View source for Wiki143:Uploading images

{{about||more information on multimedia on Wikipedia in general (images, sound files, etc.)|Wikipedia:Media}}
{{pp-semi|small=yes}}
{{Information page|WP:UPIMAGE|WP:UPIMG|WP:UPI}}
{{Beginner version|Help:Introduction to images with Wiki Markup|Help:Introduction to images with VisualEditor}}
[[File:Illustrating Wikipedia brochure.pdf|link=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Illustrating_Wikipedia_brochure.pdf|thumb|300px| A PDF document that introduces newcomers to Wikimedia Commons and how they can contribute to it]]
To upload an image, use the [[Wikipedia:File upload wizard]]. 

When uploading an image, you have to: 

*make sure the image is published under a [[Copyright|free copyright license]]
*clearly label the origin and the copyright license of the image.

Before uploading images, read the [[Wikipedia:Image use policy|image use policy]]. '''Most images on the Internet are copyrighted.''' If you can't verify its copyright status, '''do not upload it'''. A "free license" means that the owner of the image has given anyone the right to share, modify, and use the image for any reason (even commercially).

Such licenses include:
*[[Public domain]] (expired copyright or published as public domain, see [[:Category:Public domain copyright templates|here for examples]])
*One of free licenses listed [[Wikipedia:File copyright tags|here]].
If you created the image, you will have to license it under a free license as well.

English Wikipedia allows non-free images to be uploaded under [[fair use]] doctrine if there is no possibility that a free image exists or will be created (think: portraits of dead people, long-past events, etc). If so, please follow the [[WP:NONFREE|non-free content guidelines]], and upload it locally to English Wikipedia only (not Wikimedia Commons).

For a guide on finding images appropriate for uploading, see the [[Wikipedia:finding images tutorial|finding images tutorial]]. It might also be helpful to read [[Wikipedia:Preparing images for upload]].

{{Commons|Commons:First steps/Upload form}}

==Steps in uploading a new image==
===Determine copyright status===
For uploads to the English Wikipedia, you must first find out whether the image is legal in the United States (where the Wikipedia servers are located). Because of copyright treaties, this may additionally require you to verify the image's copyright in its source country. (A comprehensive explanation of this is at [[Wikipedia:Non-U.S. copyrights]], and simple charts of copyright duration can be found at [[Wikipedia:Copyright situations by country]] and [[:commons:Commons:Licensing|Commons:Licensing]].) For your own protection, you should also consider whether your own country's copyright laws impose any requirements on you, the uploader.

Next, determine which [[Wikipedia:File copyright tags|Image copyright tag]] is applicable for your image file.

====Copyrighted images with no license====
If the image has not been released (to your knowledge) under a license and is still under copyright, you must gain permission to use the image from the copyright holder.

You can try the standard form at [[Wikipedia:Declaration of consent for all enquiries]] to attempt to gain that permission (and if successful, tag the image with {{tl|Permission pending}} when the upload procedure is completed).

Alternatively, you can ask the copyright holder to post a notice on the website where the image originated{{#tag:ref|It must be clear that the notice was posted by the copyright owner, so sites that are clearly professional in nature are more likely to be accepted as proof of license. Simply hosting content yourself with a false declaration is not acceptable, and may result in Wikipedia community sanctions against you, in addition to personal liability.|group="Note"}} stating that it is released under an appropriate free license (such as [[Wikipedia:Image copyright tags/Free licenses|these]]; CC BY-SA 4.0 is simplest, because Wikipedia's text already uses that license).

====Free license and public domain images====
If, after looking over the [[Wikipedia:Copyright]] and [[Wikipedia:File copyright tags|Image copyright tags]] pages, you determine that the image is [[Wikipedia:Public domain|public domain]] or other free license (e.g. Creative Commons), then you may upload it to [[:commons:Main Page|Wikimedia Commons]]. This is a shared repository for images and other media files. Images uploaded to Wikimedia Commons can easily be used here on English Wikipedia as well as by other language Wikipedias and [[Wikipedia:Sister projects|Sister projects]] (the <nowiki>[[File:]]</nowiki> tag will find Wikimedia Commons images as if they were stored on Wikipedia). Another advantage of Wikimedia Commons is its category system that helps to organize and make images easy to find. An important caveat to Wikimedia Commons is that they '''do not accept [[Wikipedia:Fair use|fair use]]''' images.

:''See [[Commons:Commons:First steps/Upload form|First steps/Upload form]] for further instructions on uploading to Commons. More general help can be found at [[:commons:Help:Contents|Wikimedia Commons Help]].''

