 | This help page is ahow-to guide. It explains concepts or processes used by the Wikipedia community. It is not one ofWikipedia's policies or guidelines, and may reflect varying levels ofconsensus. |
Images, audio and video files must be uploaded into Wikipedia using the "Upload file" link on the left-hand navigation bar. Onlylogged in userscan upload files. Once a file is uploaded, other pages can include or link to the file. Uploaded files are given the "File:" prefix by the system, and each one has animage description page. Please consider uploading freely licensed content to theWikimedia Commons instead of here. This allows the files to be used in articles instantly by all Wikimedia projects. Files fromWikimedia Commons use the same syntax described below, there is no extra step needed. The maximum size of an uploaded file is 100megabytes. The following file types may be uploaded:png,gif,jpg/jpeg,xcf,pdf,mid,ogg/ogv/oga,svg,djvu andwebm. note: pdf and djvu are intended primarily for projects likeWikisource.
If you want to give a link to the file description page in an article, use an extra colon at the front,e.g., "[[:File:pagename". If you type "[[Media:pagename]]", a download link to the media file is created. The page name will contain the file type such aspagename.jpg.
It is not necessary to upload images to use special characters or even complex mathematical expressions.
Wikipedia uses aUTF-8 encoding scheme, which means that anyUnicode character can and should be entered directly. Seem:Help:Special characters for details and help. (You can also useSGML entities for certain characters, such as& for & oré for é.)
For mathematical formulae, we useTeX markup. For help and instructions, seem:Help:Formula.
Please do not upload plain text (.txt),Microsoft Word (.doc), or text files in other formats. Instead, pleasestart a new page and input the text using standard wiki formatting. Please do not dump text into Wikipedia unless you wrote it yourself, or you know that it meets the project's stringent copyright licensing requirements.
In rare cases an HTML file is uploaded, for example as a test or demonstration.
Occasionally aPDF file is uploaded. However, most PDFs should be converted into wikitext. Source documents should be uploaded toWikisource instead.
For a discussion on uploading spreadsheets, see thetalk page.
Typically thefirst step in using an image or other media file is toupload it toWikimedia Commons, but for legal reasons, some files must beuploaded to the English Wikipedia instead.Wikipedia:Upload helps you to choose between these options.
Images can be displayed directly on Wikipedia pages.
The preferred formats areJPEG for photographic images andScalable Vector Graphics (SVG) for drawings, thoughPNG can also be used.Vector graphics are preferred toraster graphics for drawings, because they can be scaled as needed without losing information, and can be edited more easily.
Type "[[Image:FILENAME|alt=ALT TEXT|TITLE TEXT]]" when you want to display an image file directly. In most cases, a thumbnail is more useful: "[[Image:FILENAME|thumb|alt=ALT TEXT|CAPTION]]". SeeWikipedia:Picture tutorial for further information.
Wikipedia uses theOgg Vorbis,FLAC andWAV format for audio, as they are not encumbered by patents (an issue that prompted the decision in 2004 that MP3 files would not be hosted at Wikipedia[1]). Since then, the MP3 patents have expired and Wikimedia legal has given permission to allow uploading as needed by Wikimedia or its communities.[2]
Software supporting Vorbis exists for many platforms.Mozilla Firefox 4,Opera 10.5 andGoogle Chrome 3 and later each include their own support for Ogg Vorbis files. As for multimedia players,Winamp can be used to play Ogg Vorbis files. AlthoughiTunes does not natively support Vorbis, Xiph.Org providesa QuickTime component which can be used in players that rely onQuickTime, such as iTunes, on bothMicrosoft Windows andMac OS.DirectShow filters exist to decode Vorbis in multimedia players likeWindows Media Player and others which supportDirectShow.
Useful software for audio:
TheVorbis Software Players node at the xiph.org wiki has an up-to-date list of Vorbis-supporting software for all operating systems. Users can test these players using the list of Vorbis audio streams available at[1].
Most viable is to useTemplate:Listen, see its page for detailed description, common usage is listed here:
{{listen |filename=FILENAME.ogg |title=TITLE |description=DESCRIPTION }}
Example:
{{listen |filename=Accordion chords-01.ogg |title=Accordion chords |description=Chords being played on an accordion }}There are several other audio templates used primarily for demonstrating pronunciation of foreign languages or obscure terms, such as{{audio-IPA}}. When adding a sound file to an article, such asEnglish language orIrish phonology avoid using a template that only links to the raw sound file, as this effectively hides important licensing information that allows readers to see who created and uploaded the file, its source and under what license it was published.
Wikipedia usesWebM andOgg Theora for video because they are open source and royalty-free. Since most popular movie/audio formats are patented and require a royalty, there are no free all-purpose video converters. See alsoWikiCommons' Theora video conversion help page.
For assistance with conversion, consider contacting the following editors:
The easiest way to embed video directly into an article is by using the same[[File:]] tag as for image files. The result is on the right.
[[File:A11v 1094228.ogv |thumb |200px |alt=A spacesuited astronaut slowly climbs down a ladder on a complicated metal structure, and then hops the last step onto a bright terrain. |Television clip of Buzz descending the ladder and stepping onto the Moon. ]]By default, a frame from the midpoint of the video is used for the initial still image. To use a different frame, use the thumbtime parameter. For instance:
[[File:Bombers of WW1.ogg |thumbtime=3 |thumb |200px |alt=World War I era biplanes on bombing runs, captioned "Captain 'Eddie' Rickenbacker, American 'Ace of Aces,' over the lines – looking for a scrap." then "Bombing the German lines." |"Bombers of WW1" with a still from 3 seconds]]Specify the time in seconds, or use colons to separate hours, minutes and seconds.
Allows embed code to reference a segment of the video stream or set a start time. Hover over the player to see start time listed as 5s, press play and notice it stops playback at 7 seconds.
[[File:Weeding.ogv|thumb|300px|start=5|end=7|Starts at 5 seconds and ends playback at 7 seconds]]One can also use MM:SS or HH:MM:SS format for start and end.
Note: This is not yet supported on Safari and Internet Explorer.
There are two types of links to a video:
File – To create a link to the video's File Description Page,[[:File:Time Lapse of New York City.ogv]].[[:File:Time Lapse of New York City.ogv|some text you prefer]].Media – To create a link that downloads the video,[[Media:Time Lapse of New York City.ogv]] or use[[:Media:Time Lapse of New York City.ogv]].[[Media:Time Lapse of New York City.ogv|some text you prefer]] or use[[:Media:Time Lapse of New York City.ogv|some text you prefer]].Many files have been uploaded to Wikipedia. A long-term project under way is to movefree content files—including images and audio—toWikimedia Commons. Commons provides a central location for files for use on allWikimedia Foundation projects.
Commons employs more restrictive policies on copyright issues than the English Wikipedia does; for instance,fair-use images such as most images ofalbumcover art cannot be hosted on Commons.