Etsy photo size explained: 2000 px listing photos, the 635 px first-photo floor, banner and logo dimensions, file types, the unedited-photo rule and fixes.
The right Etsy photo size is 2000 pixels or more on both width and height for listing images, with a hard-earned exception: your first photo must reach at least 635 pixels on each side or the listing may sit lower in search. Those two numbers come straight from Etsy's Help Center, and they are the backbone of everything else in this guide. Below you'll find the full set of dimensions for listings, banners, logos and profile photos, the file and color rules that quietly ruin uploads, how the thumbnail crop works, Etsy's rule on unedited and AI-edited photos, and a practical workflow for producing images that clear every line.
Every figure here was checked against Etsy's own help pages. Where the only source for a number was a page we could not open and read, we left that number out rather than guess.
Etsy photo size at a glance
Etsy's image help states that listing photos should have a width and height of at least 2000 pixels, and that the first listing photo should be at least 635 pixels in both directions to avoid showing up lower in searches (Etsy Help). The same page lists the shop-home images:
| Where it appears | Etsy's suggested size | Floor Etsy sets |
|---|---|---|
| Every listing photo | 2000 px wide and tall, or more | none published |
| Lead (first) listing photo | 2000 px wide and tall, or more | 635 px each side |
| Large banner on shop home | 1600 wide by 400 tall | 1200 wide by 300 tall |
| Slim (mini) banner | 1600 wide by 213 tall | 1200 wide by 160 tall |
| Rotating carousel banner, Etsy Plus | 1200 wide by 300 tall | none published |
| Collage banner, Etsy Plus | none published | 600×300 for two images, 400×300 for three, 300×300 for four |
| Logo for the shop | 500 px square | none published |
| Owner profile picture | none published | 400 px square, file under 10 MB |
| Banner on order receipts | none published | 760 wide by 100 tall |
The banner, logo, receipt and collage numbers are all from Etsy's image requirements page (Etsy Help); the profile photo limits are from Etsy's profile help (Etsy Help). A dash means Etsy publishes no figure for that cell.
Notice the pattern: only listing images need to be large. Everything on the shop home is smaller and shape-locked — square for the logo and profile picture, a wide strip for banners.
Listing photos: why 2000 pixels, and why bigger is fine
The two listing numbers do separate jobs. The 635-pixel floor on the first photo is about search placement. The 2000-pixel recommendation is about how good your item looks once a shopper opens the listing and zooms in.
If you upload something narrower, Etsy's listing tool shows a warning. Its help on creating listings says the message is only a suggestion and you can still publish, while also recommending at least 2000 pixels of width (Etsy Help). That same article confirms each listing can hold up to 20 photos and 2 videos of 5 to 15 seconds.
Why go past 2000 rather than land exactly on it? Two reasons Etsy itself gives. First, uploaded images are compressed to keep the site fast, so they can look a little less sharp than the file you sent (Etsy Help). Second, the thumbnail is a crop of your first photo, which throws away part of the frame. Starting with extra pixels leaves room for both.
What doesn't work is enlarging a small file. Etsy notes that shrinking an image keeps its resolution, but increasing its size can lose resolution and cause pixelation (Etsy Help). If your camera produced a 1200-pixel file, re-shoot rather than stretch it.
Zoom matters more than most sellers assume. Baymard Institute's usability research found that 56% of users began by exploring product images as their first action on a product page (Baymard Institute). On a marketplace full of handmade goods, where texture and finish are the selling point, a soft image is a lost sale.
Quick check: open the file's details on your phone or computer and look at the pixel dimensions, not the megabytes. Both width and height should reach 2000.
The thumbnail crop
Etsy gives you no fixed thumbnail dimension to aim at. Etsy's photo-editing help describes the thumbnail as a cropped version of your primary listing photo that can appear in different places on the site (Etsy Help). The image requirements page adds that thumbnails need enough border to be cropped to square, portrait and landscape shapes without losing any of the product (Etsy Help). Etsy does not publish pixel sizes or ratios for those three shapes.
So the rule is compositional rather than numerical:
- Step back further than feels natural when you shoot.
- Keep the product centered.
- Leave a margin on every side so each crop keeps the whole item.
- Make the first photo horizontal (landscape) or square, as Etsy's orientation guidance advises (Etsy Help).
