 | This is aninformation page. It is not anencyclopedic article, nor one ofWikipedia's policies or guidelines; rather, its purpose is to explain certain aspects of Wikipedia's norms, customs, technicalities, or practices. It may reflect differing levels ofconsensus andvetting. |
 | This page in a nutshell:Freely licensed files should be moved to theWikimedia Commons so allWikimedia Foundation projects can use them. |
Moving files to Commons is an activity of movingfreely licensed files from Wikipedia to theWikimedia Commons, which serves as the central file repository for allWikimedia Foundation projects. When our local files are transferred there, they will provide the added benefit of becoming instantly and globally available across all Wikimedia Foundation projects.
| For specific questions regarding the eligibility of any file, please useWikipedia:Media copyright questions. |
| Donot Transfer | Because | Action to Take? |
|---|---|---|
 NNon-free content | Commons does not accept non-free content. | |
| NDerivatives ofnon-free content | Commons does not accept non-free content. | |
| N Photographs of2D/3D works taken in countries where there isnofreedom of panorama. | Commons does not accept non-free content. | |
| N Non-Public domain worksexceeding thethreshold of originality in their home country. | Commons does not accept non-free content. | |
| N Fileslacking a clear andverifiable source. | Filesmust be clearly sourced so that theircopyright status may be verified by anybody. | Tag these with{{subst:Nsd}} |
| N Fileslacking adequateevidence of permission. | Files created by a third party and uploaded to Wikipedia under a free licensemust include a permission statement (e.g. link to online permission statement,VRT permission) so that it can be verified that said party has actually agreed to such publication. | Tag these with{{subst:Npd}} |
| N Fileswithout alicense tag. | License tags describe the copyright status of a file. | Tag these with{{subst:Nld}} |
| N Files with afree licenserestricting derivatives/commercial use, or restricting usage to Wikipedia only. | Freely licensed files uploaded to Wikipedia and Commons must allow derivatives/commercial use, and usage outside Wikipedia. | Tag these with{{Db-f3}} |
| N Files withdubiousOwn work claims. (e.g. Claiming an image ofPikachu as own work) | These are probablycopyright violations. | List atFfD and/or tag egregious cases with{{Db-f9}} |
| N Files which arePublic domain in their country of origin, butstillcopyrighted in the USA. | Commons requires that files be free inboth their country of origin and the USA. Note that the English Wikipedia does not have such a restriction for uploaded PD files. | |
| N Files which arePublic domain in the USA butstillcopyrighted in their country of origin. | Commons requires that files be free inboth their country of origin and the USA. |
There are several software tools available to assist in moving files from the various Wikipedias into commons. Tools that are "web apps" can be run without first being downloaded to your computer.
FileImporter, from our own Wikimedia, is the default and preferred tool.
| Name | Status | Create wikitext | Can upload | Import history | OAuth | Platform | Coded in | Where to get | Author or maintainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FileImporter | Active | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Web app | PHP | The "Export to Wikimedia Commons" tab on thefile description page | Wikimedia Deutschland |
| Fileinfo | Active | Yes | No | No | — | Web app | PHP | toollabs:magog/fileinfo.php | Magog the Ogre (talk ·contribs) |
| mtc-cli | Active | Yes | Yes | No | No | CPython (Windows,macOS,Linux) | Python | fastily/mtc-cli | Fastily (talk ·contribs) |
| For the Common Good | Unclear | Yes | Yes | No | No | .NET Framework 2.0 orMono (Windows,macOS,Linux) | C# | atlight | This, that and the other (talk ·contribs) |
| CommonsHelper | Abandoned | Poorly | Yes | No | Yes | Web app | PHP | toollabs:commonshelper | Magnus Manske (talk ·contribs) |
| imagecopy.py | Abandoned | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | CPython (Windows,macOS,Linux) | Python | Phabricator | Multichill (talk ·contribs) |
| MTC! | Abandoned | Yes | Yes | No | No | Java SE (Windows,macOS,Linux) | Java | WP:MTC! | Fastily (talk ·contribs) |
Only FileImporter can preserve the full page history. MTC! has some additional automation features and admin-only options.
Save the file to transfer onto your computer and upload it atCommons. Include the following information on the file's Commons description page:
{{Information}} template —
Note:Fileinfo generates the upload information text to transfer manually. Note: some templates used locally exist with another name on Commons. For example,{{PD-old}} is{{PD-old-100}} on Commons, and{{PD-old}} on Commons is{{PD-old-70}} on Wikipedia.Once you are finished, please tag Wikipedia's copy of the file with{{subst:Ncd}} or{{subst:Ncd|File:New filename.png}} (if you chose a new name for the Commons file).
Backlog:Copy to Wikimedia Commons |
Backlog:Copy to Wikimedia Commons (bot-assessed) |
