Commons:Upload tools
There are several ways to upload media to Wikimedia Commons.
Integrated tools
The default tool, accessible from the "Upload file" link in the left menu.
Supports fields prefilling.
Possible customisation: default license in Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-uploads
Basic upload form, is the original upload interface. It is still useful if uploading files that do not use {{Information}} template, like files that use {{Artwork}}, {{Photograph}}, {{Art photo}} or {{Book}} templates. For example if you want to upload file using {{Artwork}} and {{PD-old-100}} templates you can prefill
== {{int:filedesc}} ==
{{Artwork
|wikidata = Q....
|source = .....
}}
== {{int:license-header}} ==
{{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}
[[Category:.......]]
and paste it into the window.
This ECMAScript can be integrated with the importScript(); feature for uploads with a chosen chunk size. It avoids some Upload Stash oddities not yet handled by the Upload Wizard.
- Supports individual uploads up to 4 GB
A tool available in the VisualEditor and wikitext editor on Wikimedia wikis (also known as upload dialog or foreign upload tool).
Standalone desktop applications
VicuñaUploader
VicuñaUploader is a free tool written in Java designed to upload files to Wikimedia Commons and other Wikimedia projects. It is a bit similar to Commonist but has some more functionality and different user interface.
See:
Note that the current stable version 1.23 has a bug that prevents login to Commons. In version 1.25 the bug is fixed.
ComeOn!
ComeOn! is a free tool written in Java to upload pictures to Wikimedia Commons with extended support for JPEG metadata and its use in page templates. JPEG is the only picture format that is supported (no PNG, no SVG)[1]. It is currently in beta mode but stable. It also supports audio files.
See:
Pattypan
Pattypan is an open-source tool written in Java to upload files to Wikimedia Commons and other Wikimedia projects using spreadsheets.
OpenRefine
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OpenRefine is a free, open-source tool written in Java that can be used for data wrangling, batch uploads to Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons. It supports Structured Data on Commons (editing and upload).
- Wikimedians can access a cloud version of OpenRefine on PAWS. Log in and click the blue diamond logo to launch OpenRefine.
- Download and install OpenRefine on your own computer (Linux, Windows and MacOS)
- Information, documentation
Sunflower
Sunflower is an upload tool for macOS which makes it easy to batch-upload files to the Wikimedia Commons.
Commonist (not working)
Commonist is currently not working.[2][3]
Commonist is a Java program for easy upload of larger numbers of images to Wikimedia Commons and other MediaWiki installations.
PyCommonist
PyCommonist is a Python-PyQt6 program for easy upload of larger numbers of images to Wikimedia Commons. Its user interface is largely inspired by Commonist.
Command-line tools
See Commons:Command-line upload.
notably Python Wikipedia Bot
Image software extensions
A plugin for Darktable which lets users export images to Wikimedia Commons.
A KIPI plugin for digiKam and Gwenview was made for easy upload of larger numbers of images to Wikimedia Commons and other MediaWiki installations.
- https://www.digikam.org/ — digiKam download page
- Information and discussion
A plugin for Adobe Lightroom that lets you export files to MediaWiki.
Smartphone apps
Upload to Commons with Android
A free Android app is available for uploading images directly to Commons. The tool can be found on Google Play and on the open source repository F-Droid. The code is under the Apache license.
There is alternative simpler open-source CommonsLab Android app for uploading directly to Commons. The code is under the MIT license.
Offroader is an Android app, written to show, how an upload of large files (also with slow or bad internet connections) could work better with other Upload tools. It is an demonstrator and can write protocols, that - if sent to developers - can help developers identify problems of the MW upload process. It is available as an unpaid and a full paid version from a number of app shops.
Upload to Commons with iOS
The iOS app Commons Uploader is not currently available on the app store. It used to work with devices running iOS 12 or newer. The app lacked much of the functionality of the Android app. It did not allow the user to review other recent Commons uploads and its map function was limited.
The similar Wiki Uploader is compatible with iOS 9 and newer, but has not been updated since 2019.
It does its job with some quirks:
Only images taken in the last couple of days can be uploaded and the app frequently freezes for about 30 seconds. Categories are suggested as soon as the first letters are typed but the bright yellow font color is very hard to read. Title and description fields are automatically filled with the location and date metadata if a single image is selected. This information has to be manually copied to proceed with several images. When several images are uploaded the author information is usually only added to the first one and has to be added manually to the others.