====Fair use images====
{{main|Wikipedia:Non-free content}}
If the image you wish to upload is not under a free license, but meets '''all''' of Wikipedia's [[Wikipedia:Fair use|fair use]] criteria, then you are permitted to upload it directly into the English Wikipedia with a [[Wikipedia:Non-free use rationale guideline|fair use rationale]]. Keep in mind that it is '''not permitted''' to upload fair use images into Wikimedia Commons, but it '''is permitted''' to do so into English Wikipedia. In addition to fair use images, it is possible to upload any image directly to Wikipedia; though, doing so lacks some advantages of Commons.

===Procedure to upload===
Only [[Special:userlogin|logged in]] users with [[Wikipedia:Autoconfirmed|autoconfirmed accounts]] can upload images (meaning that the account must be at least four days old, and the user must have made at least ten edits). If you do not have an account, or you have not been autoconfirmed yet, please see [[Wikipedia:Files for upload]].

You can upload an image by using the ''Upload file'' link on the left side of the main page under the heading 'Contribute' (which is a link to [[Special:Upload]]). On most browsers, you will see a "Browse..." button, which will bring up your operating system's standard file open dialog. Choosing a file will fill the [[#Technical_aspects|name]] of that file into the text field next to the button. You must also check the box affirming that you are not violating any copyrights by uploading the file. Press the "Upload" button to finish the upload.

Note that some licenses, such as the [[Wikipedia:Image copyright tags#Creative Commons Licenses|Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike License v. 2.5]], require that licensees attribute the work as specified by the copyright holder. After uploading, you may need to manually edit the "Licensing" section. For this example, you would add the correct attribution as a parameter to the <nowiki>{{Cc-by-sa-2.5}} template, which would then appear as {{Cc-by-sa-2.5|Attribution}}</nowiki>.

===File formats===
Certain file formats are not accepted on Wikimedia Projects, and may need to be converted to a supported free format prior to uploading. Additionally, some file types produce better results than others. For more information on preferred file formats accepted for sound, video and image files at Wikimedia Commons, see [[c:Commons:File types|Commons:File types]].

===Filenames===
Some filenames (such as highly generic filenames produced automatically by digital cameras) are disallowed, and attempting to use them will generate an error message.{{#tag:ref|See [[Wikipedia:Image file names#Disallowed image names]] for how to disallow filenames.|group="Note"}} 

''Examples of good file names:''
: [[Image:Yes_check.svg|15px]] "[[:Image:City of London skyline from London City Hall - Oct 2008.jpg|City of London skyline from London City Hall - Oct 2008.jpg]]"
: [[Image:Yes_check.svg|15px]] "[[:Image:KDE Kicker config screenshot.png|KDE Kicker config screenshot.png]]"
: [[Image:Yes_check.svg|15px]] "[[:Image:1863 Meeting of Settlers and Maoris at Hawke's Bay, New Zealand.jpg|1863 Meeting of Settlers and Maoris at Hawke's Bay, New Zealand.jpg]]"
: [[Image:Yes_check.svg|15px]] "[[:Image:Polyhedron with no vertex visible from center.png|Polyhedron with no vertex visible from center.png]]"
: [[Image:Yes_check.svg|15px]] "[[:Image:The Consecration Of King Sinhala-Prince Vijaya (Detail From The Ajanta Mural Of Cave No 17).jpg|The Consecration Of King Sinhala-Prince Vijaya (Detail From The Ajanta Mural Of Cave No 17).jpg]]"
: [[Image:Yes_check.svg|15px]] "[[:Image:Sir John Betjeman (1906-1984).jpg|Sir John Betjeman (1906-1984).jpg]]"


''Examples of bad file names:''
: [[Image:X mark.svg|15px]] "Image01.png"
: [[Image:X mark.svg|15px]] "Joe.jpg"
: [[Image:X mark.svg|15px]] "DSC00001.JPG"
: [[Image:X mark.svg|15px]] "30996951316264l.jpg"
: [[Image:X mark.svg|15px]] "th.jpg"
: [[Image:X mark.svg|15px]] "download.jpg"
: [[Image:X mark.svg|15px]] "images.jpg"
: [[Image:X mark.svg|15px]] "balls.png"


For more information, please see [[Wikipedia:Image file names]].

