Stock video metadata

Footage sells for dozens of times more than photos ($70–200 per download) with far less competition. But tagging video by hand is even more tedious than images. Stock Metadata Tagger analyzes frames of your clip and writes the title, description and keywords for you — embedding XMP right into the video file.

Why video is the most profitable stock niche

A single video download on Adobe Stock earns $70–200 versus $0.25–3 for a photo. There are fewer footage buyers, but hundreds of times fewer contributors — the entry barrier keeps competition low. 5–30 second clips from AI generators (Midjourney, Runway, Kling, Sora) already pass review and sell.

The main grunt work is attribution: every clip needs a title, description and dozens of keywords. That's exactly what we automate.

Which metadata a video needs

Similar to photos, but adjusted for motion:

• Title — up to 200 characters on Adobe Stock; describe action and movement («camera slowly pans», «waves crashing»), not a static scene;
• Keywords — up to 49 on Adobe Stock, up to 50 on Shutterstock; the first 7–10 carry the most weight;
• Category — mandatory for video on Adobe Stock;
• Description — an extended scene description used by some agencies.

How metadata is embedded into a video file

Adobe Stock reads XMP directly from MP4/MOV — the metadata lives in a dedicated uuid box inside the container. We embed a standard XMP packet (dc:title, dc:description, dc:subject) so the submission form arrives pre-filled.

Shutterstock and Pond5 read XMP from video unreliably — for them a CSV metadata export per batch is the safer route, which the service generates as a single file.

AI metadata from video frames

Six frames are sampled evenly across the clip, ChatGPT Vision analyzes them as one video and writes motion-aware metadata. You review the result in a table, edit if needed, and download the file with embedded data — or send it to Adobe Stock via SFTP right from the service.

Check your video before uploading

Adobe Stock silently discards videos below 1280×720, shorter than 5 seconds or in an unsupported codec — with no notification at all. Use the free stock video checker: it shows your clip's resolution, duration and codec against the requirements. Runs in your browser, the file is never uploaded.