Stock footage workflow: from memory card to submission

The stock footage workflow at a glance

The table follows a batch from the memory card to the review result. The third column holds the agency rule that applies at that step, read on the agencies’ help pages on 13 October 2026. The last column says whether a tool can do the step for you.

1. Copy the cards

No agency has a rule here, but every later step depends on it. Copy each card to a dated shoot folder, check that the copy opens before you format the card, and keep a second copy on another drive. Keep three folders per shoot: camera originals, exports, and metadata (CSV files and releases). Uploading from the exports folder only removes the risk of sending a LOG original or a clip with its camera audio.

2. Sort and select: how to organize stock footage takes

Selection is the step that saves review cycles. Shutterstock rejects as similar content the same subject shot at different clip lengths or with different camera moves, flipped copies and several color variations. It allows one horizontal and one vertical version of an unmoved subject, and one color, one black-and-white and one filtered version. Adobe refuses “bulk uploads with little differentiation”. Send the strongest take of each shot and leave the rest on your drive.

On Adobe, every extra take also counts toward a weekly submission limit and a cap on content pending moderation, in place since 20 May 2025 with no published figure.

3. Name the clips

Shutterstock allows only a-z, A-Z, 0-9 and the underscore in file names. Pond5 bans spaces, dashes, accents and special characters. Adobe’s CSV takes 30 characters at most in the Filename column, extension included, and the name must match the upload exactly, letter case included. A pattern such as lake_annecy_0001.mov passes all three.

Set the name on the export, not on the camera original, so your editing project keeps its links. The full rules and a tested pattern are in stock footage file names.

4. Export

All three agencies take clips of 5 to 60 seconds. Shutterstock accepts .mov or .mp4 up to 10 GB, Adobe MOV, MPG or MP4 up to 3,900 MB, and Pond5 MOV or MP4 with caps of 3 GB for HD, 5 GB for 4K to 6K and 6 GB for 8K. Export at the native resolution and frame rate: Adobe refuses upscaled video, and Shutterstock asks you not to “up-res” a clip.

• Trim. Adobe asks you to remove unnecessary seconds at the start and end, and to avoid transitions, titles and effects.
• Grade lightly. Adobe wants log footage given simple grading and recommends a basic Rec. 709 LUT; Shutterstock prefers Rec. 709.
• Drop the audio. Adobe’s editing page says it does not accept videos with audio, and Pond5 prefers audio removed. A silent export works at all three.

Which codec to pick, ProRes or H.264, and what it does to file size is covered in stock footage codecs.

5. Write the metadata

This is the step that does not carry over from one agency to the next. The same clip needs three slightly different sets of words.

Adobe adds a timing trap: you cannot change the keyword order while a clip is in moderation, so the order has to be right before you submit. How to build a keyword list that survives all three is in stock footage keywords, and drafting it with software is covered in AI keywording for stock footage.

6. Check before upload

A refusal costs a full review cycle, so the check comes before the transfer. Split it in two. The spec part (resolution, frame rate, codec, length, size) is mechanical: the free video spec checker reads it from the file. The content part (logos, screens, artwork, recognizable people, releases, similar takes) needs eyes on every clip. Every item, with the agency rule behind it, is in the stock footage submission checklist.

7. Upload and submit

Each agency documents a browser route and a file transfer route:

• Shutterstock: the web Upload page takes up to 100 files at a time, or FTPS on ftps.shutterstock.com, port 21, explicit FTP over TLS. The CSV goes in through the CSV button on the Submit page, after the clips, never through FTPS.
• Adobe Stock: drag and drop in the Contributor Portal, or SFTP for qualified accounts, with standalone files only (no folders or archives).
• Pond5: Upload New File in the browser, or FTP on ftp.pond5.com with a separate FTP password; releases go in the Release folder.

The step-by-step guides: Shutterstock, Adobe Stock and Pond5. Sending the same batch to all three is covered in uploading to multiple stock agencies.

8. Track refusals

Shutterstock shows results in the Recently reviewed tab of the Portfolio page for 21 days, with a label for the outcome. Adobe gives a refusal reason in the Contributor Portal but says it cannot provide detailed feedback on every submission. Pond5 lists files that failed processing at the top of the Uploads page, marks clips Returned when an action is needed (missing metadata, metadata not in English, a missing release) and explains rejections by email.

Log each reason against the shoot it came from. A refusal for a logo, a frame rate or audio usually repeats across every clip of the same day, so fix the batch before the next upload. The reasons and their fixes are grouped in why stock footage gets rejected.

Where time goes, and what to automate

We have no measured durations to give, and the agencies publish none. What the rules above show is where the work multiplies: any step that depends on the agency gets done once per agency.

Adobe already drafts keywords: its upload page offers AI keyword suggestions to review. Its SFTP help also names a third-party uploader, StockSubmitter, when it explains how to update credentials. Whether an agency’s terms say anything about using tools to upload is covered in is automating stock uploads allowed?

Where RushPilot fits

RushPilot covers steps 5 to 7 of this workflow. It is a desktop app in private beta: it looks at a few frames of each clip, writes the title, description and keywords in English to each agency’s rules (with the most important keywords first for Adobe), checks common rejection reasons such as resolution, length, logos and upscaling, waits for you to approve the batch, then uploads to Shutterstock, Adobe Stock and Pond5.

It does not copy your cards, select takes, grade or export, and it does not replace your releases. You can join the waiting list or see the planned prices, with 25 free clips to start, on the pricing page.