Etsy also suggests using the same shape for every listing photo, because a consistent gallery reads as more cohesive.
Adjusting the thumbnail in Shop Manager
Etsy's help walks through the tool (Etsy Help):
- In Shop Manager, open Listings and edit an existing listing or start a new one.
- Choose Adjust Thumbnail.
- Slide the circular control to zoom in or out.
- Position the image so the product reads clearly, then save.
If you plan to crop the photo itself, do that before adjusting the thumbnail, since a crop changes what the thumbnail tool has to work with.
Why your first photo deserves extra effort
The first photo becomes the thumbnail, carries the 635-pixel floor, and sets the tone for the rest of the gallery. Etsy is explicit that quality affects placement: a main image that is too dark, blurry or part of a photo collage may cause the listing to appear lower in search results (Etsy Help).
A good first photo for Etsy usually has:
- The whole item, centered, with breathing room.
- Bright, even light and true color.
- A simple background that doesn't compete with the product.
- No collage, no text overlays, no busy props.
Treat it as the photo that wins the click in a grid of similar items. The others close the sale.
Etsy's unedited-photo rule and AI editing
This is the rule that matters most if you use editing tools. Etsy's image requirements say a listing must include at least one unedited photo of the actual item against a real background — a photo that hasn't been edited or changed in any way (Etsy Help). A separate Etsy article phrases it as requiring at least one unedited photo for most items, and allows editing tools, including AI, for the other images as long as they accurately represent what buyers will receive (Etsy Help).
The limits on editing are clear. Etsy says you can adjust lighting or color, crop, resize or change backgrounds, but you can't use editing to hide flaws, conceal damage or make an item look different from what the buyer will get. If you use AI to edit any listing photo, Etsy asks you to note that in the listing description (Etsy Help).
There are category exceptions. For print-on-demand items made on a standard base product such as a T-shirt or mug, Etsy allows a stock mockup when the stock photo's owner has authorized its use (Etsy Help).
In practice, a compliant gallery looks like this:
- One real, untouched photo of the item on a real surface.
- A clean, edited hero image on a plain background.
- Lifestyle or in-use scenes, edited or generated, that still show the true product.
- Detail and scale shots.
- A note in the description if AI editing was used.
Put the real photo somewhere in the set — it doesn't have to be first, but it has to be there.
Banners, logo and profile photo
Shop banners
Etsy offers a big banner and a mini banner on every shop. The big banner's minimum is 1200 × 300 pixels with 1600 × 400 recommended; the mini banner's minimum is 1200 × 160 with 1600 × 213 recommended (Etsy Help). Both share a wide strip shape, so design at that ratio and export at the recommended size or larger.
Etsy's appearance help says the shop banner shows on the standard website and on mobile devices (Etsy Help). On a phone the banner is shrunk, so any text should be large and kept toward the center. Sellers on Etsy Plus also get a carousel (1200 × 300 recommended) and a collage banner, whose minimum depends on how many images it holds.
Logo
The recommended logo size is 500 × 500 pixels (Etsy Help). Keep it simple: Etsy's appearance guidance advises avoiding long words and busy backgrounds, and says that not having a logo may impact your visibility in Etsy search (Etsy Help). If you don't have one yet, a plain wordmark on a solid color is better than nothing.
Profile photo
Etsy's profile help requires an image of at least 400 × 400 pixels, smaller than 10 MB, and square from the start — otherwise it will be distorted on the site (Etsy Help). A tight crop of your face or a brand mark both work.
Order receipt banner
The receipt banner needs at least 760 × 100 pixels (Etsy Help). It's a small touch, but buyers see it on every order.
File types, file weight and color
Formats. Etsy supports .jpg, .gif, .png, .svg and .heic, and says these are the only image types it accepts (Etsy Help). Convert WebP, TIFF or AVIF files before uploading. JPG is the safest choice for photographs.
Transparency. This is the classic trap. Etsy states that transparent parts of an image appear black (Etsy Help). A cut-out product saved as a transparent PNG will show up on a black block. Flatten it onto white or another solid color and save as JPG. If you use transparent PNGs for other channels, our guide to transparent product PNGs for e-commerce explains where they help and where they don't.
