Free content

Free content (or open content) works are those other than software which are licensed freely in the same (freedom) sense as Free software is licensed freely, see Free software definition. That is to say, recipients are given permission to use the content for any purpose, copy it, modify it, and to redistribute modified versions.

Like Free software licences, Free content licences can be copyleft (where distributing modified works is only allowed under the original, Free licence) or non-copyleft.

The Design Science License (DSL) and GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) are examples of copyleft licenses for free content; the FreeBSD Documentation License is an example of a non-copyleft license. The GFDL is being used for the contents of Wikipedia.