Amazon Product Photography: 2026 Image Requirements and Shot List

Amazon product photography has to follow Amazon's image rules: the main image shows only the product, on a pure white background (RGB 255, 255, 255), filling 85% of the frame, in a JPEG, PNG, TIFF or non-animated GIF file of at least 500 pixels on the longest side, or 1,000 pixels if you want shoppers to be able to zoom. The other image slots can show angles, the product in use, scale and details, and Amazon recommends at least six of them plus a video. You can shoot the photos yourself, book a studio from $39 a photo plus a booking fee, or make them with AI, as long as they show the real product and any AI-generated person is tagged.

Amazon product image requirements at a glance

From Amazon's Product image guide and Technical image file requirements for the US store. Other marketplaces and some categories add their own rules.

Some popular guides still say you need 1,600 pixels for zoom or that a listing takes only seven images. Amazon's current guide says 1,000 pixels on the longest side turns zoom on, and its clothing guide allows up to eight alternate images for each parent or child product. Two more points that catch sellers out: uploading an image does not guarantee Amazon will show it, because Amazon chooses from the images every seller of that product submits, and Amazon says it may modify submitted images to meet its requirements.

Amazon main image requirements

The main image is the one shoppers see in search results and first on the product page. Amazon's product image guide says it must:

• Sit on pure white: RGB 255, 255, 255, not an off-white or light gray.
• Fill the frame: the product takes up 85% of the image, and no part of it is cut off.
• Show one view of one unit: the front only, not the front and back together, plus only the accessories that come with it.
• Leave out extras: no props that are not included and could confuse the customer, and no packaging unless it is a real feature, such as a carrying case or a gift basket.
• Look real: a realistic, professional-quality image with the product's true scale, quantity and color. No placeholders.
• Skip mannequins: no part of a mannequin, whether clear, solid-color, flesh-toned or a framework. Amazon's clothing guide also rules out hangers and holders.

Amazon's Quick Start Style Guide, which its style guide page still points sellers to, adds that borders, watermarks, text or other decorations on an image can trigger a quality alert on the listing. Its clothing guide spells it out for the main image: no borders, logos, watermarks, text, color blocks, inset images or other graphics.

What happens if the main image breaks the rules? Files that fail the technical checks cannot be uploaded at all. Images that fail the content rules may be removed, and if a product has no compliant main image, Amazon says it may temporarily remove the listing from search until one is provided.

The fastest way to get the white right is to cut the product out rather than trust the backdrop: a lit white sweep usually photographs as light gray. Our background remover for Amazon-ready white images downloads the cutout on exact 255, 255, 255 white, and our roundup of the best background removers compares the other options.

Rules for clothing, shoes and furniture

Amazon's general guide and its clothing guide add category rules that change how you shoot:

• Adult clothing: the main image is on a model, and the model must be standing, not sitting, kneeling, leaning or lying down. Amazon says it encourages models with various physical mobilities, including people who use wheelchairs or prosthetics.
• Children's and baby undergarments, leotards, swimwear and similar form-fitting items: photographed lying flat, without models, in every image.
• Clothing accessories and multipacks: shown flat, without a model.
• Clothing main image details: a frontal view, an aspect ratio close to 3:4, no folded products, no visible tags or packaging, and no distracting accessories such as large earrings, bags or sunglasses. Photos only, not sketches or drawings.
• Every color: each child product (for example, each color) needs its own main image, and children's wear images must be at least 1,000 pixels.
• Mannequins: none visible, except for stockings and socks.
• Footwear: a single shoe, facing left, at a 45-degree angle.
• Lifestyle main images: allowed only for beds, bed frames, mattresses, rugs, rug pads and sofas, with no text or extra logos.

Because adult clothing needs a model in the main image, ghost-mannequin and flat-lay shots belong in the other slots. Our guides to ghost mannequin photos and flat-lay photography cover how to make those well.

What to put in each Amazon image slot

After the main image, Amazon calls the rest image variants, each with a code. When you upload in Image Manager, Amazon pre-selects the variant types that your category's style guide suggests. A listing that covers what a shopper would check in a store usually looks like this:

Slot order is a suggestion; the rules come from Amazon's Product image guide, Upload images page and Shoppable video guide. Amazon also has a swatch slot (SWCH) and safety image slots (PS01 to PS06).

Text in the secondary images needs care. It is allowed, but if you upload country-specific images, Amazon says the text must be in that country's official language or English. For video, Amazon says your seller account must have been active for more than three months, and it reports that sellers who added video saw an average 23.8% increase in sales compared with products without one (its internal data from January to June 2024). One catch for clothing and other softlines: Amazon's video troubleshooting notes say the video is hidden on desktop when the listing has six or more images.

