Adobe Stock vs Shutterstock vs Freepik vs 123RF: keyword and CSV differences

Marketplaces revise their limits from time to time. Treat this as the working shape of each format and confirm anything critical against the platform's own contributor documentation before a large submission.

Adobe expects a filename, a single title that doubles as the caption, a comma-separated keyword list, a numeric category and a release field. Shutterstock leads with a description rather than a title and allows a pair of named categories. Freepik and 123RF both separate title from description, so text that Adobe compresses into one field gets split across two.

That means you cannot rename a header and reuse a file. Export a per-platform CSV instead, from one shared metadata set.

The simplest multi-platform strategy is to write once against the tightest constraint you have to satisfy. In practice: keep the title at 70 characters or fewer so Adobe accepts it, cap keywords at the lowest ceiling among your targets so no list gets truncated, and lead with the literal subject so the first keywords carry weight everywhere.

A category is the one field that genuinely does not transfer. Adobe's numeric IDs mean nothing to Shutterstock, and Freepik and 123RF each use their own named sets. Decide the subject category once in plain language — "business", "nature", "food" — then let each export map it to that platform's own value.

All four reject metadata that reads as keyword stuffing, contains trademarks or brand names, uses non-English text, or repeats the same phrase. Writing one clean, human sentence per asset satisfies every reviewer at once and avoids per-platform rewrites after a rejection.

1. Generate metadata once for the batch in the studio.
2. Set keyword min and max to the lowest ceiling among your targets.
3. Review titles inline — limits are enforced as you type.
4. Export the CSV for each platform in turn; the columns adapt per site.
5. Upload each CSV with the matching assets, filenames unchanged.

Can one metadata set work on all four platforms?

Yes, if you write to the strictest limit in the group. Keep titles short enough for Adobe Stock, cap keywords at the lowest ceiling among your targets, and keep the wording descriptive rather than keyword-stuffed.

Why does the same CSV fail on a different platform?

Column headers and category values differ. Each marketplace expects its own header spelling and its own category identifiers, so a valid Adobe CSV is not a valid Shutterstock CSV even when the metadata inside is identical.

Do filenames have to match the CSV rows?

On every platform, yes. The filename column is how the marketplace joins a row to an uploaded asset, so it must match exactly, including the extension.