Editorial files are licensed to illustrate news and articles, not advertising. The caption must state facts and carry a date and a place; the wrong format means rejection.
Real events: news, sport, social occasions
Brands, logos, storefronts and products where no event is taking place
| Agency | What it requires |
|---|---|
| iStock / Getty Images | |
| Shutterstock | Use the Description field — up to 2,048 characters. Dateline format: City, State or Country - Month Day, Year: followed by a factual sentence. Write the dateline portion in capitals. If the exact date is unknown, use CIRCA. For brand or product shots with no event, also add the keyword illustrative editorial. |
| Adobe Stock | Put the date and place inside the Title sentence. You must tick "This is Illustrative Editorial content" on the website — the CSV has no column for it. Only illustrative editorial is accepted — no recognisable faces and no rights-restricted events. |
| Alamy | Use the Caption, Location and Date taken fields, all of which can be read from the file's IPTC. Set the file to Sell for editorial only. Live News is a separate system you must be approved for, with its own caption format. |
| Dreamstime | Use the Description to cover who, what, where and when. Dreamstime reads the date from EXIF itself. Select Editorial mode when uploading. Sports files need the event name, the teams and the result. |
| Depositphotos | Cover all five points with the date and place; Shutterstock's format works here. Set the Editorial column to yes. |
| 123RF | Include the city, state or country, the event name and the product model if you know it, then select editorial mode on the website. |
| Pond5 | Use Shutterstock's dateline format; the CSV has an editorial column. |
| Freepik | Editorial work is explicitly not accepted — do not send it here. |
| Vecteezy | Editorial work is explicitly not accepted. |
| PIXTA | Shutterstock's dateline format works here. |