Shutterstock metadata, exported the way their CSV importer expects
Drop in your photos or videos and get a buyer-focused description, up to 50 keywords, and 1-2 categories mapped to Shutterstock's official list — downloaded as a CSV you apply with the CSV button on their Submit page.
No credit card required — start with 15 free credits.
Shutterstock's bulk metadata flow is picky: the CSV needs exact column names (Filename, Description, Keywords, Categories), keywords between 7 and 50, and categories chosen from their fixed list — get any of it wrong and the import silently fails or the file sits incomplete. PixTagger generates the metadata with a stock-tuned AI pipeline and packages it exactly to that spec, including categories pre-filled from your keywords, so a hundred files go from upload to submitted in minutes.
How it works
From shoot to upload-ready in under a minute.
1. Drop your files
Photos or videos, straight in the browser — originals are resized locally, so there's no prep and full-size files never upload.
2. Review the metadata
Every file gets a description, ordered keywords and categories. Click to remove a keyword, type to add — you approve what ships.
3. Download the Shutterstock CSV
Upload your files to Shutterstock, then apply the CSV on the Submit page — metadata attaches to every file by name.
FAQ
Questions, answered.
How do I apply the CSV on Shutterstock?+
Upload your images or videos first, then on the Submit page click the CSV button and select the file — don't send the CSV over FTPS. Shutterstock matches each row to a file by its exact filename.
Does it fill in Shutterstock categories?+
Yes — 1-2 categories per file, chosen from Shutterstock's official category list based on your keywords, with People, Business/Finance, Technology, Nature and the other standard categories covered. You can still adjust them in the submit UI.
Can the same run export for other agencies too?+
Yes. One tagging run exports Getty/iStock (ESP, DeepMeta, qHero), Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, Pond5 and Dreamstime CSVs, plus XMP sidecars for Lightroom workflows — no re-tagging per marketplace.
How many keywords does each row carry?+
We cap the list at 50 per file and order it strongest-first — the number and type of people, then the action, then the setting, then the broader concepts — because the leading keywords carry the most search weight. Padding a list to its limit with loosely-related words dilutes ranking rather than helping it, so we fill the slots that genuinely apply instead of stretching to the cap.
Does it work for Shutterstock video as well as images?+
Yes — MP4, MOV and M4V. Each clip is sampled at three points in time and the keywords merged, and the Illustration column is filled in for vector batches. A photo is 1 credit and a clip is 2, whatever its length.
Related guides
Every agency's metadata format
the exact CSV columns and keyword limits, agency by agency.
How many keywords should you use?
Shutterstock's 7-50 range and why more isn't better.
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Tag once. Submit to Shutterstock in minutes.
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