Help:Files
 | 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. |
| Basic namespaces | Talk namespaces | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | (Main/Article) | Talk | 1 |
| 2 | User | User talk | 3 |
| 4 | finiki | finiki talk | 5 |
| 6 | File | File talk | 7 |
| 8 | MediaWiki | MediaWiki talk | 9 |
| 10 | Template | Template talk | 11 |
| 12 | Help | Help talk | 13 |
| 14 | Category | Category talk | 15 |
| 274 | Widget | Widget talk | 275 |
| 828 | Module | Module talk | 829 |
| Virtual namespaces | |||
| -1 | Special | ||
| -2 | Media | ||
Uploading files
See Wikipedia:Uploading images
Many media files are copyrighted without permission to redistribute, and cannot be uploaded to either location. finiki adheres to Wikipedia:Image use policy, which should be consulted for details about which media files can be uploaded.
The preferred image formats are SVG, PNG, and JPEG.
Bear in mind that media files can contain hidden data, such as comments that are not displayed, Exif metadata, and messages hidden via steganography.
Choose a good name for the media file before you upload it, as you will not be able to rename it yourself later. Once the file is uploaded you should be able to read and make sense of its file page, which describes the file and lets the reader see the image in its original size.
Be aware that for some file formats, especially animated .gif files, very high resolution images can pose a problem for performance (see this link for details). In the case of non-free files, only low-resolution images are acceptable for policy reasons. In other cases, especially for freely licensed photographs in .jpg format, upload the best quality and highest resolution version available. These images will be automatically scaled down to low-resolution thumbnails as appropriate for display in a page.
If file uploads are enabled, you can upload certain types of files to the wiki. This is particularly useful for uploading images, which you want to place on an article, but you can also upload other types of files.
Upload a file
- Prepare the file for upload. Make sure the file is exactly as you want it.
- In the sidebar, under “tools”, click “Upload file.”
- Click “Browse” next to the “Source filename:” to locate the file on your computer (the name of the “browse” button depends on your web browser).
- Change the “Destination filename:” to something descriptive, if necessary.
- Fill in the “Summary”, if necessary.
- Click the “Upload file” button.
If it is a large file, you may need to wait several seconds for the upload to complete.
Using images and file description pages
After you've uploaded a file, you can use it in an article, with some special wiki syntax to create the link. See Wikipedia:Help:Images.
Your file gets its very own “file description page” within the File namespace of the wiki. You should edit this page to provide more information about the file. For example, many public wiki projects are quite sensitive to copyright issues, and so you should explain where you got the file from, and what its copyright status is, on the description page. Any other useful descriptive notes could also be added there.
List of files in the wiki
There are a number of special pages to help you view and manage files which have been uploaded. Go to “Special pages” (in the tools on the left) and then see...
- Gallery of new files - If you just uploaded one, you will see it here.
- File list - Shows all of the files.
- Unused files - Helps you track down files which might not be needed.
See Help:Special pages for details of the other information available here.