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Wikipedia can use videos, as this is an online encyclopedia. It may seem unusual, as we are a text-oriented platform, but there's nothing strange in the sentence itself. Encyclopedias had been enriched with other media since their inception, and having images, maps, engravings and even multi-layered images that could be explored by the reader have been an indicator of the quality of the work. Encyclopedias didn't have videos, because printingvideos is not possible, but adding multimedia has been an idea since it was technically possible. TheVoyager Golden Record contains audio and images to make a literally universal explanation of who we are. A main factor of the success ofEncarta overEncyclopædia Britannica in the 1990s was the inclusion of videos in the first CD-ROM, not the quality of the articles themselves[1].
Videos can be instructive and can help the text, while they improve the content by adding a new layer of discovery. The Wikimedia Movement Strategy suggest we shouldinnovate in free knowledge, and suggests the use ofdiverse modes of consumption and contribution to our projects (e.g. text, audio, visual,video, geospatial, etc.). However, following this recommendation is not always easy. Adding videos to articles is not a complex matter, but the overall process of video creation might be. Videos can't be easily changed, and quality is not always optimal. Our requirements for free content is also difficult for some videos, where music or images may be copyrighted. This page covers some of these issues. Videos are hosted on Wikimedia Commons which as of 2025 has over 340,000 video files.[2] Seethe help page on videos on that project for further information on how to upload or import videos, how to add subtitles, and more examples.
Here you can find some examples of videos we can use for articles. These are not all of the types of videos that might be used, but they illustrate some broad categories of use. As usual,be bold if you feel the need to innovate.
This can be snapshot-videos of animals moving, traffic signals, eclipses, scientific experiments or people performing activities. They can be time-lapses, or slow-motion. These kind of videos help readers seing how things work, and might be better than using a still image. Some of these videos are easy to produce, but limited in what information they can convey. A good quality video will need stabilization of the image. Adding these kind of videos to articles must enhance the encyclopedic value of the article, followingWikipedia:Image use policy#Content.
Some media, especially films, are better covered with videos than anything else. However, copyright laws prevent us from displaying videos on most of the articles. When the law permits it, having a video makes the article better.
Many historical events have been recorded on video, and some of them are free to use. Historical events can benefit from videos as we can see the people interacting, speaking or addressing their nation. These videos boost the amount of content an article has.
Summary-type videos, sometimes known asexplainer videos, can be anything between a series of still images with narration (seeVideoWiki) to a more youtuber style video summarizing the key points or some aspects of the subject. Some summary videos are used in an educative context, so they fit perfectly on the goal of an encyclopedia. If you want to use VideoWiki for creating summary videos, there's more information ata tutorial anda sandbox for testing.
Sometimes, articles about mathematics, physics, chemistry or economics can benefit from exercise solving videos, especially when the article has a clear practical scope. Readers will be interested on knowing how to use the knowledge in the article in practical situations, and having specific videos can be helpful.
Documentary videos can be classical documentaries uploaded to Commons, shorter videos aobut specific subjects, or tour-type videos of places. These kind of videos can supplement the article, as they add and extra layer of information to the articles. However, their content is not thought to replace or say the same thing as the video.
Tour-type videos shift between different views to illustrate different aspects of a subject, or to tell a kind of narrative story. An example is an architectural tour of a building. Videos of this type will usually consist of a sequence of several different shots, and can be up to several minutes long. To create a tour-type video that is an overview of a particular subject, you should read through the article of the subject to find queues on aspects of the space that deserve attention in the video (e.g., the video of Grand Central terminal features the constellations on the ceiling and they are also mentioned in the article). Additionally, if the tour-type video is being made about a particular physical site, a short scouting trip may be helpful. Before you start shooting, look over available informational material on-site to find other shots you might want to include in the video.
Editors can find existing videos to potentially include onWikimedia Commons – use the site's search function or its categories likethe Videos category to find a video that may be useful for illustrating a given article. As of 2024, these videos are not shown in the Videos tab of Web search engines. You can also searchfree media sources of videos for educational free videos not yet uploaded to Commons.
To contribute, you will need access to avideo camera and a computer withvideo editing software.
Additionally, please usestabilizing equipment (for example, atripod) or a steady hand (less preferable). If you've done a reasonable but imperfect job at shooting your content stably,stabilization software is available.
To ensure that these videos can be used by similar articles in other languages, do not provide commentary or narration when shooting video.
Videos on Wikipedia should be simple and clean. Some rough guidelines include:
If you are recording a shot with no camera movement or zoom, do not record for less than 5 seconds. If you are zooming, be sure to record 3 seconds before the zoom and wait at least 3 seconds after you reach the end of the shot. The same guidelines for zoom shots also applies to any shot that has movement (panning or tilting). Buffers will help with the editing of the video.
Usingvideo editing software (seeList of video editing software for options), import the video onto your computer to edit. Refer to instruction manuals for your specific software and camera to learn how to import and edit.
In the editing process of multi-shot videos, consider opening your video with a shot establishing the location of the site (for example, an establishing shot for a video of Grand Central Terminal could be of the front of the building with surrounding buildings).
Do not include narration or titles, which will render the video incompatible with similar articles in other languages, as stated previously. Additionally, do not include transitions or special effects (with the exception of image control effects), in order to support further re-editing.
When finished, export your video. When exporting, be sure to select any options that support web streaming.
After exporting the video, you must convert the file toVP8 orVP9 in theWebM container orTheora in theOgg container. VP9 is preferred for new uploads; however, do not convert from VP8 or Theora, as converting will reduce the quality. It is not necessary to reduce the size of the video; lower-resolution versions are generated automatically after you've uploaded a high-resolution video.
UseSpecial:UploadWizard to do so. After uploading, you will be given a link that insert into a Wikipedia page to embed the uploaded video.
We recommend releasing the video under theCreative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.
The process of embedding of videos on Wikipedia articles is similar to that for embedding images.
