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This help desk is a forum for questions and help on:

How to use Commons

Anyone, from newbie to experienced, can ask a question here. Questions will be replied to here as well. Any answers you receive are not legal advice and the responder cannot be held liable for them.

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In order to get quick answers consider the following points:

• Have you checked the frequently asked questions, help pages and the help desk archive?
• For help regarding the Wiki Loves Monuments 2025 contest, please use the WLM help desk
• For licensing and copyright issues, please use the copyright village pump
• For proposing changes to the way Wikimedia Commons works, please use the proposals village pump
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Copyright help regarding File:Bundeliga Tobias Sippel.png

Uploaded a newer and fresher pic of Tobias Sippel from Bundesliga official. Is it not allowed to upload it? Thank you. Trying to figure out the wiki system first baby steps — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sz.Adam74 (talk • contribs) 15:29, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

Hello and welcome @Sz.Adam74, please read Commons:First steps and Commons:Licensing. If you want to upload images created by other people, the images must be either freely licensed or in public domain, or you must obtain permission from the copyright holder of those images.

In this case, the website that your image is from, they have stated in their terms of use that “All rights are reserved. The intellectual property contained in the Products as well as their Services and content is protected”. This means the image you uploaded is copyrighted and not freely-licensed. So, unless you have written permission from the copyright holder (the website), unfortunately this image cannot be uploaded and needs to be deleted. Feel free to ask if you still have any questions. Thank you. Tvpuppy (talk) 16:40, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

Thank you. I try and find something available. Sz.Adam74 (talk) 17:37, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

@Sz.Adam74: given that you appear to plan to upload existing content that you did not create, please read Commons:Uploading works by a third party. - Jmabel ! talk 20:10, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

Thank you, it really helps a lot. Szabenke (talk) 20:12, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

Are Screenshots aceptable?

Good day. I'd like to ask if a screenshot of a website - not mine - is acceptable to be used in wikipedia. I was willing to use one to show a how is a certain part of a Website, but I'm curious if that would infract any rule of this site. Bauti12 (talk) 21:59, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

Thank you for asking beforehand! But sadly, your idea will amount with quite a certainty to a copyright infringement, due to the assumed presence of non-trivial text or imagery (background info about that: COM:Threshold of originality). We have a guideline for screenshots: COM:Screenshot, also relevant: COM:Licensing and COM:Derivative works. Furthermore, you should be aware of COM:Project scope. If the question is about the English Wikipedia, you may fall back onto fair use, the relevant rule is readable at en:Wikipedia:Non-free content. Commons itself forbids it, see COM:Fair use. Regards, Grand-Duc (talk) 22:16, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

YouTube thumbnail screenshots

Are YouTube thumbnail screenshots allowed (if they are a part of the Creative Commons?) I am wondering this as I have a video in mind that is Creative Commons but I am not sure if the thumbnail is, how does Wikipedia treat it? WhyIsThisSoHard575483838 (talk) 00:14, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

Also the thumbnail that I have in mind I believe was either taken by the channel or by Brandon Aubrey himself, then used as the thumbnail with consent for Creative Commons WhyIsThisSoHard575483838 (talk) 00:20, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O0aLkVjc4n8 this is the video's thumbnail in question by the way WhyIsThisSoHard575483838 (talk) 00:57, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

@WhyIsThisSoHard575483838: Presumably there is no creative work involved in making a thumbnail, so nothing new and copyrightable is introduced, and you can use the license offered for the video. - Jmabel ! talk 20:04, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

What makes you "believe (it) was either taken by the channel or by Brandon Aubrey"? He can hardly have taken a photo like this and anyway it can't be assumed that it would be free. It seems likely that it was copied from somewhere else. -- Asclepias (talk) 00:34, 20 September 2025 (UTC)

It depends what is on it, where it comes from, and who owns the copyright. It can be included in the free license when it is extracted from the video and it does not include a non-free work. It can also be used if it is in the public domain or entirely AI-generated without including a non-free image. Otherwise, assume that it is not free, especially when there is no information about the source and the copyright owner and there is no evidence that is is free. -- Asclepias (talk) 00:34, 20 September 2025 (UTC)

Sorry, I presumed the thumbnail was of a shot from the video. Is that incorrect? I don't get any thumbnail at all when I go to that linked page myself. - Jmabel ! talk 04:11, 20 September 2025 (UTC)

This video is persons speaking in a video conference. The thumbnail is football players on the field. See also in the list of their videos. However, I'm not sure what the questioner refers to. Maybe we're not speaking of the same thing. -- Asclepias (talk) 10:57, 20 September 2025 (UTC)

Commons records

I was wondering if there was an equivalent to Wikipedia records on Commons. I was particularly wondering about (1) longest PDF (which can probably be checked automatically) and (2) largest mass deletion nomination (by number of files nominated). TE(æ)A,ea. (talk) 03:01, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

