Help / Uploading

FAQs you might find helpful (6)

• Help! I am having trouble uploading!

  If your upload is slower than normal, fails to connect, or only partial images are displayed, there may be a network issue on a point somewhere between your computer and Flickr.

  Sometimes these problems are ISP-related and sometimes might be specific to your local computer/network setup. (And most of the time, it's temporary. :-)

  If you only tried uploading with Uploadr, try using the web form to compare results or one of the other upload tools. If you cannot upload with any of them, it's likely a network issue that will affect any upload to Flickr.

  Some quick suggestions:

  • Use both the web upload page and Uploadr. Does the upload fail for one or both?
  • Briefly turn off the power to any broadband modems and routers to reset the network connection.
  • If you connect wirelessly, move your computer closer to the wireless access point, or 'plug in'.
  • Temporarily turn off any antivirus or firewall software and try an upload. If you are using AVG's anti-virus software, please disable their Link Scanner as there are known conflicts with that software. If the upload is successful, look to see if you can add Uploadr to an exceptions list of applications that can access the Internet.
  • If you are a regular Firefox user on Windows, make sure Internet Explorer is not set to "Work Offline" mode (this only applies to older versions- make sure you have the latest version).

  If you are networked through a router that is plugged into a home broadband modem, unplug the router and connect your computer directly into the modem itself. If the connection is now open, then the router could be slowing or blocking the connection and you may need to consult your manual for configuration options. Sometimes setting to a slightly lower MTU value or matching it to the value used by your ISP helps. (Some users report problems with specific network hardware in our Forums. A search there might reveal one.)

  If you have tried all of these suggestions and you still can't upload, please copy and paste the bullet points into your help email and let us know what happened when you tried each one. (Without this specific info it is very hard to troubleshoot upload issues :)

• I’m having trouble uploading my videos? How can I troubleshoot?

  If you’re having trouble with one of the uploading tools, we urge you to try the other one. That is, if the desktop Uploadr doesn’t work, try using the web-based Uploadr. The two primary factors that determine the speed of upload is the file size and your connection to the internet.

  Here's a list of the file formats we accept:

  • AVI (Proprietary codecs may not work)
  • WMV
  • MOV (AVID or other proprietary codecs may not work)
  • MPEG (1, 2, and 4)
  • 3gp
  • M2TS
  • OGG
  • OGV

• Why do my video uploads keep timing out?

  Video files are often much larger than image files, so are more likely to time out or not upload all the way. This is most often a problem if you have a slow internet connection or your connection is “flaky.”

  If you are having trouble uploading large batches of videos you may have to try using smaller batches until you find what works with your connection. For more help with uploading please see the Photos FAQ.

• I tried to use your upload page and got a "BONK" error. What's that?

  A 'BONK' message means your upload failed. You might come across this on the Upload page.

  Here are a few possibilities: there may be a problem with the format of the image, there could be a problem with the file itself, or it is possible the internet connection timed out, so the upload itself was incomplete.

  If you get that error, you can try the same photo through the old upload page, or the Uploadr (which you can download from the Tools page), or an upload by email. If the file only fails in the Flash upload page, feel free to send us some detail on what files failed for you.

• Are there limits on file sizes or file types for uploads?

  With a free account, you can upload photos up to 30MB in size, or 2 videos per month- up to 150MB for each video. If you have a Pro account, you can upload photos up to 50MB and videos up to 500MB in size. For more on video files and types supported, please visit the Video FAQ

  Flickr officially supports JPEGs, non-animated GIFs, and PNGs. You can also upload TIFFs and some other file types, but they will automatically be converted to and stored in JPEG format.

  As you publish photos, they're compressed and resized by Flickr (if necessary) in the following sizes:

  • 75x75 pixels square
  • 150x150 pixels square
  • 100 pixels (on the longest side)
  • 240 pixels
  • 320 pixels
  • 500 pixels
  • 800 pixels *
  • Large (which will be 1024 pixels if it exceeds that length)
  • The original size (if you have a pro account)

  To access all of these sizes for a photo, click the "All Sizes" link on the individual photo page.

  If you have a pro account, we also store your high-resolution originals, which you can download at anytime as long as you remain Pro. Anyone can access public photos and download the high-resolution (original) size from a Pro account, unless you limit access to the downloadable image.

  * Only images uploaded, rotated, or replaced since March 1, 2012 have an 800 size image.

• How many photos can I upload by email?

  There's no set limit, but this feature was designed to upload single images from camera phones. You can send multiple photos through your regular email client, but you may have problems uploading some of them.

  You may encounter problems if you email large numbers of photos at one time or send very high-resolution or large-size images. You may also have problems due to weird message formatting caused by different mail programs or mail server/transit problems outside of our control.

  Since these issues vary, we suggest emailing fewer images at a time. You may have to experiment to find out what works best for you.

  If you upload photos but they don’t appear right away, give it some time. If your mail server doesn't connect with ours on the first attempt, it may take awhile before it tries again.