File weight. Etsy's image page warns that files larger than 1 MB may not finish uploading on slower connections (Etsy Help), and its listing help says files bigger than 300 KB may time out on a slow connection (Etsy Help). The fix is to lower JPEG quality slightly rather than shrinking pixels below 2000. A free product image compressor can do this in the browser without a login or watermark.
Color. Etsy converts images to the sRGB color profile and notes that CMYK is for print only; if colors look wrong on the site, convert to sRGB before uploading (Etsy Help).
Rotation. Etsy auto-rotates photos using orientation data saved by your camera. If an image still lands sideways, rotate it in an editor or retake it holding the camera in the same orientation as the subject (Etsy Help).
Square photos in your Shop Home
Etsy has also announced that listing images on Shop Home are displayed as squares, saying it has seen buyers are more likely to purchase when a shop displays square photos. The same announcement recommends 2000 pixels on the shortest side at 72 PPI and keeping files under 1 MB (Etsy Community announcement). It's a community post rather than a formal help article, but it agrees with the help center's numbers and supports the case for composing every photo so a centered square crop still works.
Selling the same product on Amazon too
If you list on more than one marketplace, the same photo may need different treatment. Etsy's rules focus on size, file type, crop and authenticity; they don't demand a particular background. Amazon is stricter on the main image: its seller blog says images must be 500 to 10,000 pixels on the longest side, prefers more than 1,000 pixels per side for zoom, and asks for the product to fill 85% or more of the frame (Amazon Sell blog).
One file that serves both well: a square JPG of at least 2000 × 2000 pixels, product centered on a solid white background, in sRGB, under 1 MB. It clears Etsy's recommendations and is a sound starting point for Amazon's main image.
A practical workflow for Etsy-ready photos
1. Shoot the real photo first
Photograph the actual item on a real surface in soft window light or diffused lamp light. Keep it centered with a margin. This shot stays unedited — it's your authenticity photo. For lighting setups, see our product photography lighting guide.
2. Make the clean hero image
From a copy of that photo, remove the background and place the product on solid white or a soft neutral. ProductShot's AI white background generator does this from one upload, and Product Lock keeps the product's shape, color, logo and label as they are. Check any printed text on the product before you publish, since accuracy is your responsibility on Etsy.
3. Add context shots
Etsy buyers want to picture the item in their life. The AI lifestyle product photo generator places the same product into a scene — a styled shelf, a kitchen counter, a desk. Because Etsy requires edited images to represent the item accurately, review each one for color and scale before using it, and mention the AI editing in your description.
4. Size, flatten and compress
Export each image at 2000 pixels or more on the shortest side, flatten any transparency, convert to sRGB, and compress to stay under 1 MB.
5. Preview the thumbnail
Upload, open Adjust Thumbnail and confirm the product stays whole when cropped.
ProductShot gives 10 free credits on sign-up with no card required, and each generated image uses 10 credits, so one hero image is free to try. The browser-based compressor, enhancer and background removal tools use no credits.
Worked example: a hand-poured candle
Suppose you sell a soy candle in an amber jar.
- Photo 1 (first, landscape): the candle centered on a light wooden table, lit, with soft side light. 3000 × 2000 px, sRGB JPG, compressed to about 700 KB. Unedited — this doubles as your required real photo.
- Photo 2: the same candle on pure white, 2000 × 2000, for a clean product view.
- Photo 3: a lifestyle scene by a bathtub or bookshelf, with "photos edited with AI" noted in the description.
- Photo 4: a close-up of the label and wick.
- Photo 5: the candle held in a hand, for scale.
- Photo 6: the gift packaging, if it ships that way.
Every image is at least 2000 pixels on its shortest side, under 1 MB, and in a single consistent shape for the gallery.
Gallery plans by product type
Etsy allows up to 20 photos per listing, but most products sell well with six to ten if each one answers a buyer question. A few starting templates:
Jewelry. Lead with the piece on a neutral surface, then add a worn shot for scale, a macro of the clasp or setting, the back or underside, and the packaging. Small items suffer most from soft focus, so shoot well above 2000 pixels and crop rather than zoom digitally.
Clothing and textiles. Lead with the garment flat or on a person in even light, then show the back, a fabric close-up, the label or care tag, and a size reference. Keep color true; textile returns often come down to "it looked different in the photo."