Transfer tools
Transfer within Wikimedia
FileImporter
The FileImporter (instructions here) is a Wikimedia Commons extension which imports the file including all data when all prerequisites are met. Technically, the files won't be "moved", but "copied". The tool provides a "Export" link to the local wiki in order to allow moving the file to Wikimedia Commons.
Commons Helper
This page will generate code that you can copy and paste when moving an image from a Wikipedia to Commons. Note that you still need to verify the source and only transfer images that have reasonable licenses. You also still need to give the image a category, although the assistant is hooked up to CommonSense, so it can suggest them at the same time. Developed by User:Magnus Manske.
CropTool
- Main page: Commons:CropTool.
For cropping and then uploading images.
Derivative works from Wikimedia Commons
See Commons:derivativeFX.
Uploading by URL
upload_by_url right, you'll see an additional input box on Special:Upload for selecting the upload source.Users with the upload_by_url right (all registered users), can directly transfer images from whitelisted websites via the API or via Special:Upload. With the Upload Wizard it is possible to upload files from Flickr.
URL2commons tool
The URL2commons tool allows all users to directly transfer images from websites to commons.
From specific external websites
British Library
eap2pdf tool can mass-download books from the Endangered Archives Programme of British Library and also download single book and upload it to Commons. Installation of Python3 is required. The tool can be used in Linux, also adaptable to Windows.
Flickr
There are various tools to help upload files from Flickr.
- Flickr2Commons – Tool to easily upload single and multiple files from Flickr to Commons. This tool uses OAuth to upload files to Commons. See Special:OAuthListConsumers/view/74a4d433d0ab9f9fad720e1c4eb8159a for version 1.0, use Special:OAuthManageMyGrants to manage connected apps.
- Flinfo – For people who want to upload Flickr pictures by themselves.
- Upload Wizard – If you are an administrator, image reviewer or autopatroller, you can import images and photosets from Flickr via the Upload Wizard.
- Flickypedia is a tool developed by the Flickr Foundation on 2023 to assist uploads from Flickr to Commons, using Structured Data on Commons and focusing on high-quality metadata.
GLAMs
For a set of GLAMs you can use Glam2Commons to upload files from those GLAMs to Commons.
GLAMpipe has also been used.
iNaturalist
- User:Kaldari/iNaturalist2Commons - User script to import specific images of a taxon
- Wiki loves iNaturalist tool - Helps you find articles of species on Wikipedia and Wikidata that lack images and find appropriately licensed images in iNaturalist
- inat2wiki lets you browse particular iNat users and projects and upload selected images. The tool ranks observations by rarity and indicates those species that are missing images on Wikidata.
Internet Archive
IA Upload is available for everyone (uses OAuth) to upload DjVu files of books from the Internet Archive. You select any free IA book and the {{Book}} template is prefilled (you are given a chance to edit it before upload).
If the desired book is not yet on Internet Archive, you can use BUB (Book Uploader Bot) to request its addition from another source. The job is entirely automatic, accepts requests for multiple books at once, and can notify by email when the book is ready with a link to ia-upload to complete the transfer.
Internet Archive also provides conversion of video from any format to ogv. You are advised to upload the video at the highest quality you have, up to about 400 GB per item.
For comprehensive help on how to use the Internet Archive for Wikisource and other Wikimedia activities, refer to s:en:Help:DjVu files#The Internet Archive.
Mapillary
Mapillary 2 Commons and Updated tool for uploading Mapillary images to Wikimedia Commons (WIP) are both available for everyone (uses OAuth) to upload street-level imagery.
SteamGridDB
SteamGridDB is a website for logos and other art assets of video games, many of which may be too simple to be copyrighted. The browser script sgdb2commons can speed up the process of importing these logos to Commons; see User:IagoQnsi/sgdb2commons for installation and usage instructions.
Videos
Video2commons
Use video2commons to upload any video from the web such as CCBY videos from YouTube. The tools automatically converts videos to a Commons-compatible format (uses OAuth).
VideoCutTool
VideoCutTool allows users to upload videos in any format to Commons with a user friendly UI and provides the users with options to edit videos before the upload.