Martín de TITANIC ARGENTINA

quiero subir una foto Santerflix (talk) 05:31, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

It seems you did: File:Martín de TITANIC ARGENTINA.jpg. Assuming you took it yourself with your own camera like you say, and not just copied it from FB, all should be well. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 06:56, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

Deleted as advertisement. I'm not sure I agree with that -- it does show a book, but doesn't seem to advertise the book, and the photo on the book cover is old enough that I would imagine it is in the public domain (it certainly is in the U.S., but I don't know who was the photographer). On the other hand, if it is (as it appears) intended as a personal photo, we only accept (a small number of) those from active participants in WMF projects (Commons and its sister projects), and you don't seem to have any other contributions. - Jmabel ! talk 20:12, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

Jaguar Mena photo 14592879882 (CF & Euro loco)

Hi, Firstly I make regular donations to wicki as I beleive you are doing great work. I am presently working on a new railway book 'Brush Traction Locomotives'. If possible, I would like to use the photo listed above in the book. Can you help. John Matthews PS, photo is Chris Froome & bike with a EuroShuttle train. LocomotiveJohn (talk) 13:34, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

@LocomotiveJohn: I'm guessing you mean File:Chris Froome - The First Man to Cycle through the Eurotunnel (14592879882).jpg. Correct attribution in print would be "Photo by Jaguar MENA, licensed under CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)". - Jmabel ! talk 20:18, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

Extracting image from another file

Hello, I would like to extract the image of German concert promoter Ossy Hoppe from the file: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2022-06-22-Ossy_Hoppe_LEA_Live_Entertainment_Award_15_-0059.jpg Ossy Hoppe is the man on the left with white hair, and I would like to use only his photo to put it in a Wikipedia article that I have expanded. I have never done this; it is new to me, and I am worried about damaging the original file. Is anyone with experience extracting part of an image be kind enough to do this? Oroborvs (talk) 19:33, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

 $999$REAL 💬 ⬆   20:10, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

@999real: Great! Thank you very much for your help. Oroborvs (talk) 20:53, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

@Oroborvs: Heads up that {{Ping}} only works if you also sign your post at the same time, so going back to an old comment and adding {{ping|foo}} will not work unless you also add a new ~~~~ at the end. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 21:03, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

@Koavf: Ok, thanks for the info, I didn't even know. Oroborvs (talk) 21:13, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

For what it's worth, this ping of me worked. Glad I could help, friend: teamwork makes the dream work. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 21:22, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

How do you guys upload ogg files?

I wanna upload a 30 second ogg file of Sailing. SpongeBobMusicFan123 (talk) 01:47, 20 September 2025 (UTC)

{{ping|SpongeBobMusicFan123} I believe ogg files can be uploaded with any normal Commons upload tool (e.g. UploadWizard, chunked upload) or with video2commons. Did you try something and have it fail? - Jmabel ! talk 04:14, 20 September 2025 (UTC)

Can it be free or not? SpongeBobMusicFan123 (talk) 04:47, 20 September 2025 (UTC)

@SpongeBobMusicFan123, not sure what you meant there. If you mean "can it be fair use", then no, Commons does not accept fair use stuff, only stuff as described at Commons:Licensing. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 09:52, 20 September 2025 (UTC)

Incorrect map on YouTube Premium page

File:Availability of Youtube Music in the World.svg

The map incorrectly shows Crimea as part of Russia. According to the UN General Assembly Resolution 68/262 and international consensus, Crimea is internationally recognized as part of Ukraine. Please update the map to reflect this. Sireric1986 (talk) 19:46, 21 September 2025 (UTC)

As its title and description say, this map "shows where in the world users can subscribe to music streaming service Youtube Music". It's not a map of the boundaries of countries according to a resolution or anything else. -- Asclepias (talk) 22:53, 21 September 2025 (UTC)

The map currently uses solid borders that show Crimea as fully part of Russia.

I understand the purpose of this map is to show YouTube Premium availability, not political borders.

However, Wikimedia projects typically apply neutral hatching or dotted borders for disputed areas (e.g., Crimea, Western Sahara, Golan Heights, Kashmir).

Would it be possible to:

keep the availability shading (to indicate YouTube coverage), but

draw Crimea’s outer border with a dashed or dotted line, or add a neutral note in the legend,

similar to how other Wikimedia maps display disputed territories?

This would preserve the informational intent of the map while following Commons’ neutral point-of-view practices. Sireric1986 (talk) 00:35, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

You can draw Crimea's outer border with a dashed or dotted line and keep the shading. I've enabled overwriting so that change could be made. Abzeronow (talk) 01:08, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

Yes, that sounds ok. -- Asclepias (talk) 17:17, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

¿Es aceptable un logo con el fondo transparente puesto por mi?

