Wikipedia:Creation and usage of media files

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Images, audio, and video files must be uploaded into Wikipedia using the "Upload file" link on the left-hand navigation bar. Only logged in users can upload files. Once a file is uploaded, other pages can include or link to the file. Uploaded files are given the "File:" prefix by the system, and each one has an image description page. Please consider uploading freely licensed content to the Wikimedia Commons instead of here. This allows the files to be used in articles instantly by all Wikimedia projects. Files from Wikimedia Commons use the same syntax described below, there is no extra step needed. The maximum size of an uploaded file is 100 megabytes. As of March 2010, the following file types may be uploaded: png, gif, jpg/jpeg, xcf, pdf, mid, ogg/ogv/oga, svg, djvu. All others are prohibited for security reasons, and pdf and djvu are intended primarily for projects like Wikisource.

If you want to give a link to the file description page in an article, use an extra colon at the front, e.g., "[[:File:FILENAME]]". If you type "[[Media:FILENAME]]", a download link to the media file is created. The file name has to contain the file type.

Contents

[edit] Special characters and math

It is not necessary to upload images to use special characters or even complex mathematical expressions.

Wikipedia uses a UTF-8 encoding scheme, which means that any Unicode character can and should be entered directly. See m:Help:Special characters for details and help.

For mathematical formulae, we use TeX markup. For help and instructions, see m:Help:Formula.

[edit] Text files

Please do not upload plain text (.txt), Microsoft Word (.doc), or text files in other formats. Instead, please start a new page and input the text using standard wiki formatting. Please do not dump text into Wikipedia unless you wrote it yourself, or you know that it meets the project's stringent copyright licensing requirements. If you do not have time to format it yourself, add the {{wikify}} tag at the top of the page.

In rare cases an html file is uploaded, for example as a test or demonstration.

Occasionally a PDF file is uploaded, such as the WikiReader File:WikiReader Free Software and Free Contents.pdf (preview version), and more are being prepared. However, most PDFs should be converted into wikitext. Source documents should be uploaded to Wikisource instead.

For a discussion on uploading spreadsheets, see the talk page.

[edit] Textfile usage

Type "[[:File:WikiReader Free Software and Free Contents.pdf]]" to create a link to the media description site of the document.

[edit] Images

Images can be displayed directly on Wikipedia pages.

The preferred formats are JPEG for photographic images and Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) for drawings, though PNG can also be used. Vector graphics are preferred to raster graphics for drawings, because they can be scaled as needed without losing information, and can be edited more easily.

[edit] Image usage

Type "[[Image:FILENAME|alt=ALT TEXT|TITLE TEXT]]" when you want to display an image file directly. In most cases, a thumbnail is more useful: "[[Image:FILENAME|thumb|alt=ALT TEXT|CAPTION]]". See Wikipedia:Picture tutorial for further information.

See also:

[edit] Audio

Wikipedia uses the Ogg Vorbis format, developed by Xiph.Org, for audio. The Ogg Vorbis format is not encumbered by patents, an issue which prompted the decision that MP3 files will not be hosted at Wikipedia.

Software supporting Vorbis exists for many platforms. Mozilla Firefox 3.5, Opera 10.5 and Google Chrome 3 and later each include their own support for Ogg Vorbis files. As for multimedia players, Winamp can be used to play Ogg Vorbis files. Although iTunes does not natively support Vorbis, Xiph.Org provides a QuickTime component which can be used in players that rely on QuickTime, such as iTunes, on both Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. DirectShow filters exist to decode Vorbis in multimedia players like Windows Media Player and others which support DirectShow.

Useful software for audio:

  • For audio editing, Audacity is a high quality free audio recorder/editor for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux/Unix.
  • Sweep is another free audio editor which can be used in Linux environments.
  • For encoding to Ogg Vorbis, it is recommended that you use Hydrogenaudio-recommended encoders for best results. oggenc (cross-platform) is the command-line encoder, while OggDropXPd (Windows-only) is an easy-to-use GUI for encoding to Ogg Vorbis.
  • dBpowerAMP Music Converter (proprietary, Windows-only) offers a convenient GUI for transcoding between most audio codecs, including Ogg Vorbis. The Vorbis encoder must be downloaded separately from the software, but it is freely available from the same website.
  • The easiest way to play Ogg Vorbis files on legacy Macintoshes (OS 9 and earlier) is to use JustOgg.

