Submitting content to Shutterstock looks straightforward at first, but between technical requirements, metadata rules, differences between photo and video categories, legal constraints, and CSV formatting details, it is easy to make mistakes that lead to rejections or, worse, to files that get accepted but remain invisible in search results.
This guide brings together everything a contributor needs to know to correctly submit photos, videos, and vectors to Shutterstock. It is based on official documentation as well as behaviors observed directly in real-world workflows.
1. What You Can Upload to Shutterstock
Shutterstock accepts three main types of content: photos, videos, and vector illustrations. Each one comes with its own technical requirements.
Photos must be in JPEG or TIFF format, with JPEG strongly recommended because Shutterstock converts all approved images to JPEG anyway. PSD files and layered TIFFs are not accepted, and still frames extracted from video footage may be rejected if they do not meet Shutterstock’s quality standards. The color profile should be sRGB to avoid color shifts during conversion. Images must be at least 4 megapixels in size. Through the web uploader, file size is capped at 50 MB, while FTPS allows JPEGs up to 50 MB and TIFFs up to 4 GB.
Vector content is accepted only as EPS files, and they must be saved in a format compatible with Adobe Illustrator 8 or 10. EPS files must be between 4 and 25 megapixels, but the size calculation is based on the bounding box of the artwork, not the artboard. Even if the artboard is large, an artwork with a smaller bounding box will be rejected. Both web and FTPS uploads allow EPS files up to 100 MB.
Videos must be delivered as .mov or .mp4 files, with a minimum height of 480 pixels and a minimum aspect ratio of 0.5. HD (1920×1080) and 4K (4096×2160) are the preferred resolutions. Accepted codecs include PhotoJPEG (at 75% or high quality), Apple ProRes in its various flavors (422, 422 HQ, 4444, 422 LT), H.264 (set to best quality), PNG for footage with alpha channels, MPEG-4 Visual, and Apple Animation RLE. H.265 is technically accepted, but it is not recommended because of known HDR compatibility issues. The most useful advice here is to shoot and render directly in a compatible codec from the start, because transcoding later can degrade the quality.
2. How to Upload Files
Shutterstock offers two upload methods: web upload and FTPS. The web uploader is convenient for small batches or single files, while FTPS is the better choice for large quantities of videos or photos. FTPS connects to ftps.shutterstock.com on port 21, using Explicit FTP over TLS, and authenticates with the contributor account credentials. Most popular FTP clients work well, including FileZilla, Cyberduck, and WinSCP.
One critical point to keep in mind is that FTPS is only for media files. The CSV file containing metadata must not be uploaded together with the media or via FTPS. It needs to be added separately from the Submit page, using the dedicated CSV button.
3. The Metadata CSV
Shutterstock accepts a CSV file to associate metadata with images and videos. The workflow is sequential: first the media files are uploaded via web or FTPS, then the contributor goes to the Submit page and clicks the CSV button to upload the CSV. If the CSV is not formatted exactly as required, it will be rejected entirely.
Each row in the CSV represents one file. Column names must match Shutterstock’s expected names exactly, including capitalization. The required columns are Filename, Description, Keywords, and Categories. There are also three optional columns: Illustration, Mature Content, and Editorial. The optional ones can be omitted if they are not needed. For example, if you only want to flag editorial content, you can use just Filename, Description, Keywords, Categories, Editorial. The optional columns only accept the values Yes or No.
The CSV uses commas as separators, both for column structure and for the values inside Keywords and Categories.
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4. Filenames: The Most Underestimated Detail
The Filename column in the CSV must match the uploaded file name exactly. If it does not, the metadata simply will not be applied, and often Shutterstock will not show any error. The file ends up live on the platform with no description and no keywords.
Some characters cause especially severe problems. Filenames containing commas break the CSV matching entirely. Square brackets cause issues during ingestion, and angle brackets like < and > can make the file disappear from the upload queue altogether. In general, it is best to avoid accents, non-ASCII characters, emoji, quotes, apostrophes, parentheses, slashes, backslashes, and symbols like #, %, &, ?, *, :, and |. A safe pattern is to stick to letters, digits, dots, underscores, and hyphens. So names like business-meeting-office-001.jpg, abstract-blue-background-024.eps, or people running park 018.mov are fine, while business,meeting.jpg, people [running].jpg, or city <rome>.jpg are problematic.
