Multimedia

Video

I seem to remember a discussion about using video media on wikipedia, but can't find it. Does anyone recall where it is? I have some .avi files that I think would be a welcome addition.. what (if anything) can I do with them? Nextel ringtones User:Pcb21/Pete

: Well you can transcode them for a start. We would have to look at open video standards. I think Xiph (people behind Ogg Vorbis) has an open video codec. Abbey Diaz Cgs/CGS 11:40, 19 Aug 2003 .

::Given the load on the Wikipedia server, the bandwidth costs of making video available, and the various format issues (in terms of freeness, availability, video quality, and required bandwidth). I think some extended discussion might be wise before people start uploading videos. Free ringtones Robert Merkel/Robert Merkel 11:38, 23 Aug 2003

Spreadsheets

We seem to have a policy that the Image: namespace is just for images. And sounds and movies. But definitely not Word documents or anything like that. However, I have a couple of Excel spreadsheets here I think should really be uploaded to Wikipedia. They're for editorial convenience, not content. I could put them offsite, but then permanance wouldn't be guaranteed. One is the spreadsheet I used to generate the Majo Mills inorganic table information/inorganic compound property tables: it has a really handy macro to merge the spreadsheet with wikitext. The other is the spreadsheet I used to generate Mosquito ringtone :Image:Articles per day 20030418.png. Both would be very useful to anyone wishing to extend or improve my work. How would people feel if I uploaded them? Sabrina Martins Tim Starling/Tim Starling 14:41 Apr 25, 2003

: Excel spreadsheets probably aren't a "Transparent" format compatible with the GFDL, which means that you'd need to use a different license if you want other people to be able to extend and improve your work. Nextel ringtones public domain is simplest.
: Another issue is that Excel spreadsheets can contain viruses, and we recently decided not to upload executables because they might contain viruses/trojans/etc - not sure if this is a real issue.
: I suggest uploading them both to meta... Abbey Diaz MyRedDice/Martin 15:25 Apr 25, 2003

::Martin beat me to it on the virus issue. Excel is a fairly significant virus vector, and in any case, lots of people don't have it. (I certainly don't - I use spreadsheets all the time but I wouldn't touch Excel with a bargepole: I am no security fanatic but there ''are' limits to the risks I'll take. For data, a universal format file (comma delimited as a lowest common demominator, but whatever) would be fine, I should think. But how to deal with macros? Good question. Free ringtones Tannin/Tannin 15:31 Apr 25, 2003

::Don't upload Excel spreadsheets because of license and virus issues. It's better to host it outside wikipedia. I can' host it on my ftp if you want.
::Majo Mills Ericd/Ericd 20:10 Apr 25, 2003

It's a pity I can't do something like this due to a legal issue. A transparent copy of a VBA macro is no use to anyone, so there's not much point in me making one. Anyone who has Excel would prefer an XLS file, and anyone who doesn't have it can't use it anyway. Note that meta is covered by GFDL as well, so Martin's suggestion of uploading it there would be no better.

The virus issue worries me less it would have to be a pretty clever virus to escape both my attention and recently-updated McAfee's attention. It's theoretically possible but I haven't heard of anything like it all the VBA viruses I've read about are much too simple to pull off anything like that. Anyway, wherever I upload it, someone will eventually have to get over their paranoia and click on "enable macros". Cingular Ringtones Tim Starling/Tim Starling 05:27 Apr 26, 2003

MPG and Quicktime

'''Thomas Edison'''

I would like to upload : allowable e Cattle driven to slaughter / hollywoods and Thomas A. Edison, Inc. ; producer, James White as an example for both the cattle article, and the motion picture history article. It is in both MPG(4mb) and Quicktime(1mb). Should I upload the MPG? Its in public domain as it was created in 1897. I assume thta Wikipedia would not be friendly towards proprietary formats like quicktime. See the plo leader Library of Congress site where I downloaded it [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/papr:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(edmp+0034))+@field(COLLID+mi))] memoirs that Greenmountainboy/Greenmountainboy 21:36, 17 Dec 2003


: I, as a Wikipedia reader, would personally prefer to have access to both versions, or at least to the MPEG version. But if I was wikipedia owner (paying the bandwidth fees) I would suggest you just to put an external link to the MPG and/or Quicktime file at lcweb2.loc.gov website (there is no reason to duplicate the file here in wikipedia, I suppose lcweb2.loc.gov isn't going to delete the file from its servers in the near future). abated and Optim/Optim 22:17, 17 Dec 2003

: If I remember correctly, there is a 2MB size limit on media files. So the MPG format would be too large, unless split in two. I'm not sure about the use of quicktime, but I've never seen it on Wikipedia, so that could be a reason :) church reminders Alfio/Alfio 23:14, 17 Dec 2003

Flash

Is it possible to upload a flash-file? On the danish Wikipedia we are making a http://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_b%F8rn. On that page it would be fun to have a collage of pictures leading to different articles. Because it is for children it would be fine if it was animated to some extend too.

- Malene (admin on the danish Wikipedia) (microprocessors with 62.107.100.2/62.107.100.2 07:56, 2 Aug 2004 )

Discussion on video policy, please comment.

In response to some new developments, I'd like comment on a possible update to the currently-outdated made too meta:Video policy. Please call said meta:Talk:Video_policy#New_developments_in_video_for_the_new__year/comment on the discussion here, as this involves all Wikimedia projects. guangzhou reported Grendelkhan/grendel/walls fine User_talk:Grendelkhan/khan 13:14, 2005 Jan 3