Main menu move to sidebar hide Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Special pages Search Search Appearance Donate Create account Log in Personal tools Donate Create account Log in Contents move to sidebar hide (Top) 1 History 2 Relation to sister projects 3 Controversial content 4 Utilities 5 Quality Toggle Quality subsection 5.1 Wikimedia Commons Pictures of the Year 6 Gallery 7 See also 8 References 9 External links Toggle the table of contents Wikimedia Commons 163 languages Afrikaans Alemannisch Aragonés Ænglisc العربية ܐܪܡܝܐ الدارجة مصرى অসমীয়া Asturianu Авар अवधी Azərbaycanca تۆرکجه Башҡортса Boarisch Žemaitėška Беларуская (тарашкевіца) Беларуская Български Bislama Banjar ပအိုဝ်ႏဘာႏသာႏ বাংলা বিষ্ণুপ্রিয়া মণিপুরী Brezhoneg Bosanski Batak Mandailing Català 閩東語 / Mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄ Нохчийн Cebuano کوردی Čeština Чӑвашла Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch डोटेली Ελληνικά Esperanto Español Eesti Euskara Estremeñu فارسی Suomi Français Furlan Gaeilge Gàidhlig Galego ગુજરાતી Hausa 客家語 / Hak-kâ-ngî עברית हिन्दी Hrvatski Magyar Հայերեն Interlingua Bahasa Indonesia Igbo Ilokano Íslenska Italiano 日本語 Jawa ქართული Qaraqalpaqsha Адыгэбзэ Қазақша ភាសាខ្មែរ ಕನ್ನಡ 한국어 کٲشُر Ripoarisch Kurdî Кыргызча Latina Lombard Lingála Lietuvių Latgaļu Latviešu Madhurâ मैथिली Malagasy Олык марий Māori Minangkabau Македонски മലയാളം Монгол मराठी Bahasa Melayu Malti မြန်မာဘာသာ مازِرونی Plattdüütsch नेपाली Nederlands Norsk nynorsk Norsk bokmål Sesotho sa Leboa Chi-Chewa Occitan ଓଡ଼ିଆ Ирон ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Kapampangan Papiamentu Polski پښتو Português Runa Simi Română Русский Русиньскый ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ Scots سنڌي Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски တႆး සිංහල Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina Anarâškielâ Soomaaliga Shqip Српски / srpski Sunda Svenska Kiswahili தமிழ் ᥖᥭᥰ ᥖᥬᥲ ᥑᥨᥒᥰ తెలుగు Тоҷикӣ ไทย Tagalog Toki pona Tok Pisin Türkçe Xitsonga Татарча / tatarça Удмурт Українська اردو Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча Vèneto Tiếng Việt Winaray 吴语 მარგალური ייִדיש Yorùbá Vahcuengh 文言 閩南語 / Bân-lâm-gí 粵語 中文 IsiZulu Edit links Article Talk English Read Edit View history Tools Tools move to sidebar hide Actions Read Edit View history General What links here Related changes Upload file Permanent link Page information Cite this page Get shortened URL Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Meta-Wiki Wikiversity Wikidata item Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Online repository of free-use media Wikimedia Commons The Wikimedia Commons main page in 2024 Type of site Media repository Founded September 7, 2004 ; 21 years ago  ( 2004-09-07 ) Owner Wikimedia Foundation Created by Wikimedia movement URL commons .wikimedia .org Commercial No Registration Optional (required to upload files) Current status Active Content license Open Wikimedia Commons , also known as Wikicommons , or simply Commons , is a wiki -based media repository of free-to-use images, sounds, videos and other media. [ 1 ] It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation . Files from Wikimedia Commons can be used across all of the Wikimedia projects [ 2 ] in all languages, including Wikipedia , Wikivoyage , Wikisource , Wikiquote , Wiktionary , Wikinews , Wikibooks and Wikispecies , and can also be downloaded for offsite use. As of May 2026, the repository contains over 141 million free-to-use media files, managed and editable by registered volunteers. [ 3 ] History [ edit ] A page of Commons search results The concept for the project came from Erik Möller in March 2004 [ 4 ] and Wikimedia Commons was started on September 7, 2004. