals using purple markers and white numbers one through four
Picking your visuals
Select an image or video to see pricing, similar images, related keywords, and more.

  1. View more images or videos from the same series (if available), or explore similar images.
  2. Continue your search using the additional keywords associated with the content.
  3. Choose your size and click Add to cart to begin the licensing and downloading process. 
  4. Pro tip: Use the Asset ID Number (Creative #) to quickly find your image again, view similar images and videos, and credit the asset.
A Boards page for solo travel with highlights for saving and organizing content
Saving content to Boards
Boards make it easy to save and manage the images and videos you find for your projects.

  1. Name your Boards and add a description to help organize and contextualize them.
  2. Add content with an Asset ID Number saved from previous searches.
  3. Click one or more check boxes for selected asset(s) to be: printed, added to your cart, copied or moved to another Board, downloaded in bulk, or removed from this Board.
  4. Use this drop‑down menu to copy, move, or download the selected asset(s).
Options for using a Board for collaboration
Sharing your Board
Communicate and collaborate with ease by using Boards to share assets with your team.

  1. Generate a link to your Board with the Share button for easy collaboration or to provide a read‑only view.
  2. Reorder your assets easily by dragging and dropping content from one slot to another.
  3. Use Show notes to label content directly on a Board.
  4. Choose the Comment icon to start a conversation thread about individual images and videos.

Creative search tips

Find what you need faster
Refine your search with these words:
  • No/Not: exclude items with this keyword (Sky no Clouds)
  • Or: include either of the keywords (Sky Night or Day)
  • And/commas/dash: whether you use “and”, a comma, a dash/minus sign, or a space between two terms, you’ll get the same search results. (Sky and Clouds = Sky Clouds = Sky ‑ Clouds = Sky, Clouds)
Uncover similar visuals easily
Find images or videos with characteristics similar to the selected concept by exploring keywords and suggested similar content. Incorporate these tags into your search to serve up even more relevant visuals.

Get curated results
After you type in your keywords, add the term Bestpix (for Editorial) and Choicepix (for Creative) to see our Editorial and Creative team’s favorite images.

Search by contributor and collection
Searching by photographer or content creator can provide results that are part of a set or series, include the same models or locations, or captured in the same creative style. You can also search by collection to find similar styles or subject matter across a breadth of photographers. 

Exclude images with nudity
By default, images with nudity are excluded from search results. There is a setting in the filter panel to include or exclude this content.

Bookmark your results
Easily return to any search results page by bookmarking it in your browser.

A series of site panels representing types of Creative search filters
Types of Creative search filters
  • Agreement toggle to show what's available to you (such as Premium Access)
  • Sort by:  Best match, Newest, or Most popular
  • Orientation
  • Image resolution
  • People: Number, Age, Composition, Ethnicity
  • Image style
  • Color picker or enter your own Hex color
  • Locations in the current results
  • Photographers
  • Collections

Creative keywords

Creative searches include professionally photographed and art‑directed images, videos, and illustrations for use in commercial or non‑commercial projects. Check out some Creative keywords below to expand your search vocabulary.

Editorial search tips

Browse your content by events
Discover photos from the latest news and event coverage. Click on Events on the top left of your Editorial results page to display your search results by events.

Refine your results
Use filters to refine your search, including: 
  • Locations
  • Specific people
  • Events covered
Search by specific dates 
When searching Editorial, you can select a specific date range for the content that appears in your results. 

Set Editorial coverage category
Editorial searches can be targeted to a specific area, such as:
  • News
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Archival: This is included in all results, but you can specifically search the archives by selecting this coverage area.
For the most complete results, search all of the Editorial collection to see content from all categories.

Search by photographer, filmmaker, or collection
You can include a photographer, filmmaker, or collection name as part of your search, as well as click on the byline link to see all related content

Explore our archival calendar
Navigate to the Editorial tab > Archival > Calendar. Then, select a date to view archival photos and videos of past and present world events, anniversaries, and personalities—all handpicked by our editors 


Editorial keywords

Editorial searches include professionally shot, exclusive‑access images and videos from world‑renowned events across news, sports, and entertainment. Discover useful keywords to refine your Editorial search results below.

Video search tips

Easily find the clips that bring your stories to life.
Get video‑only results
To only see video assets, enter keywords directly into the search bar and select “Video Creative” or “Video Editorial” or navigate to the “Video” tab. Pro tip: Looking for mobile or feed‑ready videos? Include the keyword 'vertical' in your search terms, e.g. background vertical.

Contextualize your search results
Narrow your search by knowing the story and context—such as the who, what, where, when, and why—of the video you need.

Refine your results with the Filter and Sort menu
  • Change how your results are ordered based on what you want to see close to the top of the page by sorting your content using Best match, Newest, and Most popular
  • Filter by formats, frame rates, events, viewpoints, and techniques

Want to see video search in action? Take a look at tips, tricks, and advice from one of our search experts below.

A series of site panels representing types of Video search filters
Types of Video search filters
  • Locations
  • Video resolution: 4K, HD, SD
  • Date range
  • License type*
  • Frame rate
  • Released for commercial use
  • Film technique and viewpoint
*License type
  • Royalty‑free (RF): Refers to purchased content that can be used without restriction—within the terms of your license.
  • Rights‑Ready (RR): Refers to a license based on how, where, and for how long you intend to use the content. Since the license you're paying for only covers a specific use, you can't use these video clips in additional projects without purchasing additional licenses. 

