Every major channel sets its hard floor at about 500 px: Amazon blocks uploads under 500 px on the longest side, eBay and Google want at least 500 × 500 px, and Google starts enforcing that minimum on January 31, 2027. What each channel recommends is far higher: 1,000 px+ for Amazon zoom, 1,500 px+ for Google, about 1,600 px for eBay, 2,000 px+ for Etsy and 2,048 px for Shopify. The simple way to meet all of them is to shoot one 4,000 × 4,000 px master and make a separate version for each channel from it.
Last checked: October 2026 (Amazon: September 2026). Recheck twice a year.
Below: the one table, which numbers are rules and which are advice, then the "one master, many channel versions" method.
Rules versus recommendations
Product image size requirements come in two kinds, and most guides mix them up.
A hard rule is something the channel enforces. Break it and the upload fails, the image is disapproved or the listing is suppressed. Amazon's 500 px floor is a hard rule: smaller files won't upload.
A recommendation is the channel telling you what looks good or ranks well. Break it and nothing stops you, but the image may show without zoom, sit lower in search or look soft on a large screen. eBay's 1,600 × 1,600 px is a recommendation.
The difference matters when you plan a studio. You shoot to the recommendations, because that is where the images look right. You check against the hard rules, because that is where uploads fail. Neither one guarantees a channel will approve a given image: each platform reviews content on its own terms.
The 2026 cross-channel table
Each row was checked on the channel's own help page on the date shown. Amazon's product image guide sits behind a Seller Central sign-in, so its row reflects the guide as read on September 29, 2026.
| Channel | Hard rule | Recommended | File format / size limit | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 500 px minimum on the longest side (smaller files are blocked); 10,000 px maximum. Main image: pure white 255, 255, 255, product filling 85% | 1,000 px+ on the longest side (turns on zoom) | JPEG (preferred), TIFF, PNG, non-animated GIF; RGB; flattened | Sep 29, 2026 |
| Google Merchant Center | 500 × 500 px minimum; warnings since Apr 14, 2026, enforced from Jan 31, 2027. No watermarks, logos, borders or promotional overlays | About 1,500 × 1,500 px or above; product fills 75–90% of the image | JPEG or WebP recommended; also PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF. Max 16 MB and 64 MP | Oct 10, 2026 |
| eBay | 500 × 500 px minimum; at least 1 photo, up to 24 | About 1,600 × 1,600 px; 1:1 or 16:9; white background; no badges, logos or watermarks | JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, WebP, HEIC, AVIF. Max 12 MB | Oct 10, 2026 |
| Etsy | File types only: .jpg, .gif, .png, .svg, .heic. No animated GIFs or transparent PNGs | 2,000 px+ width and height; first photo 635 px+ on each side or it may show lower in search; first photo landscape or square | Files over 1 MB "may not finish uploading" (a warning, not a stated cap) | Oct 10, 2026 |
| Shopify | Admin upload: up to 5,000 × 5,000 px or 25 MP, under 20 MB. API upload: up to 4,472 × 4,472 px (20 MP), 20 MB | 2,048 × 2,048 px for square images; exact display sizes depend on your theme | PNG or JPEG preferred; also TIFF, BMP, GIF, SVG, HEIC, WebP. API: PNG, GIF, JPEG, WebP, HEIC | Oct 10, 2026 |
The floors cluster at 500 px, but no channel wants you near them. Only Amazon and Google set a fill ratio, and the two overlap at 85%.
Where the channels contradict each other
Etsy's size versus Etsy's file size. A 2,000 × 2,000 px JPEG saved at high quality is usually well over a megabyte. To meet both, make an Etsy-only version at a lower JPEG quality. Around 75–80 is a sensible starting point; check the file size after export and adjust per product. Amazon asks for the opposite: the highest JPEG quality you can give it.
Etsy's shape advice. The same Etsy article says the first photo should be landscape or square, and later says to avoid square crops. Square is allowed for the first photo. Whatever shape you choose, leave enough margin around the product that Etsy can crop thumbnails to square, portrait and landscape without cutting it off.
Shopify's two ceilings. The Shopify admin accepts 25 MP. Shopify's API, which apps and automated pipelines use, accepts 20 MP. A file that uploads by hand can fail the moment you automate. Keep everything for Shopify under 20 MP and the gap never matters.
Transparent backgrounds. Background-removal tools often return transparent PNGs. Etsy shows transparent areas as black, and Amazon's main image wants pure white, not transparency. Flatten cutouts onto white before they go anywhere but your own site.
Upscaling. Amazon and Google both tell you not to enlarge small images to clear a minimum. Google now optimizes some images under 500 × 500 px on its side, but flags them in Merchant Center for you to replace. The fix is a larger original, not a stretched one.
See the full spec in one place. The free sample of The Product Photography Machine includes the Introduction, Chapter 1 ("What 'Done' Means," which builds this table into a house spec) and the File naming worksheet. Get it at productphotomachine.com/free-sample.
