Wikipedia:Images from Corporate Copyright Holders
Hello. You may have been directed to this page because one of our volunteers saw a great picture (or video) you posted to your corporate social media (Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, or such like), or your website, and thought it would be useful for Wikipedia, because it has unique historical or educational value.
If so, Welcome to Wikipedia!
Why does Wikipedia want your images?[edit]
Wikipedia needs images and videos that document historic events, or that demonstrate the other things we write about, for educational purposes.
Because we can't fit all the images or videos on every topic onto the relevant Wikipedia page, we hold them at our sister project, Wikimedia Commons. That also makes them available for use not just on this, the English-language Wikipedia, but on (or linked to from) over 300 Wikipedias, in languages from French to Japanese, Urdu to Cornish, and on all our sister projects, like Wikispecies and Wikivoyage.
We also think such media should be made available for everyone to reuse. Therefore your media will help not only Wikipedia, but also the creators of other tools and services. You should be aware that this may include the creation of commercial products. The section below tells you how you can opt to be identified as the creator or owner, to be protected in all cases.
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We can only accept media in which your organisation owns the copyright.
You must not upload pictures or video if you do not own the copyright! If the rights are owned by a picture agency or a photographer who you commissioned, please ask them to read this page.
You will own the copyright if the images were taken by one of your paid staff as part of their duties, or if you have a contract with a commercial photographer saying that you do.
Be aware that most commercial photographers only grant you restricted rights, such as being able to use images as part of your own website or publicity material, and retain other rights. If in doubt, ask them.
Once you share media with us (under an open licence), you agree that we may or may not use it, on any Wikipedia article (not just the article about your organisation), and that anyone else may use it, too, so long as they give you credit. This permission is irrevocable (though we do allow a grace period of a few days, in case you supply an image in error).
Why we can't upload your images for you[edit]
People sometimes say "sure you can have my images - go ahead and use them". Thank you, but we need something more formal.
The act of you uploading the images to Wikimedia Commons creates a record of you stating permission for their reuse, and the specific licence that applies.
We might ask you to reply to us on social media to verify it was you who uploaded media, or we might - especially if the images have been published elsewhere - ask you to send an email from your corporate email address, confirming permission, using this process. This is to protect your organisation and its intellectual property from fake permissions.
We may be able to arrange bulk uploads, when hundreds or thousands of images are involved (and that will definitely require an email) - please ask if this is the case.
Alternatively, you can make a statement on your own website that certain (or all!) of your images are available under a specified open licence. Then we can upload them to Wikimedia Commons for you.
See below for some other alternatives.
Uploading to Wikimedia Commons[edit]
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The default licence on Wikimedia Commons is CC by-sa 4.0 ("Creative Commons, attribution, share-alike"). That says that anyone may use the image, but they must give you credit for it; and must use the same licence if they make another ("derivative") image using yours. (Other licences may be used.)
You need to create an account, and that means you can be notified of changes to the descriptions of your images, and receive messages about them, if you wish. Accounts work on all the Wikipedias, on Wikimedia Commons, and on our other sister projects. You may sign up here.
However, while Wikimedia Commons allows corporate account names (such as AcmeInc), the English Wikipedia only allows one account per person (you may use JaneFromAcmeInc, for example).
You can use the Upload Wizard to add more than one image (or video, or audio file) at once.
We also have advice on converting video to suitable formats.
Please upload the highest-resolution version of the images or video that you can.
=== Media on other services ===
If your images are already on one of the following services, which have an open licensing option, you can just apply a suitable licence there – but don't forget to tell someone on Wikipedia that you have done so! They will then copy your images to Wikimedia Commons.
- Flickr
- See image, and Open-licensing your images. What it means and how to do it.
- YouTube
- How to Change the License of a YouTube Video to Creative Commons Attribution
Tracking tools[edit]
If you're interested to see how you open used media is used on this and other Wikipedias, and sister projects, our volunteers are happy to explain our tracking tools to you.
More about Wikipedia[edit]
If you are new to Wikipedia, and want to learn more, you can read our introduction and our FAQ for article subjects, or ask questions at The Teahouse. We hope you will stick around!
Paid editing and CoI[edit]
You clearly have a conflict of interest when it comes to editing Wikipedia articles about your organisation or the sector they work in. In short such editing is strongly discouraged by our CoI policy - but that doesn't include uploading images to Wikimedia Commons.
Also, if you do make any related edits on Wikipedia, you MUST declare that you are being paid.
Shortcuts[edit]
Shortcuts for this page include:
enwp.org/WP:IfSMCenwp.org/WP:IfCCHw.wiki/8e7n
please share it with colleagues in your own and other organisations!