The VorbisSoftwarePlayers node at the xiph.org wiki has an up-to-date list of Vorbis-supporting software for all operating systems. Users can test these players using the list of Vorbis audio streams available at [1].

[edit] Audio usage

Most viable is to use Template:Listen, see its page for detailed description, common usage is listed here:

{{listen |filename=FILENAME.ogg |title=TITLE |description=DESCRIPTION }}
Accordion chords
Chords being played on an accordion
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Example:

{{listen |filename=Accordian chords-01.ogg |title=Accordion chords |description=Chords being played on an accordion }}

There are several other audio templates used primarily for demonstrating pronunciation of foreign languages or obscure terms, such as {{audio-IPA}}. When adding a sound file to an article, such as English language or Irish phonology avoid using a template that only links to the raw sound file, as this effectively hides important licensing information that allows readers to see who created and uploaded the file, its source and under what license it was published.

[edit] Lists of uploaded music

[edit] Lists of uploaded spoken articles

[edit] Further information on audio files

[edit] Video

See also Commons:Video

Wikipedia uses Ogg Theora for video because it is open and royalty-free. Because most popular movie/audio formats are patented and require a royalty, there are no free all purpose video converters. See also WikiCommons' Theora video conversion help page.

[edit] Limitations and Implementation Issues

  • Both the Wikipedia project and the Wikimedia Commons limit uploads to a maximum of 100 megabytes.
  • There is currently no standard for acceptable streaming bitrates in articles. For the widest broadband compatibility, a bitrate of no more than 220 kilobits/sec will work for users of 256 kilobit DSL. Very high bitrates near or over 1,000 kilobits/sec may outstrip the ability of Wikipedia or the Commons to deliver the streaming data fast enough.
  • Resizing a video to use a smaller thumbnail does not change the bitrate or bandwidth requirements. A video recorded at 640x480 but shown in an article at 160x120 will still stream all the data that would be used to display it at the 640x480 size. If you need a smaller video size in an article for some reason, you are much better off to just recompress the larger video to the smaller size to bake in the bandwidth savings. Better quality can be obtained in these small videos, by having the original uploader create the smaller size using their original uploaded content.

A template to make this technical issue more prominent in articles is available as: {{User:DMahalko/VideoResizeWarning‎}} -- this same template also exists in the Wikimedia Commons for insertion into video upload descriptions.

Notice: Video files can be difficult to use correctly in Wikimedia projects. When a low-detail and low resolution video is enlarged, it does not show more detail and file size stays the same. This is also true in reverse:

Showing a high detail, high resolution video as a small thumbnail does not reduce the bandwidth needed to play the file or decrease the file size. Videos should never be shown in articles smaller than their original size because it wastes network bandwidth.

If a thumbnail resolution or lower bandwidth version is needed in an article, the video should be downloaded, recompressed to a smaller size, and reuploaded. It is helpful to link the original video to the recompressed smaller versions.

An example usage of this template can be seen in the video File:Rhof-histWaschmaschine.ogg on the Wikimedia Commons. This page also includes links to smaller, low bitrate, downsampled versions of the video.

[edit] Offering multiple bit-rates

A woman demonstrates a hand-cranked washing machine outdoors. The machine has clothes and water in a metal drum about 1 meter in diameter and half a meter thick, rotating with its axis horizontal in a metal tub containing water.
TIrreler Bauerntradition shows an early Miele washing machine in the Roscheider Hof, Open Air Museum
This video size: 50% 100kbit
Other sizes and bitrates: 25% 64kbit‎ 75% 220kbit 100% 270kbit Original 1100kbit

There is currently no defined method to offer readers multiple video versions, in order to select a quality and speed most suitable for their network bandwidth. While any video may be fully downloaded first for local playback, streaming of video requires that the file size be small enough to be reliably streamed continuously to the user within their bandwidth limits.

