{"id":658,"date":"2013-07-18T23:32:36","date_gmt":"2013-07-18T21:32:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blender.org\/?page_id=658"},"modified":"2026-06-21T10:44:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T08:44:46","slug":"license","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.blender.org\/about\/license\/","title":{"rendered":"License"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"software\" class=\"wp-block-group is-style-box is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"#software\" data-type=\"internal\" data-id=\"#software\">The Software<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Blender is released under the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gnu.org\/copyleft\/gpl.html\">GNU General Public License<\/a> (GPL, or &#8220;free software&#8221;).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This license grants people a number of freedoms:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>You are free to use Blender, for any purpose<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You are free to distribute Blender<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You can study how Blender works and change it<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You can distribute changed versions of Blender<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The GPL strictly aims at protecting these freedoms, requiring everyone to share their modifications when they also share the software in public. That aspect is commonly referred to as <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Copyleft\">Copyleft<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Blender Foundation and its projects on blender.org are committed to preserving Blender as free software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"license\"><a href=\"#license\">License Details<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The source code we develop at blender.org is default being licensed as <a href=\"http:\/\/download.blender.org\/release\/GPL-license.txt\">GNU GPL Version 2 or later<\/a>. Some modules we make are using more permissive licenses, though, for example, the Blender Cycles rendering engine is available as <a href=\"http:\/\/opensource.org\/licenses\/Apache-2.0\">Apache 2.0<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Blender also uses many modules or libraries from other projects. For example, Python uses the <a href=\"http:\/\/opensource.org\/licenses\/Python-2.0\">Python License<\/a>; Bullet uses the <a href=\"http:\/\/opensource.org\/licenses\/zlib-license.php\">Zlib License<\/a>; Libmv uses the <a href=\"http:\/\/opensource.org\/licenses\/MIT\">MIT License<\/a>; and OSL, a <a href=\"http:\/\/opensource.org\/licenses\/BSD-3-Clause\">BSD License<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All the components that together make Blender are compatible under the newer <a href=\"http:\/\/download.blender.org\/release\/GPL3-license.txt\">GNU GPL Version 3<\/a> or later. That is also the license to use for any distribution of Blender binaries. We collected the most common <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blender.org\/support\/faq\/#license\">Frequently Asked Questions<\/a> here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"add-ons\" class=\"wp-block-group is-style-box is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30)\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"#add-ons\">Add-ons (Python scripts)<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Blender&#8217;s Python API is an integral part of the software, used to define the user interface or develop tools for example. The GNU GPL license therefore requires that such scripts (if published) are being shared under a GPL compliant license. You are free to sell such scripts, but the sales then is restricted to the download service itself. Your customers will receive the script under the same license (GPL), with the same free conditions as everyone has for Blender.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"compliance\" class=\"wp-block-group is-style-box is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30)\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"#compliance\">License Compliance<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s the Blender Foundation\u2019s mission to make the world\u2019s best 3D technology available for everyone using free\/open source tools. We wish to keep Blender free and open for everyone, forever.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In case a GPL license violation with Blender is reported, Blender Foundation will always first start a conversation, to investigate the issue, get the facts clear and check on a mutually agreeable solution. Only when such solutions are not possible, and only when the Blender Foundation\u2019s board considers that its mission is severely in danger, will we seek legal counseling and provide a reasonable cure period for the violation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Blender project is focused on developing and sharing technology as free and open source software. Under certain conditions, it is possible to make Blender, or scripts that make use of the Blender Python API (bpy), work with proprietary or commercial software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Blender Foundation is avaiable to provide feedback on license compliance and best practices to organizations who are committed to adopt Blender as part of their IT infrastructure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"artwork\" class=\"wp-block-group is-style-box is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30)\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"#artwork\">Your Artwork<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What you create with Blender is your sole property. All your artwork &#8211; images or movie files &#8211; including the .blend files and other data files Blender can write, is free for you to use as you like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That means that Blender can be used commercially by artists, by studios to make animation films or VFX, by game artists to work on commercial games, by scientists for research, and by students in educational institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Blender&#8217;s GNU GPL license guarantees you this freedom. Nobody is ever permitted to take it away, in contrast to trial or &#8220;educational&#8221; versions of commercial software that will forbid your work in commercial situations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"privacy\" class=\"wp-block-group is-style-box is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30)\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"#privacy\">Privacy and Internet access<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Blender respects your privacy, <strong>no registration<\/strong> is needed, <strong>no connection to the internet is made<\/strong> if you decide to install and use Blender. Blender does <strong>not need internet<\/strong> to function properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some add-ons bundled with Blender may access the internet for additional services. These add-ons are not enabled on installing Blender. These add-ons are not required to be enabled for proper functioning of the software, nor will any Blender function ask for enabling such add-ons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Add-ons that require internet will ask a user explicit permission to use internet while or after enabling the add-on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Note: this applies to the official version provided via blender.org. We always recommend you to use the official releases.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"website\" class=\"wp-block-group is-style-box is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30)\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"#website\">Website License<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most of the blender website is available as <a href=\"#https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Creative Commons Attribution<\/a>, with some exceptions. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blender.org\/about\/website\/\">Read about that here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here you can find the website&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blender.org\/privacy-policy\/\">privacy policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Software Blender is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL, or &#8220;free software&#8221;). This license grants people a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123469,"featured_media":31133,"parent":103,"menu_order":71,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-generic.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-658","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blender.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blender.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blender.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blender.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blender.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.blender.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96606,"href":"https:\/\/www.blender.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/658\/revisions\/96606"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blender.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blender.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blender.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}