Many Commons users choose to dual-license their works under the GFDL and the CC BY-SA license (all versions), using the copyright tags {{GFDL}} and {{Cc-by-sa-all}}. Both licenses have a ShareAlike restriction, ensuring the work will remain free no matter how it is used or modified. Using 'all versions' of the CC BY-SA license maximises re-usability for sites which may be "stuck" with an earlier version of the CC BY-SA license.

Contributors to Wikimedia Commons can offer as many licenses for a file as they wish, as long as at least one of them meets the criteria for free licenses specified in the licensing policy. For example, files under a "non-commercial" license are OK only if they are at the same time also released under a free license that allows commercial use.

Copyright holders can release a file under additional licenses at any time, but cannot revoke licenses (Commons does not permit licenses which can be revoked - see License revocation). Commons tries to preserve mention on the file's file description page of all licenses that a file has been released under, as this can provide flexibility for re-users, and helps re-users show that they are respecting the relevant copyright.