Wikipedia:Requesting free content

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It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

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WP:REQFREE

This page in a nutshell: This page offers suggestions on how to request free images for Wikipedia articles.

Some information in this essay appears to be out of date. Please see Commons:Template:Email templates/Consent for the latest consent.

See Wikipedia talk:Requesting free content for this essay's GFDL history before April 2009.

These are the techniques some editors use for contacting article subjects, photographers, or other copyright holders to ask that images be released under a free content license for the purpose of illustrating Wikipedia articles. This is by no means an exhaustive guide; it's just tips that editors have learned. Please feel free to use or modify them in whatever way best works for you. For that matter, feel free to edit or add to this page, if you've found an improvement to these methods. If you are the subject of an article and wish to submit your photo to Wikipedia see Wikipedia:Contact us/Photo submission.

Be warned in advance that, when dealing with notable people, it's almost never as easy as simply requesting a free picture and then getting one that you can immediately use. The article subjects are usually not the copyright holder but may have images they own the copyright to or provide the contact information of their photographers. Frequently you're just going to be ignored. Even if you get an answer, you must be prepared to do a lot of work with the associated article, and a lot of e-mailing back and forth with the person or their representatives, before the process is complete. Sometimes you'll spend hours working with the person about their concerns with the article, and they still won't send you a picture. If this happens to you, be of good cheer—you've still done the right thing, and improved Wikipedia in the process.