Amazon product image requirements: a practical checklist

The rules that apply to the main image

These apply specifically to the main image, which is the one shown in search results. It is the image doing the work, and it is the one Amazon polices.

• Pure white background (#FFFFFF). Not off-white, not light grey.
• The product should fill roughly 85% of the frame.
• The actual product only — no props, accessories or items not included in the sale.
• No text, watermarks, logos, borders, badges or promotional graphics.
• No placeholder or illustration images; it must be a real photo of the real product.
• Professional photography, in focus, well lit, with realistic colour.

The technical requirements

• At least 1000px on the longest side to enable zoom — and zoom measurably helps conversion.
• 1600px on the longest side is the practical recommendation; Amazon accepts much larger.
• Minimum 500px on the longest side to be accepted at all.
• JPEG (.jpg) is preferred; TIFF, PNG and GIF are accepted.
• sRGB or CMYK colour mode.
• Filenames should follow their convention — product identifier, then a period, then the extension.

Where the rules relax

Secondary images are much freer. This is where lifestyle shots, scale references, detail crops, infographics and packaging shots belong, and where you should be spending creative effort — the main image is a compliance exercise, not a marketing one.

You can use text and graphics on secondary images. You can show the product in use, in context and with props. Many high-performing listings use the main image purely to satisfy the rules and every subsequent slot to sell.

Getting a compliant white background without a studio

The counter-intuitive part is that photographing pure white is hard. A white sweep photographs as light grey unless you overexpose it, and overexposing blows out the highlights on the product. That is why so many lightbox photos still get flagged: the background is a very light grey, not #FFFFFF.

Cutting the product out and compositing it on pure white sidesteps the problem entirely. Shoot on any surface with even lighting, remove the background, fill with white, and you have a background that is exactly the value Amazon asks for.

For a whole catalogue, batch it. Consistency across a category page is worth as much as compliance on any single listing.

• Light evenly — two sources at 45° beats one harsh overhead.
• Leave space around the product so nothing is clipped.
• Shoot the largest file your camera or phone produces.
• Remove the background, then fill with pure white.
• Check the result at 100% before uploading, especially on pale or reflective products.

A note on categories with extra rules

Some categories add their own requirements — clothing has model and flat-lay conventions, and a few categories permit or expect specific presentation styles. Amazon's category-specific style guides in Seller Central are the authority, and they change, so check them rather than trusting a blog post including this one.

The white-background rule for main images, though, is the one constant across almost everything.