MediaWiki Format Guide

About MediaWiki Format

MediaWiki markup is the wiki markup language used by MediaWiki software, originally developed by Magnus Manske and Lee Daniel Crocker for Wikipedia in 2002. It uses a distinctive syntax with == for headings, '''bold''', ''italic'', [[internal links]], and {{templates}} for reusable content. Tables use the {| |} syntax with || for cell separators.

MediaWiki markup is the foundation of the world's largest encyclopedia, Wikipedia, and powers all Wikimedia Foundation projects including Wiktionary, Wikimedia Commons, Wikibooks, and Wikiquote. It is also used by Fandom (formerly Wikia), many corporate wikis, and thousands of independent wiki sites. The markup is extensible through parser functions, Lua modules (via Scribunto), and a rich ecosystem of MediaWiki extensions.

Available Conversions

MediaWiki Format Features

• Wiki Syntax: == headings ==, '''bold''', ''italic'', [[links]], * lists
• Templates: Reusable content blocks via {{template}} transclusion
• Tables: {| class="wikitable" |} syntax with sortable columns
• Categories: [[Category:Name]] for organizing wiki pages
• Interwiki Links: Cross-wiki linking with [[prefix:Page]] syntax
• Extensions: Lua modules (Scribunto), parser functions, Cite references
• Media: [[File:image.png]] for embedding images and media

Common Uses

• Wikipedia: World's largest encyclopedia, all Wikimedia projects
• Fandom: Fan wikis for games, movies, TV shows, and more
• Corporate Wikis: Internal knowledge bases using MediaWiki software
• Documentation: Technical documentation, software wikis, project wikis
• Education: Wikiversity, educational resource sharing
• Government: Public sector knowledge management and collaboration
• Open Source: Project documentation for open-source software