What are Adobe Stock's technical requirements for photos?
Adobe Stock asks for photos that are JPEG files with an sRGB colour profile, between 4 and 100 megapixels, at most 45 MB, and free of watermarks, timestamps and branding. Photos should also be sharp and well lit. These are the technical requirements on Adobe's contributor help page, last updated 11 June 2026.
Key points
- Five technical requirements: format and colour profile, resolution, file size, clean content, and quality.
- Three of them can be measured from the file itself: the JPEG format with an sRGB profile, the resolution, and the file size.
- Two cannot be settled from the file: watermarks and branding need someone to look, and sharp and well lit is a judgement.
- Adobe separates technical requirements from legal ones. Model releases, property releases and logos are a different list.
- Adobe does not say how it counts a megabyte or a megapixel, so files close to a limit are uncertain.
The requirements
Adobe's photo submission page lists these, and adds that larger files up to the maximum can offer more flexibility for customers.
| Requirement | What Adobe says | Can a file check verify it? |
|---|---|---|
| Image resolution | 4 MP to 100 MP (megapixels) | Yes, from the width and height in the file |
| File size | Maximum 45 MB | Yes, from the file size |
| Format | JPEG with sRGB colour profile | Yes: the file content, and the embedded profile |
| Content | Free of any watermarks, timestamps or branding | No. It needs a person to look. |
| Quality | Sharp focus and well lit | Not reliably. See the limits below. |
About sRGB: it was proposed by Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft in 1996 as a standard default colour space for the Internet, and it was later standardised as IEC 61966-2-1. It matters here because a JPEG can carry a different profile, such as Display P3 or Adobe RGB, or no profile at all, and Adobe asks for sRGB specifically.
What we tested
We ran Adobe Stock's technical rules against the test JPEGs we keep for this checker. Most of them are small, 320 × 240 pixel files. To test the colour rule without the size rule getting in the way, we edited the width and height fields in each file's header so that it reads 2400 × 1800 pixels (4.3 MP). Nothing else in the files was changed.
Colour profile and format
| Test file | Result | What the report said |
|---|---|---|
| JPEG with an embedded sRGB profile | Pass | An sRGB ICC profile is embedded. |
| JPEG with no profile | Could not verify | No ICC profile is embedded, so the colour space cannot be confirmed. Export with an embedded sRGB profile. |
| JPEG with no profile, EXIF says sRGB | Could not verify | The camera metadata declares sRGB, but Adobe asks for an sRGB colour profile, so embed one. |
| JPEG with a Display P3 profile | Fail | The embedded profile is not sRGB. Convert to sRGB before submitting. |
| JPEG with an Adobe RGB (1998) profile | Fail | The embedded profile is not sRGB. Convert to sRGB before submitting. |
| CMYK JPEG | Fail | This is a CMYK JPEG. Convert to sRGB before submitting. |
| P3 colours with a profile named sRGB | Fail | Not sRGB. The checker reads the colour primaries, not the name. |
| A PNG file named .jpg | Fail | The file content is PNG. Adobe Stock photos must be JPEG files. |
Resolution
| Test file | Result | What the report said |
|---|---|---|
| 320 × 240 pixels, unedited | Fail | Below the 4 MP minimum. |
| 1999 × 2000 pixels (3.998 MP) | Fail | Below the 4 MP minimum. |
| 2000 × 2000 pixels (exactly 4,000,000) | Could not verify | Just above 4,000,000 pixels but below 4,194,304. Adobe does not define a megapixel precisely. |
| 2400 × 1800 pixels (4.3 MP) | Pass | At or above the 4 MP minimum. |
| 12000 × 10000 pixels (120 MP) | Fail | Above the 100 MP maximum. |
The 2000 × 2000 result is worth understanding. If a megapixel is 1,000,000 pixels, the file is exactly 4 MP. If it is 1,048,576 pixels, as in binary counting, the file is below 4 MP. Adobe's page does not say which, so the checker says it cannot confirm rather than guessing. File size has the same gap: 45 MB is 45,000,000 bytes in one reading and 47,185,920 bytes in the other.
What a file check cannot tell you
A check on the file cannot see watermarks, logos, trademarks, people who need releases, or whether a photo is sharp and well lit. Our own quality checker also has limits here. We built automatic checks for focus and exposure, and they failed our tests on real photographs, so they are switched off. Zoom in to actual pixel size and look at your photo before you upload.
A clean result means no deterministic technical failures were found in the checks listed. It is not a prediction of Adobe's decision, and Adobe's review criteria are not public.
How to fix each problem
- Wrong or missing profile. Export again with the sRGB profile selected and embedded, as the checker's message says.
- CMYK JPEG. Convert to sRGB first. See Should you use RGB or CMYK for printing? for how the two modes differ.
- Too small. A photo below 4 MP needs a larger original. Resizing up adds pixels, not detail.
- Too large. Export again at a lower JPEG quality or at a smaller pixel size, then check both limits again.
- Not a JPEG. Export a real JPEG. Renaming the file does not change its content.
What to do next
Run the batch you plan to upload through the checker, and read Adobe's page again before a large submission, because the page can change after the date we read it, which is shown in the sources. For how our checks work and what they leave out, see how Check Before Submit works. If you also print photos, What DPI do you need for printing? covers resolution for print.
Sources
- Adobe Stock Contributor Help: Technical and legal requirements for photo submission (page last updated 11 June 2026) (read on 13 October 2026)
- W3C: A Standard Default Color Space for the Internet, sRGB (document dated 5 November 1996, kept for historical purposes) (read on 13 October 2026)
Figures taken from these sources are quoted as written on the date shown. Your printer's own specification always comes first.
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