A subtle but real issue concerns Unicode normalization. Filenames with accented characters can exist in two visually identical but technically different forms: NFC (where the accented character is a single codepoint) and NFD (where the base character and the accent are separate codepoints). To a human, menù.jpg looks the same in both forms, but Shutterstock treats them as different strings during CSV matching. This problem often appears when a file is uploaded through a browser like Chrome or Firefox on a Mac, while the CSV is generated elsewhere in the opposite form, for example using Safari on the same Mac computer. The simplest solution is to avoid accented and non-ASCII characters in filenames altogether or to always use the same computer and browser for your entire workflow. The file extension should always be included in the CSV filename, and the matching is case sensitive, so Image001.JPG is not the same as image001.jpg.
5. Description: Which Is Also the Title
Shutterstock does not have a separate title field. Everything goes into the Description column, which serves both as the title and the description. The minimum length is five words, the maximum is 2048 characters including spaces, and the content must be written in English. It must be a complete, descriptive sentence that accurately describes what is visible in the image or video.
A common mistake is writing descriptions that look like keyword lists, such as city, night, sky, buildings, skyline, lights. These are interpreted as disguised keyword stuffing and will be rejected. A proper description reads naturally, for example Night shot from city of Rome with illuminated buildings in the skyline against dark blue sky. Emoji, hashtags, decorative asterisks, HTML tags, markdown formatting, and promotional language are all reasons for rejection.
While the technical maximum is 2048 characters, the realistic sweet spot is much shorter. Shutterstock’s own examples are typically between six and twelve words, so a healthy range is around eight to twenty words, or 60 to 200 characters. Overly long descriptions tend to look like keyword stuffing and rarely improve discoverability.
The description can be read from IPTC/XMP metadata embedded in JPG files, or from metadata inside EPS files depending on the version, but when a CSV is uploaded, the CSV takes precedence.
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6. Keywords
Keywords go into the Keywords column, separated by commas. The minimum is seven keywords, the maximum is fifty, and they must be in English. The order does not affect search ranking.
Even though the limit is fifty, that does not mean fifty is the goal. Shutterstock’s own official examples use only eleven or twelve keywords, and a realistic sweet spot is around twenty to thirty well-chosen terms. Filling the list with weak or redundant words does not help; in fact, it can hurt the perceived quality of the file.
There is a specific rule about compound keywords that share a dominant word. If more than four compound keywords contain the same key term, the extras are automatically removed. For example, in a list like people running, people diving, people art, good people, people office, business people, the last entries containing people are simply discarded.
The most effective keyword sets describe the main subject, secondary subjects, the concept or theme, the location if relevant, the dominant color when visually significant, and the mood or style if applicable. Subjective filler words like beautiful, amazing, nice, or best should be avoided, along with irrelevant terms, repetitions, singular and plural versions of the same term, and keywords in languages other than English.
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7. Categories
Shutterstock requires one or two categories per file, chosen from official lists and separated by commas. One of the most common CSV mistakes is using the wrong category list for the wrong media type, because the photo and video category lists are different from each other.
For photos, there are 26 categories: Abstract, Animals/Wildlife, Arts, Backgrounds/Textures, Beauty/Fashion, Buildings/Landmarks, Business/Finance, Celebrities, Education, Food and drink, Healthcare/Medical, Holidays, Industrial, Interiors, Miscellaneous, Nature, Objects, Parks/Outdoor, People, Religion, Science, Signs/Symbols, Sports/Recreation, Technology, Transportation, and Vintage.
For videos, the list is shorter, with only 19 categories: Animals/Wildlife, Art, Backgrounds/Textures, Buildings/Landmarks, Business/Finance, Education, Food and drink, Health care, Holidays, Industrial, Nature, Objects, People, Religion, Science, Signs/Symbols, Sports/Recreation, Technology, and Transportation.
The differences between the two lists are not always obvious. Photos use Arts, while videos use Art in the CSV, while in the website they are both the same. Photos use Healthcare/Medical, while videos use Health care. Photos also include seven categories that are not available for videos at all: Abstract, Beauty/Fashion, Celebrities, Interiors, Miscellaneous, Parks/Outdoor, and Vintage. Using a category that does not exist for a given media type causes the CSV’s category to be rejected, and you’ll see an error.
For EPS vectors, the photo category list applies.
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8. Editorial Content
The Editorial flag in the CSV, set to either Yes or No, marks a file as editorial content. Editorial files are meant to illustrate real events, news, or subjects of public interest, and they come with restrictions on how they can be used (no advertising or product promotion).
