Help:Files

This is an information page. It is not an encyclopedic article, nor one of Wikipedia'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 of consensus and vetting.

Shortcuts WP:FILE WP:NS6

This page in a nutshell: To use an image or other media file on Wikipedia, you need to upload it, and then edit a Wikipedia page to use the file.

The File namespace is a namespace consisting of administration pages in which all of Wikipedia's media content resides. On Wikipedia, all media filenames begin with the prefix File:, including data files for images, video clips, or audio clips, including document length clips; or MIDI files (a small file of computer music instructions).

• [[File:pagename]] will
  transclude the file, inserting the image, video, audio, or MIDI file into the rendered page in a file link
  . A file link is a transclusion from the File namespace, complete with transclusion parameters.
• [[:File:pagename]], with the initial colon, will link the image, video, or audio file page;
• [[Media:pagename]] will render a link which can activate the image or audio or video of a data file directly, on its own page (separate from the rendered page or the file page).

For backward compatibility with older pages the alias Image: (now deprecated) is still available instead of File: in wikilinks or in the search box, but "image" will now refer to more types of data files than just images.

The first step in using an image or other media file is to

• for images: SVG, PNG, JPEG, and XCF. The GIF and TIFF formats are recognized, and other image formats may be too.
• for audio: MIDI, and also Ogg with FLAC, Speex, or Vorbis codecs.
• for video: WebM, and also Ogg with the Theora video codec.

You may have to rename your file for Wikipedia: see Naming files below. Also, please bear in mind that the Exif format of many digital cameras, smartphones, and scanners may embed personal metadata, and that if your media files are handled by unknown persons, steganography can embed hidden information in them.

High resolution images and animated .gif files may pose a problem for performance, but see the problem description in terms of bandwidth and reader's computing power at

Once the file is uploaded, please verify its

. If a file of the same name exists on both Wikipedia and Commons, the Wikipedia file will be displayed.

Files subject to any restrictions on how they may be used (except attribution or

low-resolution

files so that the use is as minimal as possible.

Using files

For all the details on the fields of a file link, see Wikipedia:Extended image syntax and Module:InfoboxImage.

wikilink

the page name, which will in turn include its file (of that name) in the page you edit. Take for example File:Wikipedesketch.png. Use the following all on one line (with no line breaks). Then the results will be as shown in the image to the right:

[[File:Wikipedesketch.png|thumb|alt=A cartoon centipede ... detailed description.|The Wikipede edits ''[[Myriapoda]]''.]]

The above link contains "fields":

1. the page name, "File:Wikipedesketch.png"
2. "thumb", short for thumbnail and referring here to the reader's default size for images (See
   Help:User preferences
   to specify your own thumbnail sizes.)
3. the
   alt text
   , such as might read "A cartoon centipede with seven hands reads a book, lifts another, types on a laptop, and holds a bottle". Alt text is intended for visually impaired readers or those with browsers or computers that do not display images. It should describe the gist of the picture's appearance in detail
4. the
   caption, as "The Wikipede edits Myriapoda
   ." The caption is intended for viewers of the image and explains the meaning while using terms that refer directly to items as they appear in the image.

Text and captions need have little text in common. A reader of the article can click on the thumbnail, or on the small double-rectangle icon below it, to go to the corresponding file page.

By default, the page layout will place the image to the right of the wikitext, one line below where you placed the link. The

accessible

to readers who cannot see the images) Also, you can create plain pictures that do not have captions and can be mingled with text and other images; these can use more fine-grained techniques, including borders, vertical alignment with text, and control over links. You can also link to an image without displaying it.

For examples of all these techniques, see

Picture tutorial

.

Naming files

Main page: Wikipedia:File names

File names should be clear and descriptive, without being excessively long. While the image name doesn't matter much to the reader (they can reach the

description page

by simply clicking on the image), it matters for editors. It is helpful to other contributors and for maintenance of the encyclopedia if images have descriptive or at least readable file names. For example, File:Skyline Frankfurt am Main.jpg is more manageable than File:14004096 200703230833355477800.jpg.

To avoid accidental overwriting of images or other media, generic filenames should not be used when uploading. For example, a picture of an album cover should not be given the name File:Cover.jpg. Sooner or later someone else will try to do the same thing, and that could overwrite the old image. Then the new image will appear wherever the old one was seen before—an album article would then show the wrong album cover. A better name would be File:Sabaton The Last Stand cover.jpg

Renaming files

Renaming a file page is different than

The request to rename a page is made by adding the following template to the wikitext file page, anywhere on the page:

{{Rename media|new filename|reason for name change}}

This will add the file page to Category:Wikipedia files requiring renaming, where a file mover will notice it.

The most common and accepted reasons a file mover will change a name are:

• Uploader request
• Changing from a meaningless to a descriptive title
• Changing from a misleading name to an accurate name
• Correcting important errors denoting, for example the spelling of a proper noun, or a false historical date
• Harmonizing file names with a set of related names
• Disambiguating files with very similar names
• Remove pejorative, offensive or crude language

The bolded words are description enough for the reason for a name change.

You can use the Special:Search box below to locate Files. See Help:Searching for more information.

• Help:Creation and usage of media files
• Help:Viewing media
• Wikipedia:File names
• Wikipedia:Images – an overview
  • Wikipedia:Image use policy
  • Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Images
  • Help:Pictures
  • Wikipedia:Uploading images
  • Wikipedia:Extended image syntax
• mw:Help:Images at MediaWiki
• commons:Allowable file types (STL is only allowed at Commons)