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What you can and can't upload to Wikipedia.
The image rules trip up almost every first-time Wikipedia uploader. This is the pre-flight check before you send a logo or photo to your agency.
The rule of thumb
Wikipedia images must be reusable by anyone
Wikipedia's content licence is Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA). Every image needs to be compatible with that — which means it can be reused by anyone for any purpose, including commercial, as long as attribution is given. That's a much stricter bar than "we have a press kit." Most stock photography, most PR photos, and almost all third-party images do not qualify.
Quick check
Will your image pass Wikimedia Commons?
Answer up to three questions for an instant read. Not legal advice — a final review is free.
1. Who created the image?
Accepted ✓
Logos uploaded by the brand under CC BY-SA 4.0
Your logo, uploaded by your team to Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence. This is the standard path for company logos.
Public domain or Creative Commons photography
Photos explicitly released under CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC0 (public domain), or similar free licences. Includes most government photos in the US (federal works) and many academic / institutional photos.
Original photography from the brand or photographer
Photos taken by your team or a hired photographer, where the rights-holder explicitly licenses the photo under a free Creative Commons licence and uploads it themselves (via OTRS verification if not posted by the photographer directly).
Historic public-domain material
Photos and documents old enough to have entered the public domain (varies by country — typically 70 years after the author's death in the EU/US).
Rejected ✗
Press photos with 'All rights reserved'
Standard PR photo licences don't satisfy Wikipedia's free-content rule. Wikipedia is not a fair-use repository for promotional images.
Stock photo licences (Shutterstock, Getty, etc.)
Commercial stock licences are incompatible with Wikipedia's reusable-by-anyone requirement. Even if you paid for it, you can't put it on Wikipedia.
LinkedIn / Instagram / company website photos
These are not licensed for reuse under Wikipedia's rules unless the rights-holder has explicitly granted a free licence.
Screenshots from third-party websites
Including a screenshot of a competitor's site, a tool, or news coverage — these are derivative works of copyrighted material.
AI-generated images without clear licensing
Wikipedia's stance on AI-generated images is conservative. Most AI-image platforms have unclear licensing chains.
If you want to upload your own
Four steps that get the file accepted on Wikimedia Commons
Step 1
Confirm rights-holder consent
Whoever made the image must explicitly agree to release it under a Creative Commons free licence. 'I'm fine if you use it' isn't enough — Wikipedia needs the licence in writing on Wikimedia Commons.
Step 2
Pick a free licence
Most common: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0). For very open use: CC0 / Public Domain Dedication. Anything more restrictive (NC = non-commercial, ND = no derivatives) is NOT accepted.
Step 3
Upload to Wikimedia Commons (not Wikipedia directly)
Wikimedia Commons is the media repository. Files uploaded there are usable across all Wikipedia language editions. Direct upload to Wikipedia is for fair-use cases only (very rare and tightly scoped).
Step 4
If the photographer is uploading, OTRS verification
If someone other than the photographer uploads the file, the photographer needs to confirm the licence by emailing Wikimedia's permissions system (OTRS / VRT). This step trips up most first-time uploaders.
Common mistakes
Five reasons we see Wikipedia uploads get deleted
- Sending a press-kit photo and assuming it's fine because it's 'for media use'.
- Uploading a photo taken by someone else without their explicit free-licence consent.
- Adding the company logo with a 'Copyright Brand Inc.' watermark — defeats the licence claim.
- Using AI-generated images of executives or company facilities — Wikipedia's AI-image policy is still tightening.
- Uploading without OTRS verification when not the photographer — file gets deleted within a week.
Pre-flight checklist
Before you send your image to the agency
Who took the photo / made the logo?
The rights-holder needs to be identifiable and reachable for the licence step.
Will the rights-holder release under CC BY-SA 4.0?
Get this in writing before uploading. It's irrevocable.
Does the image have any watermarks, copyright notices, or AI-generation markers?
Remove or disclose. Both can disqualify the upload.
Second tool
Image uniqueness pre-check
Licensing is half the battle. The other half is proving the file is genuinely yours and genuinely unpublished. Walk the six checks reviewers actually run.
Why Commons deletes previously published images
Wikimedia Commons applies the precautionary principle: when there is significant doubt about a file's rights, it gets deleted — and the burden of proof sits with the uploader. A photo that already appears on your website, social profiles, or in earlier press coverage reads as "copied from the web" unless the rights-holder formally releases it. Most image deletions hit files that look professional but arrive with no paper trail.
What a reverse search reveals
Reviewers paste new uploads into Google Lens and TinEye. Those engines return every indexed copy of the image, with dates — so a file that ran on a news site in 2023 cannot pass as "never published" today. Run the same search yourself before uploading; if the image surfaces anywhere, sort the licensing first instead of hoping nobody checks.
Why EXIF matters
Original camera files carry EXIF metadata: camera model, lens, timestamp, sometimes location. Screenshots and social-media downloads arrive with all of it stripped. To a reviewer, missing EXIF on an "own work" claim is a red flag; intact EXIF quietly corroborates your story.
If the only photo you have fails these checks, the fix is usually a fresh, properly licensed shot — we commission and license new photography as part of Wikipedia page creation.
Guided pre-check
Six checks before you upload
The same checks Wikimedia Commons reviewers run on new files. Not legal advice — a final review is free.
0 of 6 confirmed
Work through the six checks
Tick each line you can honestly confirm. The verdict updates live — it mirrors what a Wikimedia Commons reviewer looks for in the first minute.
Not sure if your image will pass? Send it for a free pre-flight check.
We'll tell you in 24 hours whether it'll survive Wikimedia Commons review — before you waste time on the upload.