Etsy listing photo sizes and specs in 2026, and what to show in each slot

Etsy gives every listing ten photo slots and one video. Most shops fill three. The ones that fill ten sell more, partly because buyers see more, and partly because Etsy's search treats a complete listing as a better one. Here are the specs to get right and a plan for what goes in each slot.

Photo size

• At least 2000 pixels on the shortest side. This is Etsy's own recommendation. It is what makes the zoom-on-hover work on desktop and keeps the image sharp on a phone.
• Aim for 3000 pixels if you can. Etsy scales down; it cannot scale up. Bigger source, better crop.
• 72 PPI is fine. Pixel dimensions are what matter on screen; print resolution does not.

Ratio and the thumbnail crop

Etsy crops your first photo for search results, and the crop is not the same everywhere. Desktop search shows a square. The app and some home-page modules show a taller 4:5 frame, and a few show landscape. Etsy's help page still names 4:3 landscape as the recommended shape.

The practical answer: shoot the first photo with the product centered and room on every side, so any crop still holds it. A square source, 2000 × 2000 or larger, survives every crop Etsy applies. Do not put the product at the edge of the frame, and do not put text in the first photo where a crop will cut it.

Photos two to ten are shown at the ratio you upload, so those can be 4:5, 3:4 or 4:3 as the shot needs.

Files

• JPEG or PNG. GIF is accepted too. JPEG at high quality is the sensible default; PNG only if you need transparency, which listing photos never do.
• sRGB color. Anything else shifts color in the browser.
• Keep files reasonable. A 3000-pixel JPEG at high quality lands around 2 to 4 MB, well inside Etsy's per-file cap.

Video

• One video per listing, 5 to 15 seconds.
• MP4 or MOV, at least 1080 pixels, under 100 MB.
• Square or 4:5 plays best on listing pages; vertical 9:16 gets letterboxed on desktop.
• No sound is played by default. Make the clip work silent: one motion, one thing to see, no talking head.

What to show in each slot

Etsy's own guidance for a complete listing, restated as a plan:

Slot	What to show
1	The hero. Product on a clean, simple background, filling most of the frame, nothing else. This is the thumbnail.
2	In its setting. The product where a buyer would put it: on a desk, a shelf, a table, in daylight.
3	Scale. Next to a hand, a mug, a book, so the size is obvious without reading dimensions.
4	Detail. Texture, finish, stitching, the joint that shows it is made well.
5	Another angle. Back, side, underside, whatever slot 1 hid.
6	Variations. Every color or size together in one frame.
7	In use. Someone holding it, wearing it, pouring from it.
8	Packaging. What arrives at the door, especially if it is a gift.
9	Process or maker. Your hands, your bench, the material before it became the thing.
10	Size guide or care card. Measurements as a simple graphic, or how to look after it.

You do not have to follow the order exactly. The pattern is what matters: clean first, then context, then proof.

Filling ten slots from one photo

The hard part of the plan above is that slots 2, 3, 5 and 7 usually need a photoshoot. They do not have to.

Give the agent the clean shot and ask for the scenes. For a desk lamp, the request was two settings:

Two scene shots, 3:4: a desk at night with the lamp on, warm; a bedside table in the morning, lamp off, window light.

That is slot 2 and slot 5 in one request, with a book and a glass of water doing the scale work of slot 3. For a bag of dog treats, the in-use shot was a hand and a waiting dog:

The product in each frame is the one from the source photo, label included, which is the thing a stock scene never gives you. Ask for the output at 3000 pixels and the crop rules above take care of themselves.

Specs move. Before a big relisting, check Etsy's Help Center article on listing photo requirements for the current numbers.