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] In July 2013, the number of edits on Commons reached 100,000,000. [ 7 ] In 2018, it became possible to upload 3D models to the site in STL format. One of the first models uploaded to Commons was a reconstruction of the Lion of Al-lāt statue in Palmyra , Syria , which was heavily damaged by ISIS militants in 2015. [ 8 ] Various notable organizations have uploaded files to Commons. In 2012, the National Archives and Records Administration uploaded 100,000 digitised images from its collection. [ 9 ] In 2020, the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) started uploading its collections to Commons. [ 10 ] In 2022, DPLA uploaded more than two million files. [ 11 ] Similarly Europeana , the website aggregating European cultural heritage, shares its digitised images through Commons. [ 12 ] During the COVID-19 pandemic , as part of a collaboration with Wikimedia, the World Health Organization (WHO) uploaded its " Mythbusters " infographics to Commons. [ 13 ] Relation to sister projects [ edit ] The stated aim of Wikimedia Commons is to provide a media file repository "that makes available public domain and freely-licensed educational media content to all, and that acts as a common repository for the various projects of the Wikimedia Foundation." [ 14 ] Most Wikimedia projects still allow local uploads which are not visible to other projects or languages, but this option is meant to be used primarily for material (such as fair use content) which local project policies allow, but which would not be permitted according to the copyright policy of Commons. For this reason, Wikimedia Commons deletes copyright violations and aims to only host freely licensed media, such as media licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution and Attribution/ShareAlike licenses, [ 15 ] other free content and free software licenses, and public domain media. Controversial content [ edit ] The site has been criticized for hosting large amounts of amateur pornography, often uploaded by exhibitionists who exploit the site for personal gratification, and who are enabled by sympathetic administrators. [ 16 ] In 2012, BuzzFeed described Wikimedia Commons as "littered with dicks ". [ 17 ] In 2010, Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger reported Wikimedia Commons to the FBI for hosting sexualized images of children known as " lolicon ". After this was reported in the media, Jimmy Wales , founder of the Wikimedia Foundation which hosts Commons, used his administrator status to delete several images without discussion from the Commons community. Wales responded to the backlash from the Commons community by voluntarily relinquishing some site privileges, including the ability to delete files. [ 18 ] Utilities [ edit ] Over time, additional functionality has been developed to interface Wikimedia Commons with the other Wikimedia projects. For instance, there exists a community-maintained Commons mobile app which allows uploading of photos that document the world, especially notable objects findable in the map in the Nearby List in the app (displaying Wikidata items with coordinates). The app launched in 2012 as an official Wikimedia app and since May 2016, it uses the official Wikimedia Commons name and logo. [ citation needed ] Structured data statements for a picture of some sugar cubes Structured Data on Commons (SDC) is a three-year software development project funded by the Sloan Foundation [ citation needed ] to provide the infrastructure for Wikimedia Commons volunteers to organize data about media files in a consistent manner. This data is structured more and is made machine-readable . [ 19 ] [ 20 ] [ non-primary source needed ] Quality [ edit ] This section does not cite any sources . Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . ( June 2010 ) ( Learn how and when to remove this message ) Successful featured picture nominations per month (2004–2019) There are three mechanisms on the site for recognizing high-quality works. One is known as " Featured pictures ", where works are nominated and other community members vote to accept or reject the nomination. This process began in November 2004. Another process known as " Quality images " began in June 2006, and has a simpler nomination process comparable to "Featured pictures". "Quality images" only accepts works created by Wikimedia users, whereas "Featured pictures" additionally accepts nominations of works by third parties such as NASA . A third image assessment project, known as " Valued images ", began on June 1, 2008, with the purpose of recognizing "the most valued illustration of its kind", in contrast to the other two processes which assess images mainly on technical quality. Wikimedia Commons Pictures of the Year [ edit ] Picture winning the POTY competition in 2023 . A farmer packs incense sticks in Quảng Phú Cầu , Vietnam. The Commons Picture of the Year (POTY) is a competition that runs every year since 2006. It aims to identify the best freely licensed images from Commons submissions, including those that during the year have been awarded Featured picture status. [ 21 ] [ 22 ] Gallery [ edit ] As of January 2015, there are about 5.2M geolocated images in Wikimedia Commons. A chart showing the growth of Wikimedia Commons by number of files between 2004 and 2025 Total page views of Wikimedia Commons (split by desktop, mobile app, mobile web) A category page in the Commons mobile app See also [ edit ] Creative Commons – an organization providing a set of content licenses and a directory of works using them Internet Archive – an online collection of videos, documents and webpages Project Gutenberg – the largest freely accessible collection of documents (including books and sheet music) Reporting of child pornography images on Wikimedia Commons The vanished bells project References [ edit ] ^ Endres, Joe (May 2006). "Wiki websites wealth of information" . International News on Fats, Oils and Related Materials (Periodical). 17 (5). Champaign, Illinois : 312. ISSN   0897-8026 . ProQuest   223600210 . Archived from the original on May 10, 2021 . Retrieved August 6, 2007 . ^ "Embedding Commons' media in Wikimedia projects" . Wikimedia Commons. Archived from the original on December 26, 2018 . Retrieved August 7, 2007 . ^ Statistics page on Wikimedia Commons ^ Möller, Erik (March 19, 2004). "[Wikipedia-l] Proposal: commons.wikimedia.org" . Archived from the original on December 9, 2013 . Retrieved August 7, 2007 . ^ "Main Page" . Wikimedia Commons. September 7, 2004. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015 . Retrieved August 7, 2007 . ^ "Wikimedia Commons: Über 100.000 freie Bilder, Töne und Filme" (in German). Golem.de . May 25, 2005. Archived from the original on December 26, 2018 . Retrieved August 7, 2007 . ^ ÄŒesky (July 15, 2013). "100,000,000th edit" . Commons.wikimedia.org. Archived from the original on June 8, 2023 . Retrieved August 22, 2013 . ^ "Wikipedia goes 3D allowing users to upload .stls for digital reference" . 3D Printing Industry . February 22, 2018. Archived from the original on March 8, 2022 . Retrieved March 8, 2022 . ^ Schultz, Colin. "The National Archives Wants to Put Its Whole Collection on Wikimedia Commons" . Smithsonian Magazine . Archived from the original on March 6, 2022 . Retrieved March 6, 2022 . ^ "DPLA cultural artifacts coming to Wikipedia through new collaboration with Wikimedia Foundation" . Digital Public Library of America . Archived from the original on March 31, 2022 . Retrieved March 6, 2022 . ^ "Commons:Digital Public Library of America - Wikimedia Commons" . commons.wikimedia.org . Archived from the original on November 24, 2022 . Retrieved December 22, 2022 . ^ "Europeana and Wikimedia partnership update" . Europeana Pro . Archived from the original on August 12, 2022 . Retrieved March 6, 2022 . ^ McNeil, Donald G. Jr. (October 22, 2020). "Wikipedia and W.H.O. Join to Combat Covid-19 Misinformation" . The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Archived from the original on December 27, 2020 . Retrieved March 6, 2022 . ^ "Commons:Project scope" . Wikimedia Commons . Archived from the original on December 21, 2023 . Retrieved November 15, 2021 . ^ "About The Licenses - Creative Commons" . creativecommons.org . Archived from the original on July 26, 2015 . Retrieved October 22, 2021 . ^ Morris, Kevin (June 25, 2013). "The Daily Dot – How Wikimedia Commons became a massive amateur porn hub" . The Daily Dot . Archived from the original on September 19, 2013 . Retrieved June 26, 2013 . ^ "The Epic Battle For Wikipedia's Autofellatio Page" . BuzzFeed . March 26, 2012. Archived from the original on September 30, 2017 . Retrieved September 18, 2017 . ^ "Wikimedia's Wales gives up some top-level controls" . Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. ^ "Submissions/Structured Commons: what changes are coming?" . Wikimania . Archived from the original on March 17, 2020 . Retrieved January 14, 2020 . ^ "Commons:Structured data" . Wikimedia Commons . Archived from the original on January 18, 2020 . Retrieved January 14, 2020 . ^ "Commons:Picture of the Year" . Wikimedia Commons . Archived from the original on April 12, 2020 . Retrieved April 8, 2020 . ^ Morris, Kevin (February 28, 2013). "Wikimedia's 12 best photos take you to the ends of the Earth" . The Daily Dot . Archived from the original on October 28, 2021 . Retrieved October 28, 2021 . External links [ edit ] Wikimedia Commons at Wikipedia's sister projects Media from Commons Textbooks from Wikibooks Resources from Wikiversity Data from Wikidata Discussions from Meta-Wiki Official website Mirror of Wikimedia Commons by WikiTeam v t e Wikimedia Foundation People Projects Wikipedia community (Wikipedians) Current Bernadette Meehan Lisa Seitz-Gruwell Dariusz Jemielniak Rebecca MacKinnon Raju Narisetti Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight Esra'a Al Shafei Jimmy Wales Past Hampton Lintorn-Catlin Danese Cooper Bishakha Datta Florence Devouard Oscar van Dillen Sue Gardner Arnnon Geshuri Mike Godwin Aaron Halfaker James Heilman Maryana Iskander Guy Kawasaki Patricio Lorente Katherine Maher Erik Möller María Sefidari Lila Tretikov Luis Villa Projects Wikipedia history List of Wikipedias Censorship of Wikipedia Wiktionary Wikimedia Commons Wikidata Wikiquote Wikibooks Wikisource Wikispecies Wikinews (closed) Wikiversity Wikivoyage Wikifunctions Abstract Wikipedia Other Wikimedia movement List of Wikimedia chapters Bangladesh Deutschland Israel New York City Polska UK Ukraine Wikimania Wiki Indaba WikiConference India WikiConference North America MediaWiki Litigation Monkey selfie copyright dispute Wikimedia Foundation v. NSA Knowledge Engine Related The Signpost Wikipedia Monument Wikimedian of the Year Tides Foundation Artificial intelligence in Wikimedia projects Google and Wikipedia Wikipedia for World Heritage v t e Creative Commons Works and projects Licenses NonCommercial license Licensed works Category Public Domain Mark Content directories Jurisdiction ports Major directories Creative Commons ccMixter Free Music Archive Freesound OpenGameArt.org Openclipart Dogmazic Phlow Electrobel Jamendo Newgrounds Audio portal Scripped Wikimedia Commons People Lawrence Lessig Joi Ito See also Free and open content Free culture movement Authority control databases International VIAF 2 GND National Spain Poland Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_Commons&oldid=1361322705 " Categories : Free content Image-sharing websites Internet properties established in 2004 MediaWiki websites Multilingual websites Open content projects Photo archives Stock photography Video hosting Wikimedia projects Stock media Free image galleries Hidden categories: CS1 German-language sources (de) Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata Use mdy dates from July 2025 Use American English from January 2025 All Wikipedia articles written in American English All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from February 2024 All pages needing factual verification Wikipedia articles needing factual verification from February 2024 Articles needing additional references from June 2010 All articles needing additional references Pages using Sister project links with hidden wikidata Articles containing video clips This page was last edited on 27 June 2026, at 05:04  (UTC) . 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