Titles and descriptions for stock footage, with examples

Shutterstock description examples and Adobe Stock and Pond5 titles for eight common kinds of clip, with each agency's rules and the character count of every line. All eight clips are invented, so you can see the method without guessing at someone else's footage.

By RushPilotUpdated 11 October 2026Rules checked against official sources on 11 October 2026

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The rules, agency by agency

Titles and descriptions for video, by agency
	Shutterstock	Adobe Stock	Pond5
Fields	One description, also used as the title	A title only, described by Adobe as a short description of the clip	A title, required, and an optional description
Length	Under 150 characters in the editor (2,048 in the standards); at least five words	Ideally under 70 characters; 70 at most in a CSV	Title 40 to 80 characters; description 500 in a CSV, no limit stated on the web
Form	A complete sentence, not a list; who, what, when, where and why, plus mood	Short; the most visually important element first	Title order: main subject, action, environment, type of shot
Language	English	The language of your contributor account	English title
Not allowed	Lists of words, repeated words or stems, links, camera details, brands outside editorial, special characters	Commas in a CSV title, gear-heavy terms, IP, artist names, real people	Number codes, file extensions, repeated words, trademarks in commercial content

Shutterstock's two length figures do not agree: its metadata standards (26 February 2026) allow 2,048 characters, while its article on preparing uploads (9 February 2026) says the editor stops at 150. A sentence under 150 passes both, which is why every example below stays there. The keyword side of the same rules is in keyword limits by agency.

One title, one sentence

Write the title first, 40 to 70 characters and no commas. It fits Adobe Stock and Pond5 as it is. Start with the subject, then the action, the place and the shot type, the order Pond5 recommends.
Expand it into a sentence for Shutterstock, under 150 characters. Add what the title had no room for: the light, the time of day, the mood, the camera move. Then read it once for repeated words.
Reuse that sentence on Pond5 as the description, plus one more if the clip has something to add, such as a Latin species name, the season or the number of people.

The words in both lines should also be in your keywords. The method for building that list is in how to keyword stock footage.

Shutterstock description examples for 8 clips

1. Drone: a river through an autumn forest

Clip: 20 seconds, 4K, a slow forward flight over a river winding through orange and yellow woods at dawn.
Title for Adobe Stock and Pond5 (55 characters): Aerial view of a river winding through an autumn forest
Shutterstock description (131 characters): Aerial drone shot flying slowly over a river that winds through a dense forest of orange and yellow trees on a calm autumn morning.

Adobe lists the viewpoint, such as aerial view, among the details worth naming. Here it opens both lines.

2. Time lapse: traffic at night

Clip: 15 seconds, a locked-off time lapse of headlights crossing a downtown intersection after dark.
Title for Adobe Stock and Pond5 (68 characters): Time lapse of car light trails crossing a city intersection at night
Shutterstock description (133 characters): Time lapse of car headlights streaking through a busy downtown intersection after dark, with office towers glowing in the background.

Shutterstock asks you to describe camera choices such as zooms, pans and POV in the caption. Here the technique is the subject.

3. People: grandfather and granddaughter

Clip: 18 seconds, a senior man and a girl of about eight planting seedlings in a backyard bed, faces visible.
Title for Adobe Stock and Pond5 (67 characters): Grandfather and granddaughter planting tomato seedlings in a garden
Shutterstock description (129 characters): A senior man and his young granddaughter plant tomato seedlings together in a sunny backyard vegetable bed on a spring afternoon.

Two recognizable people, one a minor: this clip needs two model releases, the child's signed by a parent or guardian.

4. Business: typing at night

Clip: 12 seconds, close-up of hands typing on a laptop in a dim office, lit by the screen. No logo in frame.
Title for Adobe Stock and Pond5 (62 characters): Close-up of hands typing on a laptop keyboard in a dark office
Shutterstock description (115 characters): Close-up of hands typing quickly on a laptop keyboard in a dim office at night, lit only by the glow of the screen.

"Laptop", never the brand. If a logo shows, remove it or the clip becomes an editorial question.

5. Food: olive oil on a salad

Clip: 10 seconds, slow motion, olive oil poured over sliced tomatoes, basil and mozzarella on a white plate.
Title for Adobe Stock and Pond5 (55 characters): Slow motion olive oil pouring over a fresh tomato salad
Shutterstock description (115 characters): Slow motion close-up of golden olive oil poured over sliced tomatoes, basil leaves and mozzarella on a white plate.

The title names the action and the dish; the sentence adds the ingredients a buyer might search for.

6. Wildlife: a heron catching a fish

Clip: 14 seconds, a gray heron standing in a reedy pond strikes and comes up with a small fish.
Title for Adobe Stock and Pond5 (44 characters): Gray heron catching a fish in a shallow pond
Shutterstock description (127 characters): A gray heron stands still in shallow water, then strikes and catches a small fish in its beak at the edge of a reed-lined pond.

On Pond5, the description can add the Latin name, Ardea cinerea, as its own guidance suggests for animals and plants.

7. Vertical: a sunrise run

Clip: 16 seconds, 1080x1920, a woman jogging along a wooden beach boardwalk at sunrise, face visible.
Title for Adobe Stock and Pond5 (65 characters): Vertical video of a woman jogging on a beach boardwalk at sunrise
Shutterstock description (122 characters): Vertical shot of a young woman in sportswear jogging along a wooden beach boardwalk at sunrise, with the ocean behind her.

