Etsy Image Size: The Numbers That Decide If a Listing Uploads
Etsy has two limits that pull in opposite directions: big enough to zoom, small enough to upload. This checks both at once.
How to use it
- Drop your listing photos.
- The checker measures pixels against 2000×2000 and file size against 1 MB.
- Hit Fix on any photo that fails, then upload the corrected copy.
The two Etsy limits, and why most guides get one wrong
Etsy recommends listing photos at 2000 pixels wide and tall or larger, and separately states that the first photo should be at least 635 px so it is not pushed down in search. Those are the pixel rules, and they are the ones everyone quotes.
The second rule gets missed: Etsy says images larger than 1 MB may not finish uploading, especially on a slow connection. Not 10 MB — 1 MB. Plenty of guides repeat a 10 MB figure, but the seller help page is explicit about 1 MB, and a 2000×2000 photo straight off a DSLR is routinely 2–4 MB. That is the failure sellers hit: dimensions are perfect, upload silently stalls.
Format rules that quietly break listings
Etsy accepts .jpg, .gif, .png, .svg and .heic. Transparent PNGs are accepted but the transparent area renders as black on Etsy — so a cut-out product on a transparent background becomes a product on a black square. Flatten onto white instead.
Animated GIFs are discouraged for listings: they slow the page and the animation does not help a buyer decide. Etsy also converts everything to sRGB, so a photo exported in Adobe RGB will shift colour after upload.
How to hit both numbers at once
Resize first, compress second. If you compress a 4000 px original down to 1 MB and then resize to 2000 px, you have thrown away quality twice. Export at 2000×2000 as JPEG at quality 90, then check the file size — most product photos land between 300 and 700 KB, comfortably under the limit.
If a photo still exceeds 1 MB at 2000 px, it is probably very detailed (textiles, foliage, engraving). Drop quality to 82–85 before you drop dimensions, because losing pixels costs you the zoom feature, which is worth more than a little compression grain.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Etsy limit 1 MB or 10 MB?
Etsy’s own seller help page says images larger than 1 MB may not finish uploading, especially on slower connections, and recommends keeping listing photos under that. Many third-party guides cite 10 MB, but the seller documentation is the safer number to design for.
What is the minimum size for the first photo?
Etsy asks for at least 635 px on the first listing photo to avoid being ranked lower in search, and recommends 2000 px or larger for all listing photos so the zoom feature works.
Does Etsy crop my photos to a square?
Search thumbnails are cropped, and the crop is centred. A square 2000×2000 upload is the safest choice because it survives the thumbnail crop without losing the product. Leave a little margin around the item.
Can I upload a PNG with a transparent background?
You can, but Etsy renders the transparent area as black. If the product was shot or cut out on transparency, flatten it onto a white or neutral background before uploading.
How many photos can one listing have?
Etsy allows up to 20 photos per listing, plus one video of 5–15 seconds. Most sellers use three or four, which leaves the carousel answering none of a buyer’s questions — scale, detail, what arrives in the box.
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Last updated: 2026-10-31 · Works offline once the page has loaded