Wikimedia Commons

(Files count as of: 2022-09-22 wikiFactor as of: 2015-10-18)

Wikimedia Commons – the free media repository — is a major part or '' of the  (WMF). More commonly known to Wikimedians as merely Commons, it is a very large wiki site of an online depository  of over 86 million freely usable educational  files, to which anyone can contribute. The files, which include  (, , etc), s, and ; are primarily for use by all language versions of the various Wikimedia projects, such as Wikipedia, Wikinews, Wikivoyage, etc. With specific regards to Wikipedia, whilst the English Wikipedia will accept '' images, the Wikimedia Commons will not ; all media files uploaded to the Commons must be completely free to use (either <public domain ></public domain> (PD), or an unrestricted <copyleft ></copyleft> license). Other individual language editions of Wikipedia have their own differing standards for fair use; e.g. Español Wikipedia will not allow fair use media.

All textual content on the Commons wiki was initially released under the terms of the (GNU FDL, or more commonly GFDL). An additional license was subsequently added; the (CC-BY-SA 3.0).  As of 25 July 2022, the total file size on hard disc for all files is a whopping 350.46 s (TB)!

The extension for MediaWiki will allow external non-Wikimedia Foundation sites to use Commons media on their own independent wiki.

Mission and culture
The exact boundaries of the mission for the Wikimedia Commons have seemingly not been clearly defined. It is generally agreed that the Commons should host images that will be useful in other Wikimedia projects; such as Wikipedia, Wikiversity, etc. Less clear is whether it should serve as a general <repository ></repository> for images that are likely to only be useful outside the scope of existing Wikimedia projects. For example, a photograph of a girl holding a flower might be useful as a in corporate promotional brochures, but if there is no Wikipedia (or other WMF wiki) article that requires that image (as could be the case if Wikipedia already has a suitable image to illustrate its articles on flowers, or if the image is unsuitable for Wikipedia or other WMF wikis), then it is an open question whether the Commons should host that image. These matters are generally decided on a case-by-case basis, with little consistency, and are heavily influenced by whether existing Commons users like the media in question; e.g. whether they think they are aesthetically pleasing.

Sometimes, debates arise as to whether users are adding content for the benefit of the Commons, or for their own promotional purposes; e.g., a user may say "These are some images I took, posted to my website, and am sharing with the Commons", other Commons users may object, implying that the true agenda is to promote their website by listing its URL for attribution on the image file page. Another scenario is that frequently, users have uploaded images of their genitals, and been accused of ; this has occurred so often that the Commons community has announced that no more images of genitals are needed or welcomed, unless there is a specific request, e.g. if a new genital-relevant article is created on Wikipedia or other WMF wiki that needs an illustration.