One possible option for offering multiple bitrates is shown here. This is a custom wikitable and is used in the washing machine article to showcase use of a vintage washing machine.

There is no predefined ready-to-use template for creating a multi-bitrate thumbnail like this and there is no built-in facility provided by Wikimedia to automatically downsample video into various smaller thumbnail versions with lower bitrates.

If you intend to offer multiple bitrates to readers you will need to construct a custom wikitable similar to this one which references each derivative transcoded low-bitrate version.

[edit] Useful software

  • Firefogg.org offers a web UI for transcoding video into ogg theora. Alternatively the mwEmbed gadget can be used to enable firefogg on the commons upload page.
  • For video, ffmpeg2theora [2][3] is a command line encoder capable of converting numerous file formats (.mov, .mpg, .mpeg, .avi) into Ogg Theora. It works on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux/Unix. (For information on how to use ffmpeg2theora, click here.)
  • You can also use the encoder_example application included with libtheora in combination with a program like MPlayer [4] that is capable of dumping raw (yuv4mpeg) video and sound to encode in Ogg Theora
  • http://programmer-art.org/projects/arista-transcoder and http://www.linuxrising.org/transmageddon/ are graphical transcoders for Unix / Linux
  • LiVES and Cinelerra are video editing programs for Linux which are able to edit Ogg Theora videos
  • The directshow filters can be used to encode Ogg Theora using GraphEdit.[5]
  • The Xiph.org wiki has a list of Theora Software Encoders
  • handbrake is a free (GPL'd) transcoder for Windows, Mac and Linux

For assistance with conversion, consider contacting the following editors:

[edit] Video usage

A spacesuited astronaut slowly climbs down a ladder on a complicated metal structure, and then hops the last step onto a bright terrain.
Television clip of Buzz descending the ladder and stepping onto the moon.

Note also that this is the wrong way to use video in Wikipedia, as mentioned above. The encoded size of this file is 320 pixels wide by 240 pixels tall. This article is showing the movie at 250 pixels wide, which slightly shrinks the video.

However, the video is not recompressed to the smaller size on the fly, and so it still consumes the same amount of network bandwidth as if it were shown at the correct 320x240 size.

It is very easy to make this mistake using video in Wikipedia articles, and it is worthwhile to illustrate the mistake here.

If you want to show the video as a thumbnail the only option available is to download the video file to your computer, recompress it at the smaller size using a Theora compression tool, and upload it for use alongside the original larger size file.

The easiest way to embed video directly into an article is by using the same [[File:]] tag as for image files. The result is on the right.

[[File:A11v 1094228.ogg |thumb |200px |alt=A spacesuited astronaut slowly climbs down a ladder on a complicated metal structure, and then hops the last step onto a bright terrain. |Television clip of Buzz descending the ladder and stepping onto the moon. ]]

By default, a frame from the midpoint of the video is used for the initial still image. To use a different frame, use the thumbtime parameter. For instance:

[[File:Bombers of WW1.ogg |thumbtime=3 |thumb |200px |alt=World War I era biplanes on bombing runs, captioned "Captain 'Eddie' Rickenbacker, American 'Ace of Aces,' over the lines – looking for a scrap." then "Bombing the German lines." |"Bombers of WW1" with a still from 3 seconds]]

Specify the time in seconds, or use colons to separate hours, minutes and seconds.

The initial image is blank white sky. The video shows World War I era biplanes on bombing runs, captioned "Captain 'Eddie' Rickenbacker, American 'Ace of Aces,' over the lines – looking for a scrap." then "Bombing the German lines."
"Bombers of WW1" with a still from the midpoint
Same video as before, except the initial image is three biplanes in the air
"Bombers of WW1" with a still from 3 seconds

To just give a link to the video, use:

[[:File:A11v 1094228.ogg|the video]]

See also:

[edit] See also

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Creation_and_usage_of_media_files"