Wikimedia Commons is a media file repository making freely licensed media available to everyone.

You can upload images, audio, PDF files, and video to Wikimedia Commons, as long as you own them.

Everything added to Wikimedia Commons must be shared with an open license allowing it to be shared elsewhere, including on Wikipedia.

Who uploads to Wikimedia Commons?

Anyone can contribute to Wikimedia Commons, and several museums, galleries, and archives across Australia have been making large contributions by uploading thousands of photos to Wikimedia Commons from their collections.

Other institutions make their photos available under a creative commons license allowing them to be shared on Wikimedia Commons.

Photos from the archives of Museums Victoria, Public Record Office Victoria, and Royal Australian Historical Society are available on Wikimedia Commons thanks to these institutions making their collections available to share under an open license.

What are the benefits of sharing photos and other archival documents?

For museums and galleries, adding content to Wikimedia Commons helps people find them because they will show up in web search results like Google Images. Many institutions have also found it increased web traffic back to their own website and collections too.

The State Library of NSW have added over 2,000 images to Wikimedia Commons which have then been included in Wikipedia pages, increasing the visibility and discoverability of their digitised content.

The State Library of Queensland donated 50,000 out of copyright images to Wikimedia Commons in 2010. It was one of the largest donations at the time and the images have now been used over 5,000 times on articles across English Wikipedia, and were viewed over 8 million times in January 2023 alone.

How do I upload to Wikimedia Commons?

If you have photos in your collection you'd like to share, you can go to Wikimedia Commons, sign up for an account and start uploading today.

But if you have a large collection you want to upload all at once, then get in contact with Wikimedia Australia and we'll help you!