Etsy image size: keep the detail. Plan for the crop.

Use 2000 × 2000 px for a square listing image. 635 × 635 px is Etsy’s first-photo minimum recommendation, not a thumbnail display size. Keep essential content inside a 10.3% margin on every edge for the square-image, centered thumbnail crops examined here.

What happens below the recommended size?

A 1000 × 1000 version held up in small thumbnails. At 340 × 270, 300 × 300 and 75 × 75, I measured differences of 0.1%–0.6% from the 2000 × 2000 version and could not see a difference.

In my test, the 1588-pixel large-image slot told a different story: sharpness fell 29.2% and high-frequency detail fell 69.9%. The 1px lines and 2px checkerboard turned into gray blocks. Small previews concealed a weakness that became visible at the larger size.

In a separate CDN check, I observed a 1349-pixel-wide source returning 1588 × 2117 when the 1588 size was requested. That observation demonstrates enlargement in that request; I describe enlargement from 1000 to 1588 as 1.59×. It does not establish that every image follows the same delivery path.

These are my test observations, not a completed shop upload-and-publication trial. My shop was awaiting approval. I have not included the original comparison files, measurement definitions or calculation inputs for the quality percentages here. Those percentages have not been independently reproduced and are not universal performance benchmarks.

Three thumbnail shapes, three different crops

The 2000 × 2000 square stayed whole in the square view. The 340 × 270 landscape view cut 10.29% from both the top and bottom; the 270 × 340 portrait view cut 10.29% from both sides. I observed a centered crop in each view.

The subject occupying the central 46% of the image width stayed complete in all three views. A 10.3% inset is a practical guide for this square-image setup: essential content less than 10% from an affected edge can be cut. The square view did not crop this square source.

These outputs filled the frame without letterboxing. A portrait source in the landscape view retained the central 52.9% of its height; a landscape source in the portrait view retained the central 52.9% of its width. Matching the long image’s orientation to the thumbnail lost the least in this comparison: 8.0% per affected edge.

340 × 270 is 1.259:1, not 4:3. Do not substitute 4:3 when planning these crops. For a square source, that substitution would predict more top-and-bottom cropping, not less.

Transparent PNG: plan for black, not white

Etsy’s official image guidance says transparent PNGs are unsupported and transparent areas appear black. Flatten a transparent 2000 × 2000 PNG against your intended background before using it.

I checked the official documentation alongside CDN behavior; I did not upload this image through my seller dashboard. The CDN responses I sampled were JPEG, and my attempted .png request failed. Those JPEG responses had no alpha channel; that supports an opaque output, but does not independently establish a black background or prove that every CDN response uses JPEG.

Check your image in this browser

Your image is read only in your browser. It is never uploaded. This tool checks pixel dimensions, file size and PNG transparency; it cannot certify Etsy acceptance, subject placement or sharpness.

This local decoder accepts PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP and BMP. Etsy’s listed formats are JPG, GIF, PNG, SVG and HEIC; SVG and HEIC are not assessed here. Animated GIFs are unsupported by Etsy. The preview does not validate animation. Files over 1 MB may have upload difficulties; that is an official caution, not a stated hard limit.

The dashed orange box marks a 10.3% inset. Content outside it may be cut in landscape or portrait thumbnails. This guide applies to the square-image crops above; rectangular images can need substantially larger margins. The tool does not detect your product.