Amazon Product Photo Requirements: Size, White Background and Rules

Amazon's product photo requirements come in two layers. Technical specs decide whether a file uploads at all, and content rules decide whether the main image keeps a listing in search. The main image is the strict one: the product alone, on pure white, filling most of the frame. Below are Amazon's specs, the main-image rules, the rules for every other image, how to check a white background, what Amazon says about AI images, and a shot list for a product photoshoot.

Amazon product photo requirements at a glance

As of September 2026, Amazon's Seller Central image guide sets these specs:

Files that fail the technical specs can't be uploaded. Images that fail the content rules can be removed, and a product without a compliant main image may be removed from search until it gets one.

Main image rules

The main image, variant code MAIN, is the first photo on the detail page and the one shoppers see in search results. Amazon's rules for it:

• The real product, accurately. It must look like a realistic, professional photo and show the product's true scale, quantity and color.
• No placeholders, even temporary ones. The first image you upload sets the product's identity, so a placeholder can block the real photo later.
• 85% of the frame, all of it visible. Crop close with a slim white border, and don't crop off any part of it.
• Shown once. The front only, not the front and the back side by side.
• One unit. Include only the accessories that come in the box.
• Pure white background. RGB 255, 255, 255. A small set of product types may use a lifestyle main image, without text or added logos.
• No packaging. Unless it's part of what the buyer gets, like a carrying case or a gift basket.
• No props or mannequins. No extra objects that could confuse buyers, and no part of a mannequin of any kind, including a clear one or a hanger frame.
• Category poses. Footwear as one shoe, pointing left and turned 45 degrees; clothing accessories and multipacks laid flat without a model; adult clothing on a model who is standing.

Rules for all Amazon listing photos

Every image on an Amazon listing, not only the main one, has to accurately represent the product and match its title. On top of that:

• No sexually suggestive images, whether of models or drawings.
• Form-fitting children's and baby items, such as undergarments, leotards and swimwear, have to be shot lying flat with no model.
• No customer review images, star graphics, claims such as "free shipping", or seller-specific information.
• No text or prices on swatch images.
• No Amazon logos or trademarks, and no badges or look-alikes such as "Amazon's Choice", "Best seller" or "Top seller".

Each extra photo gets a variant code, which is also how bulk uploads name files:

On a listing that several sellers share, Amazon chooses which submitted images to show, so uploading one doesn't guarantee it appears.

Amazon product photo size and file setup

Amazon's product photo size limit runs from 500 to 10,000 pixels along the longest side, and 1,000 pixels turns on zoom. A square image of 1,000 x 1,000 px or more covers zoom, and a bigger one gives the zoom more to show, up to the cap. Amazon asks sellers not to artificially enlarge small images, so shoot or export at full size instead.

The file itself matters as much as its size. Amazon's technical requirements ask for:

• RGB color. CMYK can show color shifts on screen, and Amazon advises against depending on ICC profiles to get colors right.
• Little or no compression. Save JPEGs at the highest quality, and avoid re-saving a JPEG several times while editing, since each save loses quality.
• Flat files. Remove all layers before you submit, and don't compress TIFFs.
• Clean names for bulk uploads. The three parts (identifier, variant code, extension) are separated by periods only. Spaces or dashes stop the upload.

How to check for a pure white background

A background that looks white on screen can still measure below 255, 255, 255. Checking takes a minute in a photo editor with a color picker:

1. Open the main image and pick the eyedropper or color picker tool.
2. Sample the background in the four corners, next to the product's shadow and along each edge.
3. Read the RGB values. Anything below 255 in any channel isn't pure white.
4. If a spot fails, fill the background with exactly 255, 255, 255, which is the hex code #FFFFFF.

Any editor with a fill or background tool that takes an exact color code can do the fill. AI scene tools don't let you set an exact color. Toybox AI's Product Mockup has a "Studio" scene with a clean white backdrop, and Background Swapper has a "Studio" preset with a clean studio backdrop. Neither color is fixed, so those images belong in the additional slots, not in MAIN. White backgrounds get their own walkthrough in white background product photos.

Amazon AI product photos: what's allowed

Amazon's image rules are about what a photo shows, not how it was made, with one exception. If an image contains photorealistic people generated entirely by AI, you must put the keyword contains-synthetic-performer in the file's dc:subject (XMP) field with an IPTC-compatible metadata editor before uploading, and Amazon adds a disclosure where it applies. Skip the tag when the image shows only real people (even ones altered with AI tools), no people, people who aren't photorealistic, or characters from films or games.

Amazon also builds its own AI tools for sellers, as of September 2026:

• Enhance My Listing uses generative AI to write product titles and fill in attributes.
• A+ Content Generator fills text and image fields in A+ Content modules marked "AI Ready", from your brand-owned ASIN.
• Image generator in Creative Studio (Amazon Ads) makes lifestyle images for ads from a product ASIN, in the US and 14 other countries.
• AI Video Ad Creator and Creative Agent make video ads and full ad concepts.

A practical split follows from the rules: keep MAIN a real photo on measured white, and use AI for lifestyle and in-use images in the PT slots. If an AI scene puts your product on an invented person, that image needs the synthetic-performer tag. Product shots with models are covered in AI product photos with models.

Amazon product photoshoot: a shot list

Plan an Amazon product photoshoot around the image slots you'll fill. For a product with six additional images and a video, a shot list could look like this:

For a DIY setup, Amazon's own photo tips suggest setting the backdrop close to a window, taping white craft paper to the wall so it curves down under the product as a sweep, and propping up sheets of white foam board as bounce cards to lift the shadows. On a phone, they suggest a camera of 12 megapixels or more, the rear lens rather than the selfie one, and locking focus, exposure and white balance before you shoot. A white sweep can still photograph a shade below 255, so measure it with a color picker and fill it as described above. To hire out, Amazon's Service Provider Network lists imaging among its categories, and Amazon says its providers are vetted and trained on its guidelines and policies.

Make secondary images in Product Mockup

Product Mockup builds a new scene around your real product photo, which suits the PT slots: an in-use shot, a flat lay, a store shelf.

1. Upload your MAIN photo, the one on white, as the "Product photo" (JPG or PNG, 10 MB limit).
2. Pick a "Scene" that matches the shot list, such as In hand ("Held up close") for PT03 or Outdoors ("Natural light") for PT04.
3. Open "More options" and choose Square (1:1) under "Size" so the set matches, and write a staging note in "Anything else?".
4. Tap "Create mockup"; the page says a result usually takes about 30 seconds.
5. Compare the result with the real product: color, proportions and every word on the label. Product Mockup aims to keep them, but small text can change.
6. Download the PNG, check that the long side is at least 1,000 px, and save a high-quality JPEG copy for upload.

Staging notes for an in-use shot, written for "Anything else?":

Show the water bottle on a wooden trail bench with a folded map and a pair of sunglasses beside it, bright morning sun from behind, shallow depth of field, the logo on the bottle facing the camera.

To give existing photos a similar backdrop, Background Swapper swaps what's behind the product and leaves the product in place, and its "Use my picture" mode works from a backdrop photo you supply. Current prices: 75 credits per Product Mockup image and 80 per Background Swapper photo. Neither sets a measured pure white. An "On a model" scene can add an AI-made person, and any photorealistic one needs the synthetic-performer tag before upload.

Common Amazon product photo mistakes

The same master photo can serve other stores: Shopify's preferred square is 2048 x 2048 px, and its rules are in Shopify product photo sizes.