Can you use AI images on Amazon?

Yes, within Amazon's rules. Its product image guide does not ban images made or edited with AI. What it requires is that every image accurately represents the product you sell and matches the title, and that the main image is a realistic, professional-quality image with the product's real scale, quantity and color.

There is one rule written specifically for AI. If an image or video contains photorealistic people who were entirely generated by AI, you must tag the file before uploading it. Amazon says some jurisdictions may require the disclosure, and that it will add a notice for shoppers where applicable.

How to add the tag. The keyword is contains-synthetic-performer, and it goes in the XMP dc:subject field. Amazon's help page gives three ways to add it:

• Windows: right-click the file, choose Properties, open the Details tab and type the keyword into the Tags field. Leave the Subject field alone, because it writes to a different place.
• Mac: open the file in Preview, press Cmd+I, open the Keywords tab, click the plus button and type the keyword.
• Command line: with exiftool, run exiftool -XMP-dc:Subject+=contains-synthetic-performer image.jpg. Running it twice writes the keyword twice, which does not break anything but bloats the file.

Tag the final file after your last edit, since re-saving in some editors can drop metadata. Do not add the tag when the image only shows real people, even if they were altered with AI tools, when it shows no people, or when the people are not photorealistic.

Where AI edits cross Amazon's lines:

• Changing the product itself, such as its color, print, shape or texture, so the image no longer matches what ships.
• Blowing up a small, soft image to pass the size rules. Amazon says not to artificially enlarge small images, so start from the largest, sharpest original you have and check any upscaled file at full size.
• A generated model who is sitting or leaning in the main image for adult clothing, or any AI-added props in the main image that are not included in the sale.

Ways to get Amazon listing photos, compared

There are three routes: make the images yourself with AI, book a studio, or shoot at home. The studios below appear in Google's top results for Amazon product photography.

Entry prices on each vendor's official site, in US dollars. soona's studio fee is waived with a membership (from $13 a month, billed annually); models and styling cost extra. Confirm before you buy. For a wider look at budgets, see our product photography cost guide.

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How to shoot Amazon product photos yourself

For simple products, a home setup works. Amazon's own seller blog lists a camera or smartphone, a tripod (it notes many start at around $25), a white background, white bounce cards and a light tent or lightbox. Then:

1. Build a white sweep. Clip a flexible white sheet to a table and tape the other end to the wall, so the background curves with no visible corner. Large items need a stand-mounted sweep or wide craft paper.
2. Light it evenly. Use soft window light or softboxes on both sides, and bounce cards to fill shadows.
3. Lock the camera. A tripod keeps every angle sharp and consistent from shot to shot.
4. Shoot big. Aim for 2,000 pixels or more on the longest side, so you can crop the product to 85% and still stay above the 1,000-pixel zoom threshold.
5. Make the white exact. Check the background with an eyedropper tool. If it reads below 255, 255, 255, set it in editing or cut the product out with a background remover that exports on pure white.
6. Export correctly. JPEG at the highest quality, RGB rather than CMYK, layers flattened, and no PSD files.
7. Name files for bulk upload (optional). Use the ASIN or barcode, the variant code and the extension, such as B000123456.MAIN.jpg and B000123456.PT01.jpg, separated by periods with no spaces or dashes, and Amazon assigns each image automatically. With any other file name, you assign the images after upload.

For the other slots, the wider craft of lighting, styling and lifestyle scenes is in our ecommerce product photography guide.

Amazon image checklist before you upload

• Main image: pure white (255, 255, 255), product at 85% of the frame, one view, one unit, nothing cut off, no text, logos or watermarks.
• Size: 1,000 pixels or more on the longest side, so zoom works.
• Category rules: adult clothing on a standing model, children's form-fitting items flat, a single shoe facing left at 45 degrees, no mannequins.
• Every image: matches the title and the real product, with no reviews, star imagery, claims such as free shipping, or Amazon logos and badges.
• AI people: any photorealistic AI-generated person tagged with contains-synthetic-performer in the final file.
• After upload: allow up to 24 hours, then check the product page to see which images Amazon is showing.

How we checked

We read Amazon's Seller Central help pages for the US store: the Product image guide, Technical image file requirements, Image guidelines for clothing, Product page style guides and the Quick Start Style Guide they link to, Upload images, How to tag media that contains an AI-generated person, and the Shoppable video guide. Rules differ by marketplace and category, so check your category's style guide in Seller Central as well. Studio prices come from each vendor's own pricing or Amazon page, in US dollars, and we saved screenshots of them. CamClo AI's tools, output options, credit costs and plan price were checked against the product's current settings. We did not test output quality, so there are no scores on this page.

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