Wikipedia hosts its images on Wikimedia Commons, a shared media library that serves all language versions of the encyclopedia. But Commons was built around a text-first content system, and the tools for managing images have never been quite as smooth as they could be.
One such tool is CropTool, a Wikimedia Commons gadget that allows contributors to crop and make basic adjustments to images directly in the browser, without needing external editing software. It supports JPEG, PNG, TIFF, SVG, WebP, animated GIF, PDF, and DJVU files, and is used every day by volunteers to improve media within the Wikimedia ecosystem.
The tool itself worked well, but its interface was showing its age. Much of it had remained largely unchanged since its inception in 2013. Last month, longtime tech contributor and WikiPortraits photographer Vera de Kok (User:1Veertje) took it upon herself to carry out a major overhaul and implement several long-requested features.
What has changed
The most visible improvements are in the editing workflow itself:
Mobile-friendly at last
The interface now works on phones and tablets, not just desktop browsers.
Multilingual support
CropTool is being connected to Translatewiki, a platform that pairs open-source projects with volunteer translators. English, Dutch, French, and Spanish are already available, with more languages on the way. Support for right-to-left languages has already been added.
Smarter metadata handling
Before uploading a crop, you can review inherited categories and depicts statements, deselecting anything that no longer applies. For example, if a person has been cropped out of the frame, their depicts statement can be removed before upload.
Fine-grained image controls
Angle, contrast, saturation, and brightness now have dedicated sliders, each with an “auto” button for quick corrections. Numeric input fields for users who prefer precise adjustments remain available alongside this new feature.
Rotation made simple
Rotating a photo by 90 degrees was already possible, but the option was buried within the interface.
Automatic border detection
Border detection has long been part of CropTool, but it is now available through a dedicated button rather than remaining hidden in a simple hyperlink.
Precise straightening
Slightly tilted horizons and other alignment issues can be corrected with exact adjustments.
Better feedback
System messages have been redesigned for better visibility. After a successful upload, CropTool now offers convenient buttons to copy the new filename or file URL to the clipboard, similar to the experience provided by UploadWizard.
Right-to-left writing is supported.
A comparison button allows users to temporarily view an image without any contrast, saturation, or brightness adjustments applied, making it easier to compare edits against the original.
Photo: Rob Douglas (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Wikimedia touches
The interface now uses Wikimedia’s Codex icon set, replacing the previous Font Awesome icons. A new CropTool logo has been introduced to match. The color palette and spacing have also been brought in line with the Codex design system.
Who uses CropTool
CropTool allows contributors to crop and improve media entirely within their browser, with no need to download, edit, and re-upload files to Wikimedia Commons, the largest free image repository in the world. Its lossless crop mode preserves image quality, OAuth authorization keeps Wikimedia accounts secure, and the metadata review tools help ensure that structured data on Commons remains accurate after a crop.
Try it
You can use CropTool right now by enabling the gadget and selecting the crop option from the menu next to any image on Wikimedia Commons.
CropTool runs on Wikimedia Toolforge, and its source code is available on GitHub under the MIT license.
Thanks
This project was financed by WikiPortraits, a global photography initiative delivering high-quality, freely licensed portraits for use by Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and the wider world.
It’s powered by a network of volunteer photographers and supported by partners including the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia Switzerland, AfroCROWD, Wikimedia Norway and Wikimedia UK. You can support our work by making an individual donation.
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