Encontré una imagen de un escudo (o logo) de un club de fútbol en una página web. Esa imagen no tenía un fondo transparente entonces se lo borré. ¿Puedo subirlo o infringe alguna norma? Necpk1 (talk) 21:11, 21 September 2025 (UTC)

No hay ningún problema en borrar el fondo, pero la imágen necesita ser de dominio público o estar bajo una licencia libre. No es común, que el escudo o logo de un club de fútbol sea de dominio público o esté bajo una licencia libre. Esto sería el problema más probable. - Jmabel ! talk

Агентство по гарантии качества в сфере образования EdNet

мой аккаунт можете разблокировать пожалуйста, ednetednet хочу закончить статью и пожалуйста помогите мне я 1 раз не понимаю много чего, спасибо 212.112.123.12 04:42, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

Screenshot a website?

Is it illegal to screenshot a website and upload it to Wikipedia? StarCinnamon232 (talk) 05:27, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

@StarCinnamon232: I assume that by "illegal" you don't mean "Could I be criminally convicted for this?" but that you are asking about the rules either of Wikipedia in some unspecified language or of Wikimedia Commons (the site you are on). If the question is really about one of the Wikipedias, you'll have to ask there, not here. If it is about Commons, you'll have to be much more specific about what website, what the screenshot shows, etc. Keep in mind that at least 95% of what is on the web is copyrighted and not free-licensed, and cannot be uploaded to Commons. - Jmabel ! talk 06:02, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

File:Probable mechanism of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus (SFTSV) pathogenesis.webp

Buenas,tengo un problema un usuario @Prototyperspective agregó esta imagen a la nueva categoría (Category:Files using BioRender.com icons to be deleted or modified) pero si el sitio web Nature aparece la licencia libre CC-BY-4.0 (https://www.nature.com/articles/s12276-021-00610-1). AbchyZa22 (talk) 12:23, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

Those files aren't yet nominated for deletion but I will nominate them at a later point. The Nature study text and images are all CCBY except for the images that contain BioRender images. Those images have to be either deleted or get their BioRender icons replaced and I hope somebody will do the latter. Prototyperspective (talk) 12:25, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

@Prototyperspective:But you have to talk to Nature because they added a free license if those image were created by BioRender (in my opinion it seems that Nature secretly asked BioRender for permission for Nature to publish photographs created by BioRender), regarding those images it has a free license but there must be some mistake. (Google translator) AbchyZa22 (talk) 12:35, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

They can't license BioRender images under CCBY; they can just use them as far as I understand it and this could be discussed in the DR(s). Prototyperspective (talk) 12:37, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

@Prototyperspective:In the website (https://www.nature.com/articles/s12276-021-00610-1) upside down section Rights and permissions says:Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. (Google translator) AbchyZa22 (talk) 12:46, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

Pinging @Jmabel dime una opinión? AbchyZa22 (talk) 12:49, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

I know; see my previous comment (and also If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license[…]). Prototyperspective (talk) 12:49, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

@Prototyperspective:look (https://www.biorender.com/) in the down says Recently published in,but i see the logo of Nature... AbchyZa22 (talk) 17:26, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

Yes Prototyperspective (talk) 17:45, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

The Nature article does say that the image is under CC BY 4.0 license, because it is not indicated otherwise. There is a credit to Biorender, but there is no indication excluding the CC license.

The email quoted in the category does not seem to address that. The email is not of much use without the question that was asked. It sort of says that Commons could not directly use their icons. At least not without contracting a plan with them. Other than that, it does not address the reuse of icons included in images publihed under CC BY 4.0 by people who are actually authorized by BioRender to do so under a BioRender plan.

The terms of use of BioRender are complex and comprise various different plans. For example, if we assume that the authors of the article contracted an "academic plan" with BioRender, part of the terms are stated in the page www.biorender.com/academic-license. It states "With a paid Academic License, you can publish a figure in an Open Access journal, including under CC-BY 4.0 licensing without having to contact the BioRender team. Just generate the Publication License (details above) for the figure and use the included citation in the figure caption, footnote, or credits when publishing your figure." and "If you are publishing your figure in an Open Access journal that is under an open-source licensing arrangement (e.g. CC-BY 4.0 license), please make sure you follow our Publication License and citation requirements noted in Section 2 above and our Help Center page.". The help page to generate the citation is there.

There might be a problem if the authors of the Nature article violated the terms of their BioRender plan, because some aspect of their BioRender plan is not met or because the citation was not generated and worded as it should have been. Maybe the wording could have included something saying that icons could not be extracted from the image. One question is how the citation must be worded and was it correctly worded. If it was correctly worded, in conformity of the BioRender plan that allows publication under CC BY 4.0, reusers can legitimately believe that the icons may be reused under CC BY 4.0. -- Asclepias (talk) 18:35, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

It seems that:

A) Images made and published under CC BY 4.0 by legitimate BioRender customers who use BioRender icons in those images are validly under CC BY 4.0 because BioRender explicitly allows it. That would mean, at least, that the whole image (which includes the BioRender icons) can be reused under CC BY 4.0, and also that a part of the image (which includes the BioRender icons that happen to be included in that part) can be reused under CC BY 4.0, with the possible caveat in C) below.

