Commons:First steps/Contributing
When you share your work on Wikimedia Commons with a free license, you grant anyone permission to use, copy, modify, and sell it (as long as they follow the rules of the license).
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/13/Puzzly_with_red_bird%2C_tennisman_and_baseball_ball.svg/250px-Puzzly_with_red_bird%2C_tennisman_and_baseball_ball.svg.png)
What is allowed on Commons
You may upload works that you created entirely yourself. This includes photos and videos of:
- natural landscapes, animals, plants
- public figures and people photographed in public places (only with consent in some cases, depending on local laws)
- useful or non-artistic objects
You may also upload original graphs, maps, diagrams, and audio.
What is not allowed on Commons
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/Dialog-STOP.svg/70px-Dialog-STOP.svg.png)
Commons can’t accept work created by or based on the work of others – including photographs of it. By default, you can’t upload someone else’s work. This usually includes material such as:
- logos
- CD/DVD covers
- promotional photos
- screenshots of TV shows, movies, DVDs, and software
- drawings of characters from comics, TV, or movies – even if you drew them
- most pictures published on the internet
- photos of you not taken by you (the copyright holder is the person who took the photograph unless it is a formal work for hire)
However, there are some exceptions
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Puzzly_taking_a_photo_of_the_Mona_Lisa.svg/150px-Puzzly_taking_a_photo_of_the_Mona_Lisa.svg.png)
- You can upload someone else’s work if the author granted permission for anyone to use, copy, modify, and sell it – by releasing it under a free license. (Be sure to provide a link to the source, where the license is stated.)
- You can upload someone else’s work if it is in the public domain (usually very old works).
- You can upload your photographs of public domain works, such as old buildings, statues, and art.