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SVG, PNG, and JPEG
- On Wikimedia Commons, the file types we recommend are: SVG, PNG, and JPEG. BMP files are not allowed on Commons. These can be losslessly converted to PNG, and the file size will always be smaller.
commons.wikimedia.org › wiki › Commons:File_types
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Any freely licensed media file (images, sound, video, etc.) that is useful for any Wikimedia project can be uploaded. For acceptable file types, see Commons:File types . The licenses must allow for commercial use and the creation of derivative works. 1 See also the copyright question for the required license conditions.
Understand what kinds of uploads Wikimedia Commons can accept. Images that you upload to Wikimedia Commons have to be educational and freely licensed. While "educational" may be a vague category, "freely licensed" is quite specific:
Mar 11, 2024 · Unlike traditional media repositories, Wikimedia Commons is free. Everyone is allowed to copy, use and modify any files here freely as long as they follow the terms specified by the author; this often means crediting the source and author(s) appropriately and releasing copies/improvements under the same freedom to others.
- Size and Scaling
- Png
- Jpeg
- Gif
- Tiff
- Webp
- Xcf
- Mp3
- Ogg
- FLAC
See also: Commons:Maximum file size 1. Note that new PNG resizing software has been installed since the text below has been written. Unfortunately the image scaling system is still limited. Currently, (PNG, GIF, JPEG) thumbnails are generated in the same format as the original image and are always in 24-bit color (unless the image is GIF, in which ...
PNG is a "lossless" format (which supports alpha transparency), meaning that the exact pixel color is preserved when saving, and can be used for any kind of drawings/diagrams that is not available in SVG format (SVG is preferred when creating diagrams etc.). PNG is good for practically anything except digital camera photographs. PNG is better for s...
JPEG (also JPG) is appropriate for photographs, especially when the photographs are already JPEGs. JPEG uses “lossy compression”, sacrificing precision for smaller file size. If you have a choice of file formats in which to save a graphic, scan, or other such thing, save it as PNG(or save it as another lossless format, such as TIFF, and convert to ...
PNG is almost always superior to GIF for still images (smaller size, more colors, better transparency). If you are creating or editing a graphic (not a photograph), and have a choice of file formats to save it in, the preferences for Wikipedia/Wikimedia use is SVGfirst, then PNG. Never save an image with more than 256 colors in the GIF format. GIF ...
Only some TIFFfiles can, at this time, be displayed in resized (thumbnailed) form within Wikipedia or on Commons, and TIFF files are not supported by most Internet browsers. They are an archival format, and should never be used for images intended to be displayed. TIFF generally serves as a lossless format, similar to PNG, but with much less compre...
The image format WebPis supported on Commons. It supports both lossy image compression based on VP8 and lossless image compression based on a new algorithm. The lossless mode is more compact than PNG.
XCF can be useful if you are working on an image with GIMP. Unlike PNG and similar files, XCF files support text and multiple layers. It may be useful to upload the XCF file, so that other editors can continue working with it directly, while retaining the layering information. Please note that a thumbnail of a XCF can only be generated by the Media...
MP3 is a widely supported audio format and is highly recommended if an ogg or lossless version can't be found. Commons currently only accepts MP3 uploads by users with Autopatrolor higher rights, due to concerns about the capacity of the community to monitor for copyright violations.
Opus is the preferred audio codec for the Ogg container. Please use the file type opus or oga to upload audio files in Ogg Opus format.[Note 4] Opus is supported by MediaWiki (phab:T42193, phab:T53313) since 2014. The format has excellent quality and low algorithmic delay.It automatically switches between speech and music-optimized modes and is abl...
The Free Lossless Audio Codec is supported with or without encapsulation into ogg-containers. TimedMediaHandler will automatically offer transcoded variants in ogg format. File extension without encapsulation: .flac. (The related phab:T51505was resolved in 2013 and closed in 2014.)
Jan 17, 2018 · Most of the pictures you see on the world’s largest encyclopedia come from Commons, which at 43 million files is one of the world’s largest freely licensed media repositories for “educational media content,” as defined in its scope. (This means that most media files you’d like to upload are acceptable—but not all.)
Aug 25, 2022 · From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. < Commons:First steps. Translate this page. How to make your work in Wikimedia Commons easier. Contents. 1 Transferring files from other projects. 1.1 Avoiding thumbnail images. 1.2 File transfer process. 2 Additional tools. 3 Further reading. Transferring files from other projects [ edit]
To transfer media files to the free media repository Commons, an Internet connection, a free Commons user account and a free tool for transmitting the data (pls. see sections below) is needed. In addition, the uploading institution has to be the copyright owner of the files in order to release them under a free license (if they are not already ...