==Find previously uploaded images==
*To view or search images previously uploaded directly to English Wikipedia, go to the [[Special:Imagelist|list of uploaded images]].
*Uploads and deletions are logged on the [[Special:Log/upload|upload log]].
*Many images can be categorized in one of the subcategories of [[:Category:Wikipedia images by subject]] or its parent category [[:Category:Wikipedia images]]. You may want to check there to see if an image already exists and has been categorized. You might need to poke around the category hierarchy a bit.

Please note that as with wiki pages, others may edit or delete your uploads if they think it serves the encyclopedia, and you may be blocked from uploading if you abuse the system.

===<span class="anchor" id="Updating existing image"></span> Reupload existing image===
To reupload an existing image, for example an infographic based on older data, go to that image file description page and find the link that says "upload a new version of this file", which opens a wizard to upload the new version.  Describe only the ''changes'' that you have made to the file, as the general description of the file (including licensing, etc.) will remain from before.  The new version will now automatically be accessed by the pages that link to the file, but will keep the old version in the "File History" section of the file description page.

If you cannot find the link to "upload a new version of this file" it's possible that you are not looking at the original source page of the file.  It is common for files to be hosted at the Wikimedia Commons, even though they have an English Wikipedia info page in which case you'll have to find the file there (a notice should be provided that the file is hosted on Wikimedia Commons and will link to the file's "description page there") where you can reupload the file.  Changes to the Wikimedia Commons version of the file will be seen in all Wikipedia references as well.

After reuploading an image to the same image name you often need to [[Wikipedia:Bypass your cache|bypass]] your browser cache to see the new image. This also fixes the oddity that the new image might show on the image page, but with the old image size. Sometimes after uploading a new version of an image the thumbnails in articles still show the old image even if you have bypassed your browser cache (which is especially ugly if the new image is of a different size). Then you need to purge the image page. See [[Wikipedia:Purge#For images]] for how to do that.

==Adding images to articles==
The procedure for adding images to articles is the same, regardless of whether the image was uploaded to [[Wikipedia:Wikimedia Commons#Embedding Wikicommons' media in Wikipedia articles|Commons]] or directly to English Wikipedia. To make your uploaded file appear in an article, you need to insert it: edit the article and add the syntax

<nowiki>[[</nowiki>File:'''Image name'''|thumb|'''[[Wikipedia:Captions|Caption]]''']]

where you want the file to appear.

'''Important: '''Image names are case-sensitive. For example, if an image is called Picture.jpg then neither picture.jpg nor Picture.JPG will find it.

See [[Help:Visual file markup]] for further instructions.

==Technical aspects==
{{main|Wikipedia:Image use policy#Format}}
The preferred formats are [[JPEG]] for photographic images, [[SVG]] for drawings and line-art illustration, [[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]] for non-[[Vector graphics|vector graphic]] iconic images, [[Ogg Vorbis]] for sound and [[Ogg Theora]] for video.
Please name your files descriptively to avoid confusion (see below).
To include the image in an article, use a link in the form
'''<nowiki>[[File:filename.jpg]]</nowiki>''' or '''<nowiki>[[File:filename.png|alt text]]</nowiki>''' or '''<nowiki>[[File:filename.ogg]]</nowiki>''' for sounds.
To include an image as a
thumbnail, use '''<nowiki>[[File:filename.jpg|thumb|Caption]]</nowiki>'''.

==Mini how-to==
The  '''Upload File Screen''', which you will find at '''[[Special:Upload]]''', has three fields:

*The '''Source Filename''' field has a browse button that lets you choose a file on your computer.
*The '''Destination Filename''' field will contain the filename that links to your image from a Wikipedia article. See [[Wikipedia:Image file names]] for guidance on choosing a good name. If the destination field is left blank, the Source Filename will be used. If [[JavaScript]] is enabled, the field will be automatically set to the Source Filename.
*The '''Summary''' field is where you enter the text that will appear below the image on its file page. You can use [[Wikipedia:How to edit a page|Wiki markup]] and [[Template:Information]] within it. You should write a brief description of what the image is, its source, and the [[#Licenses|license]] under which you are uploading it. 

