Template:Non-free use rationale/doc

This is a documentation subpage for Template:Non-free use rationale. It may contain usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page.

This template is used on approximately 716,000 pages, or roughly 1% of all pages. To avoid major disruption and server load, any changes should be tested in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. The tested changes can be added to this page in a single edit. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them.

This template uses Lua: Module:Redirect (sandbox)

This template uses TemplateStyles: Template:Non-free use rationale/styles.css (sandbox)

This template facilitates creating a non-free or fair use media rationale with the necessary components. Please read Wikipedia:Non-free use rationale guideline for the relevant policies.

This template is used by the Wikipedia:File Upload Wizard. Its parameter fields are designed to match the upload questionnaire and to correspond to the criteria defined in WP:NFCC. The upload wizard will fill in some fields with standard values, but will prompt for specific input in cases where rationale elements are typically not predictable and must be explained individually.

If you want to use this template manually, you can find its parameters below. Don't forget to add a separate non-free file copyright tag, such as {{Non-free fair use}}, {{Non-free logo}}, {{Non-free book cover}} etc.

{{Non-free use rationale
<!--Obligatory fields-->
| Description =
| Author = 
| Source = 
| Article = 
| Purpose = 
| Replaceability = 
| Minimality = 
| Commercial = 
<!--Optional/expert fields-->
| Date =
| Publication =
| Replaceability_text =
| Other information =
}}

Description

A description of the copyrighted material.

Author

The original author and/or copyright holder of the non-free work.

Source

The immediate source, i.e. where you found this file.

Publication

(optional) The original source, i.e. where and how this non-free work was first published. Important in some cases where parts of the non-free use justification may depend on this information, e.g. in the case of some historical photographs.

Date

(optional) The date of publication.

Article

The exact name of the Wikipedia article in which the media is to be used (without the [[  ]] brackets).

Purpose

What function this file will serve in the article. This explanation must make it clear how and why the file will significantly increase the reader's understanding of the topic, in such a way that its absence would be detrimental to the article (cf. WP:NFCC#8). Do not copy generic rationale verbiage from some templated rationales elsewhere. State in clear, plain words what this particular file will be doing in this particular article. Be specific and concrete.

Replaceability

Why there couldn't be a freely licensed replacement that would adequately serve the same purpose (cf. WP:NFCC#1). Please bear in mind that this is not merely about replacements that actually exist and are readily available, but also about the mere possibility that such a replacement could realistically be created.

Replaceability_text

(optional) Note that though this template field has been implemented as optional, Wikipedia policy requires that its consideration is satisfied (see WP:NFCC#1).
If necessary,^[1] explain why it wouldn't be possible to adequately treat the encyclopedic content with freely licensed text alone.

Minimality

Add any necessary explanation how there won't be more non-free content used than necessary. Minimality means: Use low-resolution files rather than high-resolution files; don't use a larger portion of a work than necessary or an entire work if only a small portion would be sufficient; don't use more non-free items if a single one would be sufficient.

Portion

How much copyrighted material is used? The amount used must not make the work as a whole less valuable to the copyright holder.

Low resolution

Is the material in a lower resolution that would be unlikely to impact the copyright owner's ability to resell or otherwise profit from the work? For raster images, this would be strictly the resolution (in pixels) of the picture used; for vector graphics, this would involve the level of detail in the image; for audio, this would be the bit rate and sample resolution used.

Commercial

i.e. "Respect for commercial opportunities": explain why our use of the file will not unduly infringe on any commercial interests of its copyright holders, by competing with the work's original market role.

Other information

(optional) any other information that is relevant to the sourcing, copyright information and non-free use justification.

{{Non-free use rationale
| Article           = Strong Poison
| Description       = Book cover of ''[[Strong Poison]]''.
| Source            = Derived from a digital capture (photo/scan) of the book cover (creator of this digital version is irrelevant as the copyright in all equivalent images is still held by the same party). Copyright held by the publisher or the artist. Claimed as fair use regardless.
| Portion           = Book cover only, a small portion of the commercial product.
| Low resolution    = Yes
| Purpose           = The image serves as the primary means of visual identification of the subject (the book). It illustrates educational articles about the book from which the cover illustration was taken.
| Replaceability    = There is no free equivalent of this book cover, so the image cannot be replaced by a free image.
| Other information = The use of the cover will not affect the value of the original work or limit the copyright holder's rights or ability to distribute the original. In particular, copies could not be used to make illegal copies of the book.
}}

• For more specific rationale templates, look in Category:Non-free use rationale templates.
• A different approach is to use {{Non-free media data}} combined with {{Non-free media rationale}}, which is less clumsy in situations where an image is used in multiple articles.
• A derivation of this template, optimized for use on copyrighted logos, is {{Non-free use rationale logo}} which automatically includes rationale text relevant to that use case.
• For free images, you may use {{Information}}.

• Category:Pages using non-free use rationale with unknown parameters (1,793)

This template uses the following tracking categories:

• Category:Wikipedia files with unknown source - set if both the |Source= and |source= parameters are missing.
• Category:Wikipedia non-free files lacking article backlink - set if both the |Article= and |article= parameters are missing.
• Category:Wikipedia non-free files with red backlink - set if the title specified in |Article= is a redlink.
• Category:Wikipedia non-free files with redirect backlink - set if the title specified in |Article= is a redirect.