Copyright Submission Guidelines

When you register work with the Copyright Office, you submit a deposit—one or more copies of the work—along with the application. Usually, if the work has been published in physical form (e.g., a book, printed flyer, CD, or poster), the Copyright Office requires two physical copies. If the work is unpublished or only available online, the Copyright Office accepts electronic materials.

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copyright submission guidelines

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Updated on: April 30, 2025
Read time: 3 min

When you register work with the U.S. Copyright Office, you submit a deposit—one or more copies of the work—along with the application. Usually, if the work has been published in physical form (e.g., a book, printed flyer, CD, or poster), the Copyright Office requires two physical copies. If the work is unpublished or only available online, the Copyright Office accepts electronic materials.

For certain types of work (e.g., a jewelry design, sculpture or computer program), identifying materials may be submitted instead of the work itself. In this case, a deposit could be a photograph, a drawing, or source code if the work is a computer program.

A man and a woman stand in a sunny photography studio and sort through prints of photos.

How to determine what type of work to submit

If your work falls into one of the following categories, you can submit your work electronically:

  • Your work is unpublished (meaning it has NOT been published in physical form such as a book, printed flyer, CD, or poster).
  • The work has only been published online (such as a website or computer program).
  • The work is published, but the deposit requirement is identifying material and not the work itself (for example, you are submitting a photograph, drawing, or rendering of a 3-D object). Depending on the type of work, you may also need to include the title of the work and exact measurements for at least one of its sides.

If your work doesn't fit into one of the above categories, you may need to submit physical copies via mail.

Submitting materials to LegalZoom 

If you are registering your work through LegalZoom, follow the guidelines below to submit electronic or physical copies of your materials:

  • Files up to 6 MB: email us. Be sure to use the email address associated with your order, and include your order number in the subject line.
  • Files 6–80 MB: upload your file here.
  • Files 80–300 MB: you'll have to use a third-party file-sharing site like Hightail and email us the link. Be sure to include your order number in the subject line.
  • For multiple files larger than 300 MB, it may be easier to just mail us a disk or flash drive with the files included to the address below. We do NOT accept external hard drives, just flash drives.

To submit physical copies of your materials, mail the following to the address below:

  1. A cover letter that references your LegalZoom order number.
  2. Two copies of your work. Please do not send us the original or the only copy of your work—the deposit won’t be returned to you.

LegalZoom
Attention: Copyrights
11501 Domain Dr, Ste 200
Austin, TX 78758

Re: Order # [include your LegalZoom order number]


Text

  • .doc (Microsoft Word Document)
  • .docx (Microsoft Word Open XML Document)
  • .pdf (Portable Document Format)
  • .rtf (Rich Text Format)
  • .txt (Text File)

Presentation

  • .pps, .ppt (Microsoft PowerPoint)
  • .pptx (Microsoft PowerPoint Open XML)

Image

  • .bmp (Bitmap Image)
  • .gif, .giff (Graphics Interchange Format)
  • .jpg, .jpeg, .jfif (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
  • .pdf (Portable Document Format)
  • .pic, .pict (Picture File)
  • .png (Portable Network Graphic)
  • .psd (Photoshop Document)
  • .pub (Microsoft Publisher)
  • .tga (Targa Graphic)
  • .tif, .tiff (Tagged Image File Format)

Audio

  • .aif, .aiff (Audio Interchange File Format)
  • .au (Audio File)
  • .mp3 (MP3 Audio File or Layer 3 Audio Compression)
  • .wav (Windows Wave Sound File)
  • .wma (Windows Media Audio File)
  • .mp4, .m4a, .m4p (MPEG-4 Part 14 Apple)

Video

  • .avi (Audio Video Interleave)
  • .mov (QuickTime)
  • .mpg, .mpeg (Moving Picture Experts Group)
  • .swf (Adobe Flash formerly Shockwave Flash)
  • .wmv (Windows Media Video)
  • .mp4, .m4v (Apple Video Container File Format)

Data

  • .xls (Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet)
  • .xlsx (Microsoft Excel Open XML Spreadsheet)

Compressed*

  • .zip (zipped file)

* The file(s) in a compressed file must also be an acceptable file format. Compressed files containing unacceptable file types will be refused. When seeking to register one work, in most cases, only one file should be uploaded.

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This article is for informational purposes. This content is not legal advice, it is the expression of the author and has not been evaluated by LegalZoom for accuracy or changes in the law.

42 days ago
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Legal Zoom Rocks

Michelle Rodriguez is not only a Star in your team but a kind, generous thoughtful and efficient person. I know Michelle will solve my problem and handle my new Copyright request with excellence. Once again Legal Zoom Rocks!

Nicholas Ash
65 days ago
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Tamika is warm, smart, and effective.

Tamika is warm, knowledgeable, and effective. She answered all of my questions about taking the necessary steps to get a copyright on a song that I wrote and performed. I hope to work with Tamika in the future on this musical project. Sincerely, Rosemarie Mattke

Rosemarie Mattke
87 days ago
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Obtaining a Copyright

I had some questions about copyright, and he answered all of them. He was pleasant to talk to very professional. I was very pleased. I've been using legalzoom for many years, and I love you guys. Thank you.

NORINA PURRO
88 days ago
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Happy customer

Ms. Green, was very helpful in assisting me step-by-step in guiding through the process in getting my copyright application. She was patient and very polite. She offered to follow-up on my completed, make sure the process was successful.

Ayesha
94 days ago
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Superior Customer Service

Superior customer service and expertise from Patti Green. I have a urgent need for an attorney consultation regarding state level copyright law. Ms. Green quickly and seamlessly steered me to the plan which affords this service. The consult was immediately scheduled for the next day. To say the least, this experience was exemplary.

Guy Hampson
99 days ago
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Copyright registration

Karen helped me immensely during my copyright registration. Very patient. Carrie was alos very good over there.

rjparadee
143 days ago
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So far whenever I have tried to work…

So far whenever I have tried to work with Legal Zoom it has been a great experience. Both Holly and Denise have helped to make my tour of the legal process for a copyright excellent and I now have my copyright in my hands. I might add that I am amazed I got it under the oligarchy at all after doge got done.

Connie Lednum
137 days ago
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Great Copyright Registration Experience

Walked me through the process to register my copyright. Made everything quick and easy!

Cheryl C
156 days ago
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Your expertise and knowledge of my…

Your expertise and knowledge of my questions regarding my copyright I applied for was nothing less than stellar!

Lorenzo Vito
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