Contents → Upload To add multimedia (images, sounds, or videos) to Memory Alpha, you must first upload the content to our servers. (The MediaWiki software uses the word "image" to refer to any type of non-text multimedia, as does this document.) You can follow these easy steps to add your image to the Memory Alpha database:
- First, give the file an appropriate name. Make sure that the file name has the proper (lowercase) extension.
- A file description page will be associated with the file, with a page name consisting of the file name (including the extension) and prefixed with "File:". Remember that file names are case sensitive!
- If you want to replace an existing file, give it the same name.
- Upload the file using the upload form in the system bar. To protect against (most) vandalism, only users who have logged in may upload files.
- Apart from text, MediaWiki supports the following media formats:
- Documents: pdf, od*
- Images: jpeg (jpg), gif, png, svg, ico
- Sound: ogg, oga
- Video: ogv
- After the file has been uploaded, you may display it in an article or link to it using image markup.
There is a generous size limit of 2.0 megabytes per file, but please be reasonable. Memory Alpha does not have an infinite amount of disk storage.
Embedding images from external sites[]
As of September 2004, it is possible to embed some images from external sites in Memory Alpha articles. If the image's URL ends in a ".jpg", ".gif", ".png", or ".svg", you may type the URL into the article source (without brackets or other text surrounding it), and it will be displayed inline in the page.
However, this practice is generally considered poor etiquette and is frowned upon for most purposes. Displaying an image from another website on Memory Alpha most likely constitutes bandwidth theft (unless the person who includes the image in Memory Alpha also owns the server on which the image is located). In most cases, it is simpler and more convenient to just upload the image to Memory Alpha's database. Exceptions to this rule include personal photos which contributors may wish to display on their user pages.