Adobe asks for the words "vertical" and "video" in the title and keywords of a vertical clip. The runner needs a model release.

8. Abstract: ink in water

Clip: 12 seconds, macro, blue and purple ink spreading through clear water against black.
Title for Adobe Stock and Pond5 (55 characters): Blue ink drops spreading in water on a black background
Shutterstock description (117 characters): Macro shot of blue and purple ink drops swirling and spreading slowly through clear water against a black background.

With no subject in the usual sense, the colors, the motion and the background do the work of the subject.

Examples 3 and 7 show recognizable people, so they need model releases on every agency before they can be sold for commercial use. See model releases for stock video.

Editorial captions

An editorial clip documents a real scene and can show brands, but its caption follows a fixed pattern. Below, an invented clip of shoppers at a farmers market in Portland, Oregon, filmed on Saturday, May 2, 2026.

Editorial caption formats
Agency	Format	Example (invented clip)
Shutterstock	CITY, STATE/COUNTRY - MONTH DAY, YEAR: factual sentence. Day, month, year and place are required.	PORTLAND, OREGON - MAY 2, 2026: Shoppers walk between produce stalls at a downtown farmers market on a Saturday morning. (120 characters)
Pond5	CITY, COUNTRY (STATE) - YEAR/MONTH/DAY: factual description, in the title or the description, plus a curator note asking for Editorial Use Only	Portland, USA (Oregon) - 2026/05/02: Shoppers at a downtown farmers market (74 characters)
Adobe Stock	Its illustrative editorial overview (11 June 2026) says it does not accept traditional editorial content	Not applicable

Shutterstock's format line uses an en dash as the separator and its examples use a hyphen; the hyphen is shown here. For footage shot before 2000, the year or the decade is enough. The full editorial rules are in editorial stock footage.

Frequent mistakes

Title and description mistakes, and the fix
Mistake	Example	Fix
A keyword list as the title	Beach, sunset, waves, ocean, travel	A sentence: Waves roll onto an empty beach at sunset
Repeated words or stems	Surfer surfing a big surf wave	Surfer rides a breaking wave at dawn
Camera and file details	Pink Flamingo 001, shot in 4K at 60 fps	Pink flamingo turning its head in a zoo pond
Brand names in commercial content	Woman drinking a branded cola	Woman drinking cola from a plain glass bottle
Filler words	Stunning beautiful sunset	Orange sunset over a calm lake with pine trees
One title for a whole series	Forest walk (x12 clips)	Name what changes: the angle, the action, the light
Commas in an Adobe CSV title	Forest, river, autumn	River winding through an autumn forest

To check a title and description against each agency's length and repetition rules before upload, paste them into the free title and keyword checker.

Sources

Official agency pages. Rules change: when in doubt, the agency's own page wins. Spotted an outdated figure? Tell us from the about page.

[1]Shutterstock: Description and keyword best practices · page updated 12 Jul 2025
[2]Shutterstock: Why was my content rejected for title or keywords? · page updated 13 Sep 2025
[3]Shutterstock: Content publishing standards, contextual metadata · page updated 26 Feb 2026
[4]Shutterstock: Portfolio, preparing your uploaded content for submission · page updated 9 Feb 2026
[5]Shutterstock: How are keyword and title spamming defined? · page updated 18 Jul 2025
[6]Shutterstock: Content quality standards, camera stabilization and movement · page updated 18 Apr 2025
[7]Shutterstock: How do I submit editorial content? · page updated 18 Feb 2026
[8]Adobe Stock: Tips for effective titles and keywords · page updated 18 Aug 2026
[9]Adobe Stock: CSV requirements · page updated 11 Jun 2026
[10]Adobe Stock: Technical requirements for video submissions · page updated 11 Jun 2026
[11]Adobe Stock: Illustrative editorial content submission overview · page updated 11 Jun 2026
[12]Pond5: Tagging and pricing your filesPage without a date, read on 11 October 2026.

Questions

What is a good Shutterstock description example?

One factual sentence under 150 characters that says who or what, doing what, where and when, with the camera view. For example: "Aerial drone shot flying slowly over a river that winds through a dense forest of orange and yellow trees on a calm autumn morning."

How long should a Shutterstock description be?

Under 150 characters and at least five words. The metadata standards allow 2,048 characters, but the submission editor caps the field at 150.

Does Shutterstock have a separate title field?

No. The description is used as the title, which is why it has to read as a complete sentence and not as a list of keywords.

How long can an Adobe Stock title be?

Adobe recommends keeping it short, ideally under 70 characters, and its CSV rules set 70 characters as the maximum, with no commas.

What length does Pond5 want for a title?

40 to 80 characters, in English. The description is optional; Pond5 suggests a few sentences that expand on the title, and the CSV allows 500 characters.

Can I use the same title on several clips?

Avoid it. Pond5 asks for a unique title for each item, and Shutterstock asks for a description that uniquely identifies the content.

Should I put 4K or the camera in the title?

Not for Shutterstock or Adobe Stock: Shutterstock bans specific camera information and Adobe asks for titles without gear-heavy terms. Pond5's own example title ends with 4K, but one title for all three agencies is simpler without it.