The Wikimedia Commons (also called "Commons" or "Wikicommons") is a repository of free images, sound and other multimedia files. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. Files uploaded to this repository can be used as local files by other projects on the Wikimedia servers, including Wikipedia, Wikibooks and Wikinews.
History
The project was launched on September 7, 2004. In November 2004, it reached a milestone of 10,000 uploaded media files. It was also the first Wikimedia project to use Mediawiki 1.4.
Languages
The main language for the Commons is English, but the interface can be configured (in user preferences) to use any other language. Some pages have also been translated into various languages.
Copyrights
As of 2004, the Wikimedia Commons does not allow uploads under non-free licenses, including licenses which restrict commercial use of materials, or are used under "fair use". Licences that are acceptable include the GFDL, variants of Creative Commons with no restriction on commercial use, and the public domain.
External links
