Shutterstock vs Adobe Stock for selling video

Royalties: yearly levels against a flat rate

Shutterstock pays a share that grows with the number of video licenses you sell in the calendar year. The count restarts on January 1. Adobe Stock pays 35% of the net price of each video license from the first sale (33% for photos, vectors and illustrations).

These are shares of different prices. Adobe applies its rate to the net price of each license, based on the U.S. purchase price and including discounts. Neither agency publishes an amount per video license, so the table does not tell you which one earns more per sale. To turn the rates into a yearly estimate from your own numbers, use the earnings calculator.

File specifications for video

The differences that cost re-exports are 48 fps, 2.7K drone footage and files over 3.9 GB: Shutterstock takes all three, Adobe none. Adobe also asks you to upload in native frame size and to avoid resizing unless the footage was captured at 4K or higher. To check a file against both lists, drop it into the video spec checker.

Two Shutterstock pages disagree with its technical requirements page. The noise and artifacts article still mentions a 4 GB limit, against 10 GB on the technical page. The article on mobile video (13 March 2026) asks you to rotate vertical clips into a horizontal position, while the technical page lists vertical sizes. In both cases, follow the technical page, and check how the portal shows your first vertical clip before sending a batch.

Metadata: a sentence against a short title

Upload limits and methods

On Shutterstock, the Upload and Submit buttons are disabled if your tax form is not completed within 90 days of the first reminder.

Generative AI video

• Shutterstock does not accept AI-generated content from contributors. It does pay contributors when their existing content is licensed as training data (a 20% average rate), and you can opt out in your account settings.
• Adobe Stock accepts generative AI video when you check “Created using generative AI” at submission. The clip must meet the usual technical and legal rules, carry no embedded text, watermark or visible inconsistencies, and must not imitate an artist’s style or show real IP.

Other agencies’ positions, quoted and dated, are on the AI video policies page.

Uploading to both: what you have to adapt

Neither agency asks for exclusivity. Shutterstock says you may upload content that is already for sale on other platforms, and Adobe calls Adobe Stock a non-exclusive platform. Shutterstock’s help page on selling elsewhere even suggests embedding metadata or using a CSV to save preparation time across sites. What changes between the two uploads:

• The file. For one export that fits both, stay at 5 to 60 seconds, under 3,900 MB, off 48 fps, and at a size on both lists: 1920x1080, 2048x1080, 3840x2160, 4096x2160, 4096x2304 or one of the four vertical sizes.
• The text. Shutterstock gets a full sentence under 150 characters. Adobe gets a title under 70 characters, without commas if it goes in a CSV.
• The keywords. One list of 7 to 49, in order of importance, works on both if your Adobe account is set to English.
• The CSV. Different columns: Description and Categories on Shutterstock, Title and a numbered Category on Adobe. See the Shutterstock CSV and Adobe Stock CSV guides.
• Releases. Shutterstock wants one JPEG per person with a handwritten signature. Adobe refuses the same release used for different models.
• What goes to one only. AI-generated clips go to Adobe only. Editorial clips go to Shutterstock only.

Shutterstock vs Adobe Stock for contributors: which one fits you

For most clips there is no choice to make: upload to both and adapt the metadata. The rules do favor one side in these cases.

Pond5 and iStock change the picture if you are deciding where to sell at all. They are compared in the best sites to sell stock footage.