B) If it is not used in an image made in conformity with A), a BioRender icon cannot be reproduced in isolation directly from the BioRender collection.

C) BioRender expects that its icons used in a CC BY 4.0 image in conformity with A) will not be extracted and reproduced in isolation exactly as they are in the BioRender collection. One difficulty is how a good-faith reuser of a CC BY 4.0 image is supposed to know or to guess which parts exactly of the image are BioRender icons.

-- Asclepias (talk) 13:18, 23 September 2025 (UTC)

@Asclepias:(https://www.nature.com/articles/s12276-021-00610-1) in the figure number 2 says in the upside down says:Created with BioRender.com. (Google translator) AbchyZa22 (talk) 13:56, 23 September 2025 (UTC)

Does the presence of that credit necessarily mean that every element in an image is from BioRender? How does the reader know what constitutes a designated icon that is excluded from the license? When an element is separated from other elements by some white space? And as soon as two or more elements are grouped by the author of the image, it is ok to reuse the group under the license? -- Asclepias (talk) 15:05, 23 September 2025 (UTC)

At: https://help.biorender.com/hc/en-gb/articles/21283116932765-CC-BY-publishing-and-reader-permissions it is clear that BioRender (BR) users can use a CC-BY license for images created with BR. Since the subject article does not have any indication that the images are not included with the rest of the article under the CC-BY license, I think we are safe in assuming that the authors have the necessary license from BR. .     Jim . . . (Jameslwoodward) (talk to me) 18:40, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

 Question, I noticed the page also mentions, “BioRender icons are BioRender’s proprietary property and we need to preserve our rights to maintain a thriving business, we reserve the right to restrict anyone from extracting the icons and distributing them by themselves”. Is this restriction compatible with Commons? Tvpuppy (talk) 16:24, 23 September 2025 (UTC)

It is completely incompatible; it restricts modification.

Anohthterwikipedian (talk) 11:44, 24 September 2025 (UTC)

F8 exception

I originally tagged Ambox move.svg as a duplicate of File:Merge-split-transwiki default.svg, but it was marked Keep due to being in use. Does this mean that files under F8 are not deleted if in use? If so, why isn’t this reflected on the policy page? Anohthterwikipedian (talk) 07:28, 24 September 2025 (UTC)

Pinging @Abzeronow - Jmabel ! talk 20:08, 24 September 2025 (UTC)

Still used in Hausa Wikipedia, I have no objection if someone wants to handle it as a duplicate though. Abzeronow (talk) 22:39, 24 September 2025 (UTC)

The usage on Hausa Wikipedia appears to be… uhh… What’s happening with this self redirect?

Anohthterwikipedian (talk) 02:26, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

@Abzeronow: Still though, does usage change the fact that the file is a duplicate and thus should be deleted?

Anohthterwikipedian (talk) 07:43, 27 September 2025 (UTC)

IRMA SZINGER

WOULD LIKE TO DOWN LOAD FOR IRMA SZINGER OWN PHOTOS HOW CAN I DO THAT? THEO SZINGER (talk) 09:56, 24 September 2025 (UTC)

@THEO SZINGER Afaict, Commons have no pictures of anyone called IRMA SZINGER you can download. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 13:28, 24 September 2025 (UTC)

Abuse Filter blocking valid CC BY 3.0 edit

Hello, I uploaded an image of Tzuyu from the Hanam Starfield Fan Signing Event (July 22, 2018), derived from a YouTube video by the ODS channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIAn-vxNqUY The video is marked with a Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY 3.0), and I attempted to update the file page for File:Tzuyu-07-22-2018.png with proper source, author, and license information using the standard Information and Cc-by-3.0 templates. However, the Abuse Filter flagged my edit as “potentially unconstructive” and disallowed it. I believe this is a false positive. Could someone please help me bypass the filter or confirm the correct way to format this edit? Thank you! Chewies614 (talk) 10:27, 24 September 2025 (UTC)

Hello and welcome @Chewies614, the abuse filter blocked your edit because you were trying to change the section heading from =={{int:license-header}}== to == Licensing ==. So, if you keep the section headings the same, your edit should go through. Thanks. Tvpuppy (talk) 11:37, 24 September 2025 (UTC)

@Chewies614, You uploaded this file from YouTube yet it says "own work" in description, also that youtube video is uploaded under standard youtube licence (not cc licence). Why did you put a CC licence on file page and did not mentioned the source?—KEmel49(📝,📤) 19:27, 24 September 2025 (UTC)

Good catch, the video is not CC licensed even though the uploader has claimed above, so the image should be deleted as copyvio. Thanks. Tvpuppy (talk) 20:03, 24 September 2025 (UTC)