Searching offline video

“Offline” means that the program footage exists not on www.gettyimages.com but within the extensive analog archives of one of our Video Partners: BBC, NBC, ITN, or TVNZ*.
 
  • To search this Offline content, you must be logged in to your Getty Images account and you must also select the Editorial section of the Video page
  • By selecting from within the filter options under Collections, either Offline only, or Online and Offline, you can return text‑based search results of what is available in the archives of our Offline Partners*.

*TVNZ is not available on the website. Please contact your local sales representative for more information.
Highlighted search bar featuring Richard Nixon with results and previews shown for searching offline
Offline results and previews
All text‑based search results include metadata such as program name where appropriate, transmission dates, synopsis of the footage, and people involved.

  • When you find a Search result of interest, you can request a low‑resolution watermarked Preview file directly via the Request Preview button on the site details page or via our Service Team or your sales representative.
  • Preview files have a modest fee to supply applied to them, which varies depending on the Partner, the content itself, and the urgency to supply.
  • Your inquiry then becomes logged with our Product Specialist team, who will reach out regarding the offline clearance process.

Video FAQs

What codecs do you offer and what would be best for our social feed?
Codec is short for compression/decompression, which is a device or computer program that encodes or decodes a digital data stream or file depending on whether you're sending or receiving it. Codecs are important in the transmission and sharing of video files.

We offer our video in Apple ProRes and H.264 codecs—for social feeds, we’d recommend using one of the H.264 codec options. Additionally, all our clips are available in H.264
What do the terms ProRes, PhotoJPEG, and H.264 mean on a video asset?
ProRes is a high‑quality post‑production video codec created and maintained by Apple. PhotoJPEG is a type of video codec that is platform‑independent, with good quality—it's particularly useful for customers with a PC‑based video editing system. H.264 is a lossy compression format used to reduce video file size for easy sharing between users.
Are all your video clips the same frame rate?
We have video files in a range of the most common frame rates, including:
  • 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, and 60 frames per second (fps) 
  • 25 and 50 fps for EMEA
Your editor can alter the frame rate if you find a video different from what you’re looking for.
What is aspect ratio and what options are your videos available in?
Aspect ratio is the relationship between the width and the height of your video dimensions, expressed as a ratio. The most common ratios for video are 4:3, 16:9, and 9:16.

The majority of our videos are available in 16:9 aspect ratio.  
What’s the difference between 4K/4K, UH/4K, DCI/4K 16:9 resolution?
We offer 3 types of 4K resolution. Both 4K at 4096x2304 pixels and 3840x2160 pixels are presented in a 16:9 aspect ratio. We also have clips supplied in the 4K DCI format with a resolution of 4096x2160 pixels. If you're looking for a vertical 9:16 file, we have those as well. However, not all resolutions are available for all assets, so please check the purchase options for your file's specifications.
How do I find footage from a specific time frame?
We have an extensive archival video collection. To find video from a specific time frame, you need to search our Editorial Collection, use the “Date Range” filter and select a “Custom Date Range”.  
Is your video content color corrected?
Sometimes. We rely on the contributor to tell us if an asset is color corrected. Most of our video is presented with a neutral color palette which involves minor color correction, but they can be further color corrected to fit your needs.
What camera angles do you have available?
Our angle options include Lockdown, Panning, Tracking shot, Aerial view, High angle view, Low angle view, Tilt, and Point of View.

You can search for these by selecting the “Viewpoint” filter on the left‑hand side. Selecting a “Composition” filter will narrow your search even further.
What is b‑roll footage and what types do you have? 
B‑roll is supplemental footage providing supporting details and greater flexibility when editing video.
 
We have an incredible amount of b‑roll footage across a variety of locations, aerial, and ground‑level views.
Do your assets allow for offline and online editing?
Yes, our assets allow for offline and online editing. Read below for more information.

Offline editing is part of the post‑production process in which the raw footage is copied and that copy only is then edited.
  • If you’re in the offline stage, a low‑resolution version should be sufficient, such as a watermarked comp.
Online editing is performed in the final stage of a video production after offline editing has been completed and approved (includes visual effects, titles, color grading, etc.)  
  • If you’re in the online editing stage, you’ll likely need a high‑resolution version such as HD or 4K.  
Are my download options for your videos restricted depending on what NLE I’m using?
No, all our download options are designed to be compatible with any NLE.
What would I use an MP4 clip for?
 MP4 files can be used for websites, streaming videos, and social media. MP4 is the container (or video wrapper) and H.264 is the codec within that container. While it is lossy compression, H.264 is efficient and retains much of the visual clarity from the original source.  An MP4 can be edited in an NLE for many different types of projects.
Can we use your videos in our compositing software?
Yes, you can use our videos within composites, but for best results, we recommend that you download the highest‑quality version of your file.
We want to use a video clip in a TV commercial, what compression level would you recommend?
We'd recommend Apple ProRes, which has the lowest compression and the highest quality.