Commons:Video

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Wikimedia accepts and encourages uploading video files on Commons. Videos, like images, must be freely licensed. The acceptable video format is Theora with an .ogv file extension. Various tools exist to convert existing videos into this format, including Commons:Firefogg. Videos may be played back in Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome natively or in Internet Explorer if the Java runtime is installed. Request a video at Commons:Video requests.

Contents

[edit] Importance of video

There are roughly 3,000 video files on Commons in Category:Videos, as of November 1, 2009.

Good examples of videos:

  • Nature videos, such as a recording of a scenic view or a hurricane (ex. #1)
  • Wildlife videos, such as the behavior of certain animals (ex. #1)
  • Sports videos, such as demonstrating a particular rule or method of playing (ex. #1)
  • Cultural videos, such as a traditional dance (ex. #1)
  • Science videos, such as chemistry experiments (ex. #1)
  • Demonstrations of tools, showing how it works. (ex. #1)
  • Visualization of 3D data where one of dimensions is shown as time (ex. #1 & #2)
  • Historical videos (ex. #1 & #2)

[edit] Video formats

Wikimedia uses Ogg Theora and GIF for video because it is open and royalty-free, unlike other video formats which contain patents and require royalties, such as Apple's QuickTime (mov) and Microsoft's WMV.

[edit] Video usage

Polar orbit.ogg
Ogg Theora animation of a satellite in polar orbit.
Example of GIF animation.

The easiest way to embed video directly into an article is by using the same [[File:]] tag as for image files. The result is on the right. The video can be resized by changing the 200px to some other number.

[[File:Time Lapse of New York City.ogv|thumb |200px |New York City Time Lapse]]

In case of Ogg Theora files, a frame from the midpoint of the video is used by default for the initial still image. To use a different frame, use the thumbtime parameter. For instance:

[[File:Time Lapse of New York City.ogv |thumbtime=12 |thumb |200px |New York City timelapse]]

Specify the time in seconds, or use colons to separate hours, minutes and seconds.

Time Lapse of New York City.ogv
Default still image
Time Lapse of New York City.ogv
Still image at 12 seconds

In case of animated GIF files, the animation is played continuously in a loop.

There are two types of links to the video, use [[Media:Apollo 15 launch.ogg|video 1]] to get video 1 or [[:File:Time Lapse of New York City.ogv|video 2]] to get video 2.

Resizing a video to use a smaller thumbnail does not change the bitrate or bandwidth requirements. A video recorded at 640x480 but shown in an article at 160x120 will still stream all the data that would be used to display it at the 640x480 size. If you need a smaller video size in an article for some reason, you are much better off to just recompress the larger video to the smaller size to bake in the bandwidth savings. Better quality can be obtained in these small videos, by having the original uploader create the smaller size using their original uploaded content.

[edit] Playing videos

See also: Commons:Media help

Wikimedia Commons uses Ogg Vorbis files for sound files and Ogg Theora for video files. Playing video and sound embedded on Wikimedia sites requires no additional software. Wikimedia uses a plugin (Cortado) to stream video to you in whichever browser you use, as long as Java is installed. Alternatively, the web browsers Mozilla Firefox 3.5 and Google Chrome 3.0 are able to play these file formats without additional software.

You must install software to play video that you have downloaded to your computer. You can learn at Commons:Media help what software you need to play our media files. VLC multimedia player is one that is open-source and multi-platform.

[edit] Videos and copyright

Main article: Commons:Licensing

In addition to checking for video copyright, the audio must not contain copyrighted sounds. This includes any copyrighted songs that were added to the video. Ask questions regarding the copyright of the video at the Village pump.

Examples of videos that would not be allowed due to copyright:

  • Screen captures of software that is itself not under a free license. This includes the Mac OS and Windows operating system. However, screen captures of software under the GPL or a similar free software license are generally considered to be OK.
  • TV/DVD/Videogame/Music video clips and recordings, unless their copyright has expired.
  • Copyrighted symbols, logos, etc. (Not to be confused with trademarks.)
  • Models, masks, toys, and other objects which represent a copyrighted work, such as a cartoon or movie character. See Commons:Derivative works.
  • Video that contains copyrighted music. Remove the audio from the video and then upload.

Examples of videos that would be OK to upload:

  • Nature videos (video taken at a National Park or of a bird in your backyard)
  • Videos from the United States government, such as from NASA.

[edit] Finding videos online

See also: Commons:Free media resources/Video

Several media resources contain video that is public domain or licensed under a free license. These can be converted and uploaded to Commons.

[edit] Converting video

Firefogg screencast.ogv
Screencast on using Firefogg
Main article: Help:Converting video

All videos need to be converted into the OGG Theora format with an .ogv file extension. Help:Converting video contains a listing of programs to aid in converting. Commons:Firefogg is the recommended converting tool. The underlying tool used is ffmpeg2theora, a command-line tool. Xiph.org, founder of the Ogg container format, maintains a list of Theora software encoders.

When uploading a large video (for use on Wikipedia), convert into two versions. One for high-bandwidth users and the other for low bandwidth. Making a viewer on a slow Internet connection stream a 40mb file is not ideal. Typical lower quality settings include downsizing to 320x240 and changing the video quality to v6.

Consider removing the audio on the video if it does not add anything to the video. This decreases the filesize of the video and, if the sound is distracting (e.g. wind noise), may improve the video.

Ask questions regarding converting at Help talk:Converting video and the videos to improve page.

[edit] Uploading a video

Both the Wikipedia project and the Wikimedia Commons limit uploads to a maximum of 100 megabytes. Uploading a video is similar to uploading an image. First ensure the video is freely licensed. Add a descriptive filename and source for the video. Also include which encoder or software and what settings (two-pass, -v 6, etc) were used to convert the file. Include appropriate categories and include Category:Video or one of its subcategories.

If the bitrate quality of the video is very large, then consider also uploading the video at a lower bitrate (quality) so that users with lower bandwidth can smoothly stream it.

[edit] Requesting a video

Main article: Commons:Audio and video requests

Specific videos may be requested at Commons:Audio and video requests. Please search Commons to see if a similar video exists before making the request.

[edit] Maintenance tasks

[edit] See also

Video categories
Wikipedia video documentation

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Video"