Hi, This is my first time contributing, and I don't understand how everything works here even thought I went through the tutorial. I accidently selected the wrong option when using the upload wizard, and I didn't know where to put all the source information. I tried to go back and add in the information but was blocked. I'm not sure what is the difference between standard youtube license and CC license. Could you please explain and where I can find that information? I was trying to update with the following: {{Information

|description = Tzuyu at the Hanam Starfield Fan Signing Event on July 22, 2018.

|date = 22 July 2018

|source = YouTube – ODS channel

|author = ODS

|permission = This video, screenshot or audio excerpt was originally uploaded on YouTube under a CC BY license. Their website states: "YouTube allows users to mark their videos with a Creative Commons CC BY license."

}}

Thank you so much! Chewies614 (talk) 00:28, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

CC licensed videos are marked as Creative Commons license-Attribution; if the video doesn't have that, it's the standard YouTube license (and those can't be uploaded unless the video itself is public domain). Abzeronow (talk) 00:45, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

Basically, everything at least somewhat artistical and human-made, every media that has a creative touch (videos, photographs, paintings, animations, most texts...) is copyrighted. Sites that offer the opportunity to show these media to a public (Youtube, Flickr, Instagram, Facebook, Wikipedia, Commons...) need a license from the author to do so. This license must encompass the needed permissions to do the showing. That's what the standard Youtube license does.

Commons and Wikipedia go farther than these basics. Both projects are built as collections of free content. That's fundamentally why we need a free license on everything hosted here. The Youtube standard license is not free for our purposes; and you can't take something that is unfree (including e.g. non-commercial stipulations among some Creative Commons licenses) and declare it free.

Several community-created content hosting sites, like Youtube or Flickr, do indeed allow the publication of media under suitable licenses. But such an act must: 1) be stated as such and 2) come from a legitimate licensor. This here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA74sC8cgPI is an example of a channel publishing a video under a Creative Commons license, it's stated as such in the complete video description. If there's no such mention ("License Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed)") then it's not permissible to upload the video or screenshots from it here. Regards, Grand-Duc (talk) 00:48, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

Thank you for the explanation! Chewies614 (talk) 00:54, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

@Chewies614: Two more things you might find of interest: Commons:How to#How is Commons different from other online media repositories? and (if you plan to upload third-party materials in the future) Commons:Uploading works by a third party. - Jmabel ! talk 00:58, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

Thank you!! Chewies614 (talk) 05:27, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

Resolved

I think that this question was replied to adequately based on the supplied information. If you have anything to add or a follow-up question please feel free to replace this box with your comment. This section will be archived after two days. Tvpuppy (talk) 12:48, 27 September 2025 (UTC)

Using tool to mass edit

I used a tool Find and Replace to change category in one click. Do i need a seperate account to run this in future because right now (18:52, 24 September 2025 (UTC)) it did 118 edit in one click and it might not possible always due to abuse filter and cluttering recent change page.—KEmel49(📝,📤) 19:15, 24 September 2025 (UTC)

Doesn't really seem any different from using Cat-a-lot or VFC. - Jmabel ! talk 20:11, 24 September 2025 (UTC)

Sumitting a photo to wikimedia

How does one submit an image of a group photo where one handed the camera to someone to take a group photo (13 years ago)? It is the only photo with all members of our the West Lothian Archaeological Trust. Can I class it as my image? Dr John Wells (talk) 06:12, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

If you set up the camera before handing it over, yes, it's considered your work. You might mention that in the image description. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 15:52, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

Statement or wikitext for "Dauerleihgabe" (Permanent loan)

Hi. I am preparing an upload to Wiki Commons via openrefine and have a question for the Wikimedians regarding the content. We have a collection of photographs by Ludwig Bickell, which was a permanent loan from the State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments in Hesse (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1528326) to the Foto Marburg image archive. Although this is stated on our own website which is stated as source, I would like to add this information to the wikitext or as structured data on Commons. Does anyone have any advice on the best way to do this? I already uploaded an example here, which refers to bildindex: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kaiserpfalz_Wasserburg,_Torhalle_fm811024.jpg so you can see how it looks now. Thanks and greetings, Hanna Hanna Meiners DDK Bildarchiv Foto Marburg (talk) 16:13, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

@Hanna Meiners DDK Bildarchiv Foto Marburg: Are you saying you want this as an attribution when these materials are reused, or just that you want to mention it on the File page on Commons? The more you can say (independent of technical issues) about what you want to do for what purpose, the more likely someone can give you a good technical solution. - Jmabel ! talk 19:14, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

Hi. I just want to mention it on the File page on commons. The licence is public domain anyway but I think it is just nice to mention it and link to the associated Wikidata-Item of the State Office in the structured data. I couldn´t find an appropriate Statement for this until now. The other option we thought about is just add a sentence in the description, but I think this is not the right place for this. o this is not a technical question, but rather one of content and structure. Thank´s:) Hanna Meiners DDK Bildarchiv Foto Marburg (talk) 05:51, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

@Hanna Meiners DDK Bildarchiv Foto Marburg: Probably best done with a custom property, something like :

|Other fields = {{Infi|Institution|{{en|Foto Marburg image archive, on permanent loan from State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments in Hesse.}}{{de|Bildarchiv Foto Marburg, als Dauerleihgabe von das Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Hessen.}}}}

That could be improved by creating {{Institution}} templates for the two institutions.

