Stock agency metadata rules, agency by agency

The real limits on title, description, keyword and category fields, plus the CSV format, for the 11 agencies contributors submit to most. Written from the same spec our own system runs on.

Quick comparison

Agency	keyword	Text field	CSV	editorial
iStock / Getty Images	50 keywords · must match the vocabulary	Description (not Title)	None — embed IPTC instead	Accepted
Shutterstock	7–50 keywords	Description ≤2,048	Columns A–D required	Accepted
Adobe Stock	≤49 keywords	Title ≤70, no commas	5 columns	Illustrative only
Alamy	≤50 tags · first 10 are special	Caption ≤150	No CSV	Accepted
Dreamstime	7–50 keywords	Title 5–250, not one word	5 columns	Accepted
Depositphotos	8–50 keywords	Description ≤250	6 columns	Accepted
123RF	≥7 keywords (30–50 advised)	Description ≤180	5 columns, stills only	Accepted
Pond5	5–50 keywords	Title ≤80	Has a price field	Accepted
Freepik	≤50 keywords (15–20 advised)	Title ≤100	Semicolon separated	Not accepted
Vecteezy	Free-text keywords	Title + Description	4 columns	Not accepted
PIXTA	English tags accepted	—	IPTC, JPEG only	Accepted

These are the agencies' own limits, not limits of our tool.

Agency by agency

iStock / Getty Images Tested on the live system
The only agency with a controlled vocabulary — you cannot invent keywords
Shutterstock Checked against official docs
Free-text keywords, but categories come from a fixed list and you may pick two
Adobe Stock Checked against official docs
Short titles, no commas allowed, and categories are numbers 1 to 21
Alamy From third-party sources
No CSV upload, and your first 10 tags carry special weight
Dreamstime From third-party sources
Titles cannot be a single word, and the description cannot be empty
Depositphotos From third-party sources
No possessive forms, and misspelled keywords are discarded
123RF From third-party sources
A much shorter description limit than anyone else, and footage must be entered on the website
Pond5 From third-party sources
The only agency where you set the price yourself, and no special characters anywhere in the file
Freepik From third-party sources
Fields are separated by semicolons, not commas, and editorial work is not accepted
Vecteezy From third-party sources
Filenames should contain no spaces, and editorial work is not accepted
PIXTA From third-party sources
Reads IPTC from JPEG only, and filenames must not repeat ones you have already submitted

Editorial work

Every agency wants a different dateline format, and getting it wrong means rejection. See each agency's dateline format

Why we know this

KeywordStock writes titles, descriptions and keywords for stock images and footage. We have to know every agency's rules to produce files in the right shape, so what you read here is the same spec the system itself uses.

Download the app