Home decor and ceramics. Lead with the piece in a simple room setting, then add a white-background view, a glaze or texture detail, the base, and a hand or familiar object for scale.
Digital downloads and printables. The unedited-photo rule has category exceptions, so check Etsy's article on how the image requirements apply to your item type. Show the file in a mockup the buyer can relate to, plus a clear preview of what's included.
Personalized items. Show a real finished example, then a clean version with sample text, then a close-up of the engraving or print quality. Make it obvious that the personalization in the photo is an example.
Whatever the category, put the unedited real photo somewhere in the set, keep every image at the same shape, and make sure each one is sharp at 2000 pixels.
Pre-publish checklist
- First photo at least 635 px on each side, landscape or square, product centered with margin.
- All listing photos 2000 px or more on both sides, exported from originals, never upscaled.
- At least one unedited photo of the real item on a real background.
- Edited or AI images show the true color, size and condition; AI editing noted in the description.
- No transparency anywhere; JPG preferred.
- sRGB color profile.
- Files under 1 MB.
- Thumbnail previewed in Adjust Thumbnail.
- Banner text large and central; logo simple and readable small.
Common Etsy photo problems and fixes
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| "Listings look best…" warning | Image under 2000 px wide | Re-export larger from the original; it's only a suggestion, but worth fixing |
| Product on a black box | Transparent PNG | Flatten onto a solid background |
| Upload stalls | File over 1 MB on a slow connection | Lower JPEG quality slightly |
| Colors look off | Non-sRGB profile | Convert to sRGB |
| Image sideways | Camera orientation data | Rotate in an editor |
| Product cut off in thumbnail | Not enough margin | Re-shoot further back, center it |
| Listing sinking in search | Dark, blurry or collage first photo | Replace with a bright, single-subject image |
FAQ
How many pixels should an Etsy listing image be?
At least 2000 on both width and height. The first photo must reach 635 × 635 at minimum to avoid lower search placement. Smaller images still publish, but quality suffers.
Does Etsy publish a thumbnail dimension?
No. The thumbnail is a crop of your first photo, shown in square, portrait and landscape shapes, and Etsy gives no pixel size or ratio for them. Center the product and leave a margin.
What dimensions work for an Etsy shop banner?
For the big banner, 1600 × 400 is recommended and 1200 × 300 is the minimum. The mini banner's recommendation is 1600 × 213, with a 1200 × 160 minimum.
Is AI-edited imagery allowed on Etsy?
Yes for most images, provided they accurately show what buyers will receive. Each listing still needs at least one unedited photo of the real item on a real background for most item types, and Etsy asks you to note AI editing in the description.
Why does my cut-out product show on black?
Etsy displays transparent areas as black. Save the image on a solid background as a JPG.
Which file format should I upload?
JPG for photographs. Etsy also accepts GIF, PNG, SVG and HEIC, but nothing else.
How big should the shop logo and owner picture be?
500 × 500 pixels for the logo; at least 400 × 400, square and under 10 MB for the profile picture.
Sources
- Etsy Help, Requirements and Best Practices for Images in Your Etsy Shop: https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015663347-Requirements-and-Best-Practices-for-Images-in-Your-Etsy-Shop
- Etsy Help, How to Create a Listing: https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015628707-How-to-Create-a-Listing
- Etsy Help, How Do Etsy's Listing Image Requirements Apply to My Listings?: https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/44297885802647-How-Do-Etsy-s-Listing-Image-Requirements-Apply-to-My-Listings
- Etsy Help, How to Edit Your Listing Photos: https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360016260113-How-to-Edit-Your-Listing-Photos
- Etsy Help, Your Bio and Profile Picture: https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015651948-Your-Bio-and-Profile-Picture
- Etsy Help, How to Customize Your Shop's Appearance: https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015663247-How-to-Customize-Your-Shop-s-Appearance
- Etsy Community, size and ratio update for listing images: https://community.etsy.com/forum/announcements-290/topic/were-making-updates-to-size-and-ratio-for-listing-images-22422/
- Baymard Institute, image resolution and zoom: https://baymard.com/research-articles/ensure-sufficient-image-resolution-and-zoom
- Amazon Sell blog, product photos: https://sell.amazon.com/blog/product-photos
