How to upload to iStock / Getty Images with ESP without losing keywords

By Marta (Tagvora) · Updated October 2026

iStock / Getty Images is where most keywords get lost along the way. Not because of the photo, but because of how its uploader, ESP, works: it only accepts words from its own vocabulary, and makes you clarify the ones with several meanings. If you don't, that keyword silently disappears.

1. iStock / Getty Images has no FTP: you upload with ESP

Unlike Adobe Stock or Shutterstock, iStock / Getty Images doesn't offer FTP to contributors. You upload through ESP, its contributor website, or its app. The good news: ESP reads the title, description and keywords embedded in the file (IPTC). If your photos already carry their metadata, you don't have to type it again.

2. The controlled vocabulary: why keywords vanish

Getty doesn't work with free text. Every keyword is matched against a closed list of approved terms, and anything not on the list doesn't count. So use plain, specific English words rather than made-up terms, long phrases or technical jargon.

3. Disambiguation: the step that eats the most keywords

When a word has several meanings, ESP asks you to pick one: crane (bird or machine?), apple (fruit or brand?), spring (season, coil or water source?), bat (animal or sports bat?). Skip the question and that keyword isn't saved.

Tip: before opening ESP, note for each photo which meaning each ambiguous word has. With 50 photos, that minute saves you dozens of lost keywords.

4. Check before you submit: you can't fix it later

Once a file is accepted, you can't add keywords yourself. Getty only changes them through a support request, and may decline it. Make sure the main subject and the location are there before submitting.

5. AI, editorial and releases

• AI images: iStock / Getty Images doesn't accept them.
• Editorial: yes, with its caption (city, country, date and description).
• Recognisable people: attach the model release in ESP before submitting.

How Tagvora makes it easy

Tagvora writes and embeds the title, description and keywords in every photo and prepares an iStock / Getty Images folder ready to drop into ESP. The AI also tells you which meaning to pick for each ambiguous word ("crane → bird"), on the photo card and in a file inside the zip, so disambiguation takes seconds.

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