The editorial flag should be used when the file contains visible logos or brand names, recognizable public figures, events or concerts, copyrighted buildings or landmarks, visible artwork, or characters from films, books, or video games. Shutterstock distinguishes three subtypes of editorial content: documentary editorial (real photos of real events), illustrative editorial (photos that illustrate a subject editorially, often featuring branded objects), and editorial vector illustrations (vectors depicting brands, landmarks, or events).
All editorial descriptions must include both a location and a year. The cleanest and most reliable caption format is CITY, COUNTRY - MONTH DAY, YEAR: Description., for example ROME, ITALY - MAY 28, 2026: People walking in front of the Colosseum during a public event.. Shutterstock also accepts variations like January 28th 2020 or 04.9.2020, but the MONTH DAY, YEAR format is the safest choice. Missing or inaccurate year, missing or inaccurate location, descriptions that do not match the subject, and promotional language are all common reasons for rejection of editorial content.
A frequent source of confusion is that “Editorial” is not a category, so it must not appear in the Categories column. It is only a flag in its own column.
9. Intellectual Property: What Contributors Need to Know
Even with an editorial flag or a valid property release, Shutterstock can still reject content that infringes intellectual property. There are four broad areas of IP that contributors should think about: trademarks (logos, brand names, slogans), copyright (artwork, sculptures, architectural designs, maps, currency, stamps, screen content, fictional characters), trade dress and design patent (the physical appearance of manufactured products), and rights of publicity (the identity of public figures).
The general rule is that commercial content cannot show visible trademarks or recognizable IP, while editorial content can include trademarks unless they appear in Shutterstock’s restriction lists. Some brands and characters are considered non-licensable and are rejected even when flagged as editorial. Just search for “Shutterstock restriction list editorial” on Google and you’ll see the full lists.
There are several copyright cases that catch contributors off guard. Visible tattoos count as copyrighted artwork, including henna or temporary tattoos and even airbrushed designs. Face painting, theatrical makeup, nail art, and food art are also protected. Sand sculptures, ice sculptures, and chalk drawings count too, even though they are temporary. Exteriors of designed buildings, bridges, viaducts, and other architectural works are protected. Maps and globes are copyrighted. Characters from films, TV shows, books, and video games are off limits. Even screens that display content (TVs showing programs, monitors showing operating systems or browsers, phones showing apps, consoles showing games) are protected.
When in doubt, the safest approach is to flag the file as editorial or not submit it at all.
10. The Most Common Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
The most damaging mistakes fall into three categories.
When the CSV is rejected in bulk, it is usually because the header names do not match exactly (especially in capitalization), a required column is missing, or the file is not formatted as a clean comma-separated structure.
When the CSV is accepted but metadata is not applied to specific files, the cause is almost always a mismatch between the Filename column and the actual file uploaded. Common culprits include commas, square brackets, or angle brackets in the filename, missing or wrong-case extensions, and the Unicode NFC versus NFD issue described earlier.
When individual files are rejected after upload, the reasons usually involve description problems (fewer than five words, written like a keyword list, in a language other than English, containing emoji or special characters), keyword problems (fewer than seven, more than fifty, irrelevant, redundant, or with too many compound keywords sharing the same dominant word), wrong category for the media type, missing year or location in an editorial caption, visible trademarks in commercial content, or missing legal documentation.
11. Practical Tips to Optimize the Workflow
The single most effective habit is to standardize ASCII-safe filenames. Just avoid special and accented characters and you should be fine. This prevents the vast majority of CSV matching issues without any extra effort downstream.
Using a single, consistent caption format for editorial content also pays off. The CITY, COUNTRY - MONTH DAY, YEAR: Description. pattern is reliable, easy to validate, and avoids inconsistencies across batches.
It also helps to remember that Shutterstock’s limits are not goals. Fifty keywords and 2048 characters are upper boundaries, not targets. A clear, well-written description with twenty to thirty relevant keywords can outperform an inflated, padded version.
Drawing a clear line between commercial and editorial submissions saves time. When the answer is not obvious, leaning toward editorial is usually the smarter choice, because rejected commercial content is more costly than accepted editorial content.
Keeping a record of past rejections is another good habit. Shutterstock’s review criteria are consistent, and learning from earlier rejections quickly improves acceptance rates. Working in coherent batches (groups of files with similar subjects, categories, and editorial status) also helps reduce mistakes and speeds up review.
Uploading to Shutterstock is fundamentally an exercise in precision. The technical requirements are the easiest layer to master, while the real challenges live inside the CSV, the metadata, and the boundary between commercial and editorial use. The more these steps are automated and validated upstream, the less time contributors waste dealing with rejections and corrections later.