There are probably other ways to approach this, and others may have suggestions. - Jmabel ! talk 17:56, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

Poster isn't copyrighted but have a question about this

Hello, I've uploaded a poster here. I know that the poster itself isn't copyrighted in the US because it doesn't contain an explicit copyright notice on it. However I want to be extra safe and I want to know if the logo the poster has on it which is rather small is copyrighted or not. No explicit copyright message can be seen on the uploaded file nor on the source itself about whether the logo is copyrighted. I think I'm probably safe as there is no explicit copyright sign near the logo or on the poster for that matter and the poster was published in 1948 and anything from 1931 to 1977 (as of now) needs to have a copyright sign on it to be eligible for copyright. Skim127 (talk) 18:38, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

• License status looks fine to me. As to the logo included, I've added {{Trademark}} notice (which is a non-copyright issue). Cheers, -- Infrogmation of New Orleans (talk) 18:42, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

  Thanks for clarifying with me. I’ll add that to some of the other posters I’ve uploaded which contain any logos of sorts that are for entities which are non-governmental. @Skim127 Skim127 (talk) 18:51, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

  Okay just to clarify, so for the logo it needs to also have a copyright symbol on it as well if it's from between 1931 to 1977 for copyright to matter? Skim127 (talk) 19:37, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

  Never mind. I looked a little more into the template and the poster is covered along with the logo on it as being not technically copyrighted due to the fact it doesn't have a copyright sign on it and it's from 1931 to 1977 (which are as of now where the rules apply) which required a copyright signal on it for it to be copyrighted. Skim127 (talk) 20:04, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

djvu 'may contain malicious code'?

I uploaded The adolescent period - statistics.djvu, and all seemed to be well. But now it says

The_adolescent_period_-_statistics.djvu (0 × 0 pixels, file size: 60.12 MB, MIME type: image/vnd.djvu)

Warning: This file type may contain malicious code. By executing it, your system may be compromised.

Did I do something wrong? How may I fix it? FrankShuttleworth (talk) 19:05, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

Invalid license template?

Hi :) I'm trying to upload an image for the first time and getting an error message. I may just be bad at searching the FAQ/help archives but I couldn't find an answer so here I am haha.

It's this image from Flickr, not taken by me, but the page says it is under the license CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 which if I understand correctly allows it to be uploaded here? With credit and acknowledgment of changes, of course.

For the question "Do you know what license the creator published this work under?", when I enter the name of the above license, the upload wizard is giving the error message "the wikitext you entered doesn't contain a valid license template". Is that because it's an older version? Please let me know where I'm going wrong :)

Thank you! Toadheart (talk) 19:57, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

Hello @Toadheart, unfortunately Commons do not accept non-commercial (NC) licenses, as files in Commons must be allowed for commercial uses (and reuses). See Commons:Licensing, especially the section about forbidden licenses for more details. Thanks. Tvpuppy (talk) 20:10, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

Hi @@Tvpuppy, thanks for the fast reply :) I had assumed Commons was a non-commercial purpose, thank you for explaining. Toadheart (talk) 20:16, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

@Toadheart: Commons itself is non-commercial, but as a matter of policy we do not host images that are confined to non-commercial use. Uniquely among projects of the Wikimedia Foundation (our parent organization), Commons' mandate from the Foundation does not even allow us to make exceptions to that particular policy. - Jmabel ! talk 18:03, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

@Jmabel Ah I see, thank you! Toadheart (talk) 18:23, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

Resolved

I think that this question was replied to adequately based on the supplied information. If you have anything to add or a follow-up question please feel free to replace this box with your comment. This section will be archived after two days. Tvpuppy (talk) 12:48, 27 September 2025 (UTC)

Bhudda MaAllowance from-katlehong

HIS NAME IS:🏆*Mpumelelo Mhlanga🇿🇦🐯*✅(from-katlehong)🏆 Mpumelelo Mhlanga (talk) 05:08, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

If this is a request for help using Commons, I cannot work out what page or pages it relates to, or what your question is. - Jmabel ! talk 18:05, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

Who is this really?

Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Humanities#Popular_picture, if you have an opinion. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 06:45, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

Consultation to determine a suitable license:

Hello, a short time ago I uploaded a picture of a historical coin dating back to the 13th century (here). I made the link from which I got this picture the source and the source from the site zeno.ru. Anyway, my question is: When I read the copyright, it said that this picture allows non-exclusive use by an unlimited number of people, whether in articles, commerce, or other. Anyway, my reliance was that I put the license on CC0. However, I cannot take any step to add and modify it in historical articles related to the subject without knowing if the chosen license is the appropriate and most suitable license for it. I would like to ask for help from an expert to determine. Yosf22ww (talk) 07:02, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

@Yosf22ww: The only circumstances in which you can place a CC-zero license on the photo are (1) you own the copyright and are releasing it as CC-zero or (2) the legitimate owner of the copyright has already placed it under CC-zero. So CC-zero is out of the question.

The terms here appear to require attribution consisting of "a link to the image number on the Site". That's a little vague (you link a page, not an image number), but would appear to me to be equivalent to:

{{Attribution only license|text=https://www.zeno.ru/showphoto.php?photo=252411}}

Conveniently, the URL includes the image number, so the vagueness should not be an issue. Jmabel ! talk 18:19, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

hello and thanks @Jmabel!To clarify, the link you pasted (here) is a link to the page containing the image and other information. I see that you mentioned that one of the conditions of CC-zero is that the legitimate copyright owner has already granted it a license. In the link you sent, if you scroll down, you will find the copyrights, including the text:

By adding images to the Site, you grant a non-exclusive perpetual right (license) to an unlimited number of persons to use the images for both non-commercial and commercial purposes (related to the creation and distribution of printed/electronic products that include images: books, educational material.

So, it seems closer to me that it is, but I don't want to take the risk without verifying. So my question is, what is the most appropriate license based on what is stated in the attached source? Yosf22ww (talk) 19:07, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

@Yosf22ww I think Jmabel was saying that you could use the CC0 template only if the copyright holder has specifically stated they are releasing their work to CC0. I agree that based on the terms described, {{Attribution only license}} seems to be the most suitable license here.

I have created a custom license template for this {{Zeno.ru}}, which you can use. It includes the attribution-only license and the copyright statement from Zeno.ru. Thanks. Tvpuppy (talk) 20:13, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

thanks and welcome @Jmabel, @Tvpuppy. After I understood your intention carefully, I replaced my license to {{Attribution only license|text=https://www.zeno.ru/showphoto.php?photo=252411}} Now I can use it without any problems or anything, thank you for your explanation and your time and help. Yosf22ww (talk) 05:36, 27 September 2025 (UTC)

Resolved

I think that this question was replied to adequately based on the supplied information. If you have anything to add or a follow-up question please feel free to replace this box with your comment. This section will be archived after two days. Tvpuppy (talk) 12:48, 27 September 2025 (UTC)

Upload image

I can’t find where to upload an image to my Wikipedia page Gar Hugo (talk) 08:20, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

through here, and here. and check: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Editing_policy @Gar Hugo modern_primat ^{ඞඞඞ ----TALK} 09:54, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

كيف ارفع فيديو على المنصه

اريد ان ارفع فيديو على المنصه ولكني لا اعرف الطريقه Mamdouh20001 (talk) 13:47, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

(Via Google Translate, asking how to upload video to Commons.)

Commons:Video, but unfortunately no one has translated that into Arabic. If an Arabic-speaker would like to help out here, that would be great. - Jmabel ! talk 18:22, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

Foro

Que no se puede agregar Deinerb (talk) 16:53, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

@Deinerb: ¿Qué no puedes agregar a qué? - Jmabel ! talk 18:26, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

ZoomViewer

Wondering if it is possible to download the directory folder for an image with Zoom Viewer? I am trying to create a StoryMap with an image, but need to link to this and having a tough time with this. Patrick.mcgee58 (talk) 17:36, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

@Patrick.mcgee58: I'm not sure what you mean by the "directory folder for an image". Commons really doesn't have "folders". - Jmabel ! talk 18:28, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

It would be something on the server that stores the tiles that Zoom Viewer is pulling from. It may not be possible/I may be misunderstanding something. Patrick.mcgee58 (talk) 18:37, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

Does Help:Gadget-ZoomViewer provide insights for you? Maybe when looking at the actual script code in MediaWiki:Gadget-ZoomViewer.js? You may also want to have a look at Toolserver things, how stuff is coded for caching, for instance. Regards, Grand-Duc (talk) 22:00, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

Page protection setting interfering with edit gadget

Moved to Commons:Village pump/Technical#Page protection setting interfering with edit gadget. - Jmabel ! talk 06:08, 27 September 2025 (UTC)

Album covers

So, an album I LOVE, "Some Rap Songs" has an extremely blurred cover, is it right for me to used the unblurred cover? Because i took in a lot of effort unblurring it but I found others have done the same. Can I still use the original cover? Rupert likes music (talk) 08:44, 28 September 2025 (UTC)

No. The cover was produced as such: blurred (I checked the offerings on Amazon), so the blurring is a deliberate creative choice and part of the original publication. It can't be hosted on Commons, see COM:ALBUM. Trying to undo the blur will create a derivative of a protected piece of art and thus infringe upon the copyright of the original creator. Furthermore, it will most likely not serve an educational purpose, contravening COM:Project scope. Regards, Grand-Duc (talk) 08:58, 28 September 2025 (UTC)

However, if there is an article about it in the English-language Wikipedia (en-wiki), a low-resolution image of the cover can be hosted on en-wiki (not Commons) and used in the article, under en-wiki's policy for non-free content. - Jmabel ! talk 18:29, 28 September 2025 (UTC)

Uploading an alternate print of a negative?

