How to upload photos to several stock agencies at once
To sell on several stock agencies at once you need three things for every photo: a title and keywords, a version adapted to each agency's rules, and an upload through whatever route each agency allows (FTP, website or its own uploader). This guide covers each route and how to stop doing the same work seven times.
1. Put the metadata inside the file
Almost every agency reads the title, description and keywords embedded in the JPEG (IPTC and XMP). Write them once in the file and you don't have to retype them on each site. The exceptions are categories, which almost no agency reads from the file, and 123RF, which has no title.
2. Each agency, its own route
| Agency | Keywords | Title | Size | AI | Editorial | Upload |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Stock | 5–49 (first 10 weigh most) | ≤ 70 (short, no commas) | ≥ 4 MP, ≤ 100 MP, ≤ 45 MB | Yes, labeled | Illustrative only | Web + CSV (SFTP on some accounts only) |
| Shutterstock | 7–50 | ≤ 200 | ≥ 4 MP, ≤ 50 MB | No | Yes | FTPS + category CSV on its site |
| iStock / Getty Images | 5–50 (Getty vocabulary) | ≤ 100 | ≥ 3 MP | No | Yes | ESP (web or app), no FTP |
| Magnific (Freepik) | 5–50 | ≤ 100 | Not confirmed | Yes, labeled | No | Web; FTP from 500 published files + CSV |
| Alamy | 5–50 (10 supertags on its site) | Caption (carries most weight) | ≥ 5.7 MP | No | Yes | FTP (Stock folder) or web |
| Dreamstime | 5–50 | ≤ 100 | ≥ 3 MP, ≤ 70 MP | Yes, labeled | Yes | FTP + category CSV |
| 123RF | 7–50 | No title (caption rules, 180) | ≥ 6 MP, ≤ 30 MB | Yes, labeled | Yes | FTP + “Upload via FTP” in its panel |
- FTP: Shutterstock (FTPS), Alamy, Dreamstime, 123RF and, on some accounts, Adobe (SFTP) and Magnific (Freepik), from 500 files. Photos land in your account with their metadata; you send them to review on the agency's site.
- Website + CSV: Adobe without SFTP and Magnific (Freepik) without FTP. Upload the photo folder and load a CSV with title, keywords and category.
- ESP: iStock / Getty Images doesn't give contributors FTP. You upload with ESP, which reads the metadata from photos (not from videos).
3. After FTP: what's left on each site
- Shutterstock: load its category CSV, or photos show “Needs attention”.
- Dreamstime: choose the category (or upload its CSV) and submit from “Unfinished”.
- 123RF: press “Upload via FTP” and submit from “Draft”.
- Alamy: check in Image Manager and set the supertags.
4. Adapt before you upload, not after
One set of metadata for every agency only half works: an AI image sent to Shutterstock, iStock or Alamy gets rejected, so does a title that is a keyword list, and unordered keywords lose visibility on Adobe. Fixing it before upload is faster than fixing it afterwards, photo by photo, on seven sites.
How Tagvora does it
Tagvora writes the metadata with AI, adapts it to each agency and, once you approve the photo, uploads it by FTP where agencies allow it and prepares a folder with its CSV for the rest, iStock included. You pay per photo, not per agency.
More guides
- Keywords for Adobe Stock and Shutterstock: what's different
- How to upload to iStock / Getty Images with ESP without losing keywords
- Shutterstock: why your photos show “Needs attention”
- What each stock agency requires in 2026: the table
- Alamy: captions, tags and supertags, step by step
- Dreamstime by FTP: how to set categories with its CSV
- 123RF by FTP: no title and the “Upload Via FTP” step
- AI keywording tools for stock photographers (2026)
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