Mock-up of view/download options pop up window.
I've uploaded a number of very large images approaching the file size limit to Wikimedia Commons. An 90 MB, 83 megapixel example, used in about 2000 articles, is shown here:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mona_Lisa,_by_Leonardo_da_Vinci,_from_C2RMF_retouched.jpg
I've received complaints from users who wish to download the image but find it is too time-consuming or expensive to do so, or that the images occupy too much memory to load and view/edit on their computer. Some users click on the image on the file description page and accidentally find themselves downloading a very large file, which is problematic when they pay a lot for bandwidth, and sometimes it crashes or hangs their browser (or simply fails to display). The Download button feature allows downloads of thumbnails, but only goes up to 1024 px wide and is not available in Internet Explorer or on other wikis.
I'm proposing a change in which:
- Each user has a maximum download size (a user preference, default for logged-out users: 3 MB). Below this size, the current behavior occurs when clicking on an image. Above this size, clicking on an image will pop up a "view and download options" window.
- The view and download options pop up window offers several download links (see my mock up at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Commons_download_for_large_files_mock-up.png, also attached). In my example, 5 options are given, 1024 px wide, 1280 px wide, 10 megapixels, 20 megapixels, and full size.
- Many browsers are not able to view very large images (e.g. over 30 megapixels) inline without breaking due to the memory needed to hold the decoded image. When downloading images over a certain megapixel size, the link should automatically Save As, rather than viewing in browser.
- This feature should be available on all file description pages on all wikis, including pages that show files that are actually stored on Commons.
See http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Village_pump#Better_support_for_downloading_of_large_images for a thread on this (will update this link once the thread is archived). There doesn't appear to be any opposition on Commons to the idea at this stage.
Version: unspecified
Severity: enhancement
See Also:
https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=71485
Attached: