Editing Help:Files (section)

==Uploading files==
{{see|Wikipedia:Uploading images|c:Commons:First steps}}
[[File:Illustrating Wikipedia brochure.pdf|link=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Illustrating_Wikipedia_brochure.pdf|thumb|250px| A Wikimedia Foundation brochure in PDF form that introduces newcomers to Wikimedia Commons and how they can contribute to it]]
The first step in using an image or other media file is to [[Wikipedia:Upload|choose an upload server]].  Some files must use [[Special:upload|Wikipedia's upload server]]. Many files can use
[[Commons:Upload|the Wikimedia Commons upload server]] which houses files at [[Commons:Main_Page|Wikimedia Commons]]. (Commons does not allow [[fair use]]. If the image is [[Wikipedia:Non-free content|non-free]] and meets the [[wikipedia:Non-free content criteria|non-free content criteria]] then you must upload it to Wikipedia.) All files uploaded from [[Wikimedia Commons]] are [[Mirror website|mirrored]] on to [[Wikipedia]] and searchable from either one. (See [[Special:Filelist]].)

The preferred formats
* for '''images''': [[SVG]], [[PNG]], [[JPEG]], and [[XCF (file format)|XCF]]. The [[GIF]] and [[TIFF]] formats are recognized, and other image formats may be too.
* for '''audio''': [[MIDI]], and also [[Ogg]] with [[FLAC]], [[Speex]], or [[Vorbis]] codecs.
* for '''video''': [[WebM]], and also Ogg with the [[Theora]] video codec.
You may have to rename your file for Wikipedia: see ''[[#Naming files|Naming files]]'' below. Also, please bear in mind that the [[Exif]] format of many digital cameras, smartphones, and scanners may embed personal metadata, and that if your media files are handled by unknown persons, [[steganography]] can embed hidden information in them.

High resolution images and animated .gif files may pose a problem for performance, but see the problem description in terms of bandwidth and reader's computing power at ''[[Wikipedia:IMAGE#Consideration of image download size|Consideration of image download size]]''. For photographs in JPEG format, upload the best quality and highest resolution version available; these will be automatically scaled down to low-resolution thumbnails when needed.

Once the file is uploaded, please verify its ''[[Help:File page|file page]]'' image quality and description, considering how its key words help tag it for proper indexing in a [[H:S|search result]]. If a file of the same name exists on both Wikipedia and Commons, the Wikipedia file will be displayed.

Files subject to any restrictions on how they may be used (except attribution or [[copyleft]]), such as "for use on Wikipedia only" or "for non-commercial use only", [[wikipedia:Non-free content|are not free enough]] and cannot be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons or Wikipedia. In case an image is [[WP:non-free content|non-free content]], use [[wikipedia:IMAGERES|low-resolution]] files so that the use is as minimal as possible.