PhotoShelter supports all major image formats including JPG, TIFF, raw files, PSD, DNG, SVG, and PDF. When you upload images into your PhotoShelter Image Browser, you are essentially placing them in your own geographically redundant archive. This means you'll have direct access to them any place, any time (as long as you have an internet connection). We recommend uploading your highest quality images so you can rest assured they're safe and secure.  

Recommended File Formats
Limited Support File Formats
File Formats Not supported
Size & Resolution Recommendations
Color Profiles
Filename Best Practices

File Formats

Recommended

JPG

The most common file format stored in PhotoShelter is JPG. The relatively small file size (compared to TIFF or raw) makes it ideal for online storage, and most clients expect JPG files.

TIFF

Like JPG files, TIFF files are easy to store. However, they are uncompressed files, so they require more bandwidth during upload and storage space.

Limited Support

Raw files

You can store raw files for archive use, but they are not ideal for printing or delivery. Raw files are unprocessed and we are not guaranteed to convert them correctly, so the colors will likely be off. PhotoShelter uses the camera's generic profile as a reference to convert it to sRGB to display on your website. PhotoShelter does not associate files together that have the same name but different extensions. Also, keep in mind that raw files themselves do not store metadata and therefore any IPTC metadata you apply to your raw files in PhotoShelter will not be applied when the raw file is downloaded by you or a client.

XMP

XMP sidecar files can be uploaded alongside Raw files using the Desktop Uploader and Incoming FTP only. The metadata contained in the sidecar files will be applied to raw files with the same filename upon upload. Downloading raw files will not download the XMP sidecars. In other words, XMP files are processed upon upload and not kept as original entities.

PSD

Like raw files, PSD files are uncompressed. They are ideal for archival purposes, but not ideal for printing and delivery.

DNG

Like raw files, there are complications with DNG delivery. If you deliver them in JPG format, the files will be converted and delivered without any edits you may have made. We recommend using DNGs strictly for archival purposes. You may also notice a slight difference in the display of the DNG when it is uploaded due to the way we serve it up for the web, but the original DNG when downloaded as the original file is retained.

PDF

When displaying within a public gallery, only the first page of a multi-page PDF will be viewable in the image preview. If downloaded as the original file, all pages will be intact.

SVG

SVG files that contain HTML will render as images within PhotoShelter. SVGs that contain JavaScript or CSS will not be rendered as images; they can be uploaded, stored, and downloaded, but no preview is available.

EPS

PhotoShelter generates an image preview of an EPS file’s contents. Because this image is adjusted for web display, the image may not look exactly like the original EPS file. While you can add metadata to EPS files within the Image Browser, we do not support embedding metadata on EPS files upon download. If you upload an EPS file with metadata already attached, that metadata will remain on the original file upon download.

GIF

Playback is not available within PhotoShelter, so GIFs will render as a static image. If downloaded as the original file, a GIF can be played back.

HEIF

You can upload HEIF and HEIC image files shot on the latest Apple and Android devices. We don't recommend using high-efficiency image files for delivery, since older operating systems may not support these file formats.

PNG

PNG files can be uploaded and stored in PhotoShelter, but any transparency will not be retained in galleries or as embedded images. However, PhotoShelter will honor transparent PNGs for custom watermarks and in your site’s logo.

HDR

Because of the high degree of variation in the way cameras and photo editing software can process HDR files, we provide limited support for the display of these files. If the display on the website looks strange, you may want to convert the HDR files to JPG or TIFF and re-upload.

 

Note on Downloading: Raw and DNG files are unprocessed and we are not guaranteed to convert them correctly upon downloading as a resized JPG the way an image processing program like Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop would, so the colors will likely be off. File types such as PSD, TIF, GIF, and PNG can support layers and or transparency, whereas JPGs do not, which can cause a discrepancy in visual appearance when downloaded as a JPG.

 

Not Supported

Video

At this time, we do not support the hosting of video files, but it is possible to embed video that is hosted on another site, such as YouTube. In addition to the ability to embed videos on a custom page, our responsive website templates include an integration with Vimeo that's designed to pull either all user videos or an album from your Vimeo account and display them directly on a page of your site.

Size & Resolution

We recommend that you upload your highest quality images to your Image Browser. PhotoShelter automatically handles the resizing of images and gives you the ability to offer different sizes to your clients. Having the high res file simplifies print and digital sales because it doesn't require you to re-upload an image. However, if you choose to upload low-res images for efficiency, you may always replace them later, either at the point of sale or via the Web Uploader.

It should be noted that we never alter the original image uploaded to PhotoShelter; we will only apply adjustments to the screen-resolution versions and generate conversions on the fly.

If you’re interested in the recommended minimum dimensions for display on your site, we suggest uploading images that are at least 2040 px on their longest side. This size image will work well with all of our templates as it’s the largest Maximum Image Display size that you can set in your Security Settings.

Color Profiles

Images for display on the website are converted to sRGB. If the image is untagged, it will be tagged as sRGB for display. We use sRGB for maximum browser compatibility. Images exported for printing will also be converted to sRGB. Keep in mind that we retain the original file which is an exact copy with the original profile intact.

Note: If you’re uploading film scans, be sure that your digital files have a color profile applied (ideally sRGB) prior to upload. Uploading photos without a color profile attached can create display issues for those photos on your site.

Filename Best Practices