One master, many channel versions
Five channels do not need five shoots. They need one master file that clears the strictest rule on every line, and one version per channel made from it. We call that master the house spec.
Go down the table one line at a time and take the toughest requirement:
| Line | Strictest rule | House spec |
|---|---|---|
| Size | Etsy wants 2,000 px each side; Shopify's API caps at 20 MP | 4,000 × 4,000 px (16 MP) |
| Shape | eBay prefers 1:1; Etsy allows square for the first photo | Square canvas |
| Background | Amazon's pure white, 255, 255, 255 | Pure white, flattened, no transparency |
| Fill | Amazon's 85%, inside Google's 75–90% | Product at 85% of the frame |
| Color | Amazon: don't rely on color profiles | Converted to sRGB |
| Format | Amazon: no layers, no re-saved JPEGs | Flattened 16-bit TIFF, uncompressed |
At 4,000 × 4,000 px the master is double what any channel recommends and still under every ceiling, including Shopify's API limit. Every channel version is a smaller copy of it:
| Channel version | Size | Export | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 2,000 px or larger | JPEG, highest quality | Bulk uploads named identifier.VARIANT.jpg, e.g. B000123456.MAIN.jpg |
| Google Merchant Center | 2,000 × 2,000 px | JPEG, high quality | Keep any AI-disclosure metadata |
| eBay | 1,600 × 1,600 px | JPEG, high quality | Under 12 MB |
| Etsy | 2,000 × 2,000 px | JPEG, quality around 75–80 | Under about 1 MB |
| Shopify | 2,048 × 2,048 px | JPEG, high quality | Check your theme's documentation; Shopify serves WebP and AVIF to shoppers for you |
Two rules keep the system clean. Always make a version from the master, never from another version, so JPEG damage never stacks. And when a channel changes its rules, you change one row and regenerate the versions; you never reshoot.
How to make the versions without exporting by hand
Getting the fill right starts before resizing. If the product's longest side should fill 85% of the canvas, the canvas side is the product's longest side ÷ 0.85. A 3,400 px tall product goes onto a 4,000 × 4,000 px canvas. Use your per-product-type margins rather than one number for everything.
Then pick the setup that matches your scale:
- Solo: one export preset per channel in your editing software, always run on the master. Spec only the channels you sell on today.
- Studio: one output recipe per channel so a single export writes every version to its own folder (Capture One can send several recipes to separate folders in one pass).
- Production: a watch folder. Drop an approved master in and a script checks its name and size, resizes it to each channel's target, encodes it at that channel's quality and names it the way the channel wants.
For a single version from the command line, libvips makes it a one-liner. This writes an Etsy version at quality 78:
vipsthumbnail KN-2041-OAT_1.tif --size 2000x2000 -o OUT/etsy/%s.jpg[Q=78]One caution: many resize tools strip metadata by default. Google requires AI-generated images to keep their IPTC disclosure tag, and Amazon asks for a keyword on images with AI-generated people. Run one known master through your pipeline and check the versions still carry the fields they should.
FAQ
What size should product images be? Shoot a master well above every channel's recommendation (we use 4,000 × 4,000 px), then export each channel's version: 2,000 px for Amazon, Google and Etsy, 1,600 px for eBay and 2,048 px for Shopify, as of October 2026.
Is 1,000 px enough for Amazon? It clears Amazon's 500 px minimum and turns on zoom, so it works. We export 2,000 px or larger so zoom shows real detail, and we never upscale to get there.
What size should eBay photos be? eBay requires at least 500 × 500 px and recommends about 1,600 × 1,600 px, in a 1:1 or 16:9 ratio, under 12 MB (checked October 10, 2026).
Why won't eBay accept my photos? The usual causes are a file under 500 × 500 px, a file over 12 MB or an unsupported format. eBay also says badges, logos, copyright notices and watermarks can hurt search placement.
How do I keep Etsy photos under 1 MB at 2,000 px? Make a dedicated Etsy version from the master: 2,000 × 2,000 px JPEG at a quality around 75–80, then check the file size. Don't use your Amazon file, which is saved at the highest quality.
JPEG, PNG or WebP for product photos? JPEG is accepted everywhere in the table and is Amazon's preferred format. Avoid transparent PNGs for Etsy and Amazon. On Shopify you can upload JPEG and let Shopify serve WebP or AVIF to shoppers.
Get the free sample. The Introduction, Chapter 1 and the File naming worksheet from The Product Photography Machine, free at productphotomachine.com/free-sample.
The full Book + Template Pack ($29.99) adds all 14 chapters plus the channel spec sheet with every row above, the resizing-to-export script and the rest of the templates.
Sources
Amazon's product image guide requires a Seller Central sign-in and could not be fetched publicly; its row reflects the guide as read on September 29, 2026. All other pages below were opened on October 10, 2026.