Moved to Commons:Village pump/Copyright#Uploading an alternate print of a negative? - Jmabel ! talk 18:48, 28 September 2025 (UTC)

Merging information about a portrait by the artist Modigliani

On 21 September, I uploaded File:L'Amazone.jpg and put it in Category:Portrait paintings of women by Amedeo Modigliani, and it appears now in the thumbnail gallery. Nothing uses it.

There is also an existing, much smaller, version of the same painting in Commons: File:Amedeo Modigliani - The Amazon.jpg.

So question: should I delete my contribution and re-upload it as a new version of File:Amedeo Modigliani - The Amazon.jpg? I see that both images have incomplete but complementary metadata and merging these will be advantageous.

If my surmise (delete & re-upload) is correct, how do I keep it discoverable for French users? JMF (talk) 15:17, 28 September 2025 (UTC)

@JMF: No, do not do this. These are not exact duplicates, they are two different photographs of the painting.

Certainly link the two files with {{Other version}}.

Feel free to add descriptions to either or both in any number of languages using {{En}}, {{Fr}}, etc., and/or use templates like {{Title}} that make it clearer that you are presenting the a particular piece of information in multiple languages.

Also, since yours is almost certainly the better version, I think it would be entirely reasonable to replace the usage on any sister project; if you want to replace them all, I suggest making a request at [[User talk:CommonsDelinker/commands#Other requests].

Also, you might want to edit your page to use {{ArtPhoto}} instead of {{Information}}. - Jmabel ! talk 18:44, 28 September 2025 (UTC)

Thank you, that makes sense. Obviously I have no idea where my source got it but it looks very like the version published by Taschen and the timing seems very coincidental with the original painting being offered for sale. So yes, I think it is probably a new photo rather than just a digital rescale.

I'll have to research how all the metadata was created for the original file, to see if I can replicate it. I suspect I'll be back for more advice!

Thank you again. JMF (talk) 19:11, 28 September 2025 (UTC)

Request expert advice

Hello. Recently, I had a desire to upload some images of old historical coins from some sites. I want to choose a suitable license so that I attribute the entire work to its original owner and link it to him without any connection to me (just upload it here so that it can be used in future articles and edits on Wikipedia). The problem is that I don’t know what the appropriate license is exactly for this that I should use, or I don’t know if it is allowed at all, but this possibility is unlikely because I have seen many people uploading many images of them here. I would like to ask for help from an expert so that I can know the best and appropriate choice. The sites that i was talking about is .( The first here) ( The second here) ( the third here) Yosf22ww (talk) 17:27, 28 September 2025 (UTC)

@Yosf22ww: you cannot offer a license to use someone else's copyrighted work. Some of these photos may be in the public domain (because they may not be copyrightable) as uncreative reproductions of what are essentially two-dimensional works that are themselves old enough to be in the public domain, but that's a subtle copyright question (coins are right on the edge between being considered 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional), better asked at COM:Village pump/Copyright.

For the general issues involved in uploading third-party works, see Commons:Uploading works by a third party. - Jmabel ! talk 18:55, 28 September 2025 (UTC)

Copying a picture

Hello, I’m new to this site and I wanted to get a picture of Bucks County map and I was wondering can I just download and reprint it or is that not allowed? I’ve tried to read through all the rules and stuff, but I thought it would be easier to ask here would appreciate any help. Thank you. Myprecious58! (talk) 20:57, 28 September 2025 (UTC)

Find my article

I can not find the article that I submitted Earl Peanutt Monggomery. I'm new at this and not sure where to find it to check if it has been approved. Thank You. GreenJD75 (talk) 23:02, 28 September 2025 (UTC)

@GreenJD75: please do not confound Wikimedia Commons, the media repository, with a Wikipedia edition (the sites for articles). The projects are separated content-wise, Commons is serving as image provider for Wikipedia etc. That said, your text is found among your contributions on the English Wikipedia, see: en:Special:Contributions/GreenJD75. For anything that is related to articles there, go for the relevant help pages. Look at the top of the page here, there's a link to the English Wikipedia Teahouse. Regards, Grand-Duc (talk) 23:27, 28 September 2025 (UTC)