=== File description page's Summary mark-up text ===
Here is an example '''Summary''' (including explanations of the [[Template:Information]] parameters) that you can copy and paste when you upload the file or refer to when you edit any file Summary that needs correction:

<div style="margin: 1em 2em; padding:0.5em 1em; border: 1px solid gray; background-color: #EFE;">
'''<code><nowiki>{{Information</nowiki></code>'''<br />
'''<code><nowiki>|Description =</nowiki></code>''' What can you see/hear?<br />
'''<code><nowiki>|Source =</nowiki></code>''' <code>self-made</code> or URL, if existent name of institution and such things as catalog numbers or similar<br />
'''<code><nowiki>|Date =</nowiki></code>''' date image was created and/or released; to avoid misunderstandings with different date formats, spell out the month (e.g. '''<code><nowiki>created 2. Oct. 1999</nowiki></code>'''), use [[Wikipedia:ISO 8601|ISO 8601]] notation (e.g. '''<code>1999-10-02</code>'''), or for new self-made works, use '''<code><nowiki>~~~~~</nowiki></code>''' (5 tildes) to insert the current date<br />
'''<code><nowiki>|Author =</nowiki></code>''' first and last name of the author (in case of self-made works additionally '''<code><nowiki>~~~</nowiki></code>''' ) and/or the name of the institution<br />
'''<code><nowiki>|Permission =</nowiki></code>''' Short quote of the permission of the copyright owner (if too long shortened with link to long version).<br />
'''<code><nowiki>|other_versions =</nowiki></code>''' Wiki link to other versions if they exist within the Wikimedia Commons (e.g. a black and white version of a color image)<br />
'''<code><nowiki>}}</nowiki></code>'''

</div>

As for the description of the content, if it’s an artwork, provide brief historical background; in case of scientific data, a brief scientific abstract of the file. If you have detailed information about the image, for example the name of the species or the size of the object, please add it.

If you create images to upload that need to show the size of a depicted object, images with a ruler are better than images with a coin or similar item, since not everyone has access to the same type of item.

=== Submitting the information ===
After entering the information, '''submitting''' it will upload the image and save the summary. There is no preview, as there is for editing articles. Nevertheless, the [[Draft:Sandbox|Sandbox]] or a [[Wikipedia:User page|user page]] can be used to view and edit summaries before the image is uploaded, and after uploading, you can still click the edit button and make changes to the summary and the license, if you have made a mistake. 

If there is already a file that was uploaded with the Destination Filename you chose, then you are given the options to save anyway and overwrite the old file (although it will remain in the image history) or returning to the upload form and entering a different filename.

===Examples===
For examples on how to upload images and use this template look at the following images:
*[[:Image:QalaunMosque1.jpg]]
*[[:Image:Cloncurrysunset.JPG]]
*[[:Image:Angel1.jpg]]

==Multiproject upload==
{{Main|Wikipedia:Moving images to Commons}}
[[Image:Wikipedia to Commons.png|frameless|upright=1.11|right|alt=The Wikipedia logo, with a big blue arrow leading to the Wikimedia Commons logo]]
Although it is possible to use one image within several Wikipedia articles (of the same Wikimedia project), it is not possible to use an image uploaded to one Wikimedia project (both [[WP:SIS|sister projects]] like [[Wikisource]] and other language Wikipedias) in another one without re-uploading it in each of these projects. For this reason, all free images should be uploaded to [[commons:Main Page|Wikimedia Commons]], where they will immediately be accessible from all Wikimedia projects. Note that Commons only accepts free images (public domain or licensed under a [[free license]]). If the image is [[fair use]], you can't upload it to Commons, so it will have to be uploaded separately to every project that uses it.{{#tag:ref|Some Wikipedias, most notably the German Wikipedia, do not permit fair use content either. You should verify the local policy before uploading to other Wikimedia sites.|group="Note"}} To upload the image existing on Wikipedia to another project you will need to download the image to your own computer (often right clicking on it will give you this option), and then re-upload that to the place you want the image to be copied to. [[Help:Interlanguage links|Interlanguage links]] can be added between the two.

If this is too confusing, just tag it with {{tl|Copy to Wikimedia Commons}}. This adds a notice saying "This is a candidate to be copied to the Wikimedia Commons" to the page; then someone will move it for you and remove the tag. This category has a significant backlog though, so it may be better just to move it yourself.

==See also==
*[[Wikipedia:Images]]
*[[Wikipedia:Image use policy]]
*[[Wikipedia:Images and media for deletion]]
*[[Wikipedia:Featured pictures]]
*[[Wikipedia:Captions]]
*[[meta:Sharing images across projects]]
*[[User:R. Baley/Free photo essay |Requesting a free photo]]&nbsp;– "How-To" guide for acquiring free images (5 steps). More useful for novice editors still gaining experience with copyright licenses and uploading free images.

==Notes==
{{reflist|group="Note"}}

{{Wikipedia technical help|collapsed}}
[[Category:Wikipedia features|{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Wikipedia image help|{{PAGENAME}}]]