---
license: cc
task_categories:
- image-to-text
language:
- en
tags:
- art
pretty_name: Explain XKCD
size_categories:
- 1K<n<10K
dataset_info:
  features:
  - name: number
    dtype: string
  - name: date
    dtype: string
  - name: title
    dtype: string
  - name: before
    dtype: string
  - name: image
    dtype: image
  - name: titletext
    dtype: string
  - name: transcript
    dtype: string
  - name: explanation
    dtype: string
  splits:
  - name: train
    num_bytes: 183315711.73
    num_examples: 2795
  download_size: 226687075
  dataset_size: 183315711.73
configs:
- config_name: default
  data_files:
  - split: train
    path: data/train-*
---

# Dataset Card for Explain XKCD

## Dataset Description

- **Homepage:** https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
- **Repository:** https://huggingface.co/datasets/dchichkov/explainxkcd
- **Paper:**  
- **Leaderboard:**  
- **Point of Contact:**  

### Dataset Summary

An import of the Explain XKCD wiki (up to March 30, 2024), containing explanations for 2668 xkcd comics.

| Field         | Type   | Description                                                                                                                                                   |
| ------------- | ------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `number`      | string | The xkcd comic’s sequential number (e.g. `"3"`, `"1000"`).                                                                                                    |
| `date`        | string | Publication date of the comic, in “Month Day, Year” format (e.g. `"September 30, 2005"`).                                                                     |
| `title`       | string | The displayed title of the comic (e.g. `"Island (sketch)"`).                                                                                                  |
| `before`      | string | Any original or archived title/caption metadata, typically a MediaWiki-style link or HTML snippet pointing back to the source (e.g. the LiveJournal archive). |
| `image`       | string | Filename of the comic image (e.g. `"island_color.jpg"`) in the images/.                                                                                       |
| `titletext`   | string | The “alt” or tooltip text that appears when you hover over the comic on xkcd’s site.                                                                          |
| `transcript`  | string | A plain-text transcript of the comic panels and dialogue.                                                                                                     |
| `explanation` | string | A detailed explanation of the joke or references in the comic, suitable for the “Explain xkcd” format.                                                        |


NOTE: original image filenames in xkcd included spaces, in this dataset these were replaced with underscores.

## Licensing Information

Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)

```text
Explain xkcd: It’s ’cause you’re dumb. (2025). Main Page. Fan-maintained wiki. Retrieved May 19, 2025, from https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
```

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License (CC BY-NC 2.5)

```text
xkcd: License Page. Retrieved Retrieved May 19, 2025, from https://xkcd.com/license.html
```

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0)
```text
This work
```


### Citation Information

```bibtex
@misc{dchichkov_explainxkcd_2025,
  author       = {Chichkov, Dmitry},
  title        = {{Explain XKCD Dataset}},
  year         = {2024},
  howpublished = {\url{https://huggingface.co/datasets/dchichkov/explainxkcd}},
  note         = {Fan-curated import of the Explain XKCD wiki up to March 30, 2024}
}

### Contributions

Thanks to [@dchichkov](https://github.com/dchichkov) for adding this dataset.