How To Download Images From Wikipedia

Wikipedia Logo

People download images from the internet all the time and use them in a variety of ways. If you plan to use an image in any way related to making money you need to be sure you have a right to use that image in the way you plan—or there can be financial or legal consequences. If you’re not using the image commercially there are many more usage options, but it’s still wise to understand all of an image’s usage terms to stay out of trouble. To learn more, google ”Can I use an image?”, and choose an authoritative source on on the subject.

If you aren’t interested in digging through a bunch of legal mumbo-jumbo to see if you can use an image in a homework assignment or presentation for your co-workers, Wikipedia can be a great source of images you can freely use on all subjects. Many of their images are in the public domain or have few restrictions. What’s more, Wikipedia makes it easy to find exactly how an image can be used, so you can avoid displaying images that might get you in trouble with the author or entity that owns it.

Quality counts when selecting images to make your point, and here size matters. Wikipedia images are often available in several sizes. Pick a size most appropriate for how you plan to use the image (Tip: You can always shrink a large image, but to preserve quality making an image larger is almost never a good idea). A second selection consideration is aspect ratio: width verses height. Sometimes where you need to place an image on a page requires a wide or tall aspect ratio, and cropping an image may not work to get what you need if it means chopping off something important.

Image size, quality and aspect ratio are important graphic design issues worth exploring in more depth if your grade or livelihood depends on clearly communicating. And while graphic design basics are largely the same, there are meaningful differences in how you produce online verses printed documents.

Keep that in mind as you follow these steps to download a single image you’ve found in a Wikipedia article. Here's a typical Wikipedia article about George Harrison of the Beatles:

Wikipedia Article

1. Click directly on the image - This displays the photo in Wikipedia’s Media Viewer.

Wikipedia Image in Media Viewer

2. Click the “More details” link - in the lower right corner to review image sizes available, license terms, image history and other relevant information).

3. Verify the usage terms, and verify you can use the image in the way you plan. If not, keep looking: there’s almost certainly something out there you can use. If not, you may need to purchase an image from one of the many commercial image sites on web. Prices and usage terms obviously vary, but there are plenty of great and affordable images out there.

Wikimedia Image: More Details - licensing

4. Below the image displayed is size information expressed in Pixels or dots-per-inch (the “dots” that make up your computer’s screen) as “width” by height” (width x height)—Just like photos taken with your camera that you then print in 8x10 or 5x7 inches, etc.). Click the link for the most appropriate image size.

Wikimedia Image: More Details - file sizes

5. Use your browser’s file download features to complete the download.

Typically this means moving your cursor over the image and right-clicking to bring up a list of options, like, “Copy Image”, “Save Image As”, “Email Image”, etc. Choose “Save Image As” (or the equivalent in your browser), and be sure to save it in an easy to find location on your computer (like your desktop or in a specific folder you’ve created to hold all files related to your project).

Firefox Browser "Right Click" Options

It’s a good idea to note the name of the image file you’re downloading because it may not have a recognizable name (Wikipedia image file names may simply be a number or an apparently random string of characters). For this reason I often change the name to something intuitive, and include the aspect ratio of the image in the name if I download multiple sizes—the latter comes in handy when you’re working on a project and need an image of a specific size and aspect ratio. Note too, that larger images will obviously take longer to download, and you'll need a fast enough connection when downloading really large images.

Here are some links to additional information about Wikipedia images, and using and finding images on the web.

See Also:
Wikimedia Commons is a database of freely usable media files that people contribute to. To simplify things, files come in 3 categories: Images, Sounds and Videos, each with many subcategories to help you find what you’re looking for.

Wikipedia: Ten things you may not know about images on Wikipedia.

Wikipedia: Images - More on Wikipedia's images.

How images are used in Wikipedia: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Images.

Wikipedia: Finding images tutorial.

PhotoPin - A search tool for finding free photos for bloggers and creatives.

The Ultimate Student Guide to Images - One article, of the many out there, that explains the ins and outs of using imagery.

Infographic: Can I Use that Picture? - A useful infographic on image terms of use.