Key takeaways: A product video appears in the last gallery slot, in the Videos section below the fold, and, with edits, as Sponsored Brands video, a Premium A+ module and a Brand Store tile. Upload MP4 or MOV at 1080p, keep listing videos under a minute and ad videos between 6 and 45 seconds, show the product in use within the first three seconds, and design for silence. Amazon rejects videos with pricing, promotions, competitor references, reviews or external links.
Where a video shows
One asset, five placements. Plan the edit around all of them.
| Placement | Who sees it | Length that works | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Image gallery, last slot | Shoppers who swipe through the gallery | 15 to 60 seconds | Thumbnail shows a play icon; the first frame is the thumbnail on desktop |
| Videos section on the detail page | Shoppers scrolling below the bullets | Up to a few minutes | Sits with related videos; longer explainer content belongs here |
| Sponsored Brands video | Shoppers in search results | 6 to 45 seconds | Autoplays muted in the results; drives to the detail page or Store |
| Premium A+ video module | Shoppers reading A+ Content | 20 to 60 seconds | Requires Premium A+ eligibility |
| Brand Store | Store visitors | Any reasonable length | Background video tiles or full video modules |
Uploads for the listing go through the video upload tool in Seller Central; brand-registered sellers have full access, and Amazon has widened access to more professional sellers over time. Ad videos are uploaded in the advertising console's creative assets. Approval typically takes a few hours to a couple of days, and the content rules below are applied at that stage.
Amazon's content rules for video
Rejections are common and nearly always for one of these:
- Pricing, discounts, "sale", "free shipping" or any promotional language.
- Time-sensitive claims: "new", "limited", "this season".
- Customer reviews, star ratings or testimonials, including "five-star rated".
- References to competitors, or a competitor's product on screen.
- Links, URLs, phone numbers, QR codes or calls to visit a website.
- Claims that are unsubstantiated or regulated: health benefits, "eco-friendly", "FDA approved".
- Amazon branding or badges you did not earn, including Prime imagery.
- Poor technical quality: letterboxing on 16:9 uploads, black frames, blurry or low-resolution footage, distorted audio.
- Content that does not match the ASIN, such as a different color variant as the only product shown.
For Sponsored Brands video, Amazon additionally requires that the video be product-focused from the first frame and rejects videos that start with a logo card or a black screen, because the ad autoplays and the first second is all a scrolling shopper gives it.
Technical specs
Amazon's requirements move; the current published ones are the reference, but the safe set that passes across placements is:
- Format: MP4 or MOV, H.264.
- Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (1080p). Amazon accepts 720p, but ad placements look soft at that size.
- Aspect ratio: 16:9 for listing and Sponsored Brands video. Square and vertical crops are useful for Posts and off-Amazon reuse, so shoot with safe margins.
- Frame rate: 23.976, 24, 25 or 29.97 fps, constant.
- Audio: stereo or mono, but the video must work without it.
- File size: Sponsored Brands has a file cap in the hundreds of megabytes; listing videos allow larger files. Export at a sensible bitrate rather than the maximum.
- Captions: burned-in captions for the key claims, because search-results video plays muted.
The structure that holds attention
Read this flowchart as text
- 0 to 3 s: product in use, the problem it solves visible
- 3 to 10 s: the one benefit, captioned
- 10 to 25 s: two or three features shown, not listed
- 25 to 35 s: scale, contents, a hand or a setting
- Final frame: product on brand background, name visible
Open on the product, in use. Not a logo, not a sunrise. Sponsored Brands video shoppers decide in the first second whether to keep watching, and the gallery thumbnail is your first frame, so make it a frame that sells.
One benefit, then proof. The same rule as bullets. Show the bottle poured after eight hours with ice still in it, then move on.
Show, do not list. A voiceover reading the bullets over a rotating product is a slideshow. Every feature should be demonstrated by a hand doing something.
Design for silence. Most plays are muted. Captions carry the claims; music is optional.
End on the product and the brand. A static final frame with the product and the brand name on your brand color is what a shopper sees when the video stops in the gallery.
Cut the same footage three ways: a 30-second gallery edit, a 15-second Sponsored Brands edit that opens on the strongest shot, and a 45- to 60-second explainer for the Videos section if the product needs it.
Deciding whether the video is working
Listing video acts on conversion; ad video acts on click-through and new-to-brand reach. Read them separately. For the listing, compare unit session percentage over four weeks with and without the video, or test A+ variants with and without the Premium video module through Manage Your Experiments, described in Manage Your Experiments: What to A/B Test First on Amazon. For Sponsored Brands video, compare click-through rate and cost per click against your static Sponsored Brands ads on the same keywords; in many accounts the video format wins on CTR and the question is whether the conversion holds.
Where video fits in the wider A+ and Store plan is in A+ Content vs Premium A+: What Is the Difference and Which to Use, and the way we test creative before committing budget to it is below.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need Brand Registry to add a video to my listing?
Brand-registered sellers have full access to listing video upload, and Amazon has extended upload to more professional sellers over time. Sponsored Brands video and Premium A+ video do require Brand Registry.
How long should an Amazon product video be?
Under a minute for the gallery, with the first three seconds showing the product in use. Sponsored Brands video must be between 6 and 45 seconds, and 15 to 30 seconds is the usual sweet spot. Longer explainers belong in the Videos section.
Why was my video rejected?
Most rejections are for pricing or promotional language, review or rating content, competitor references, links, a logo or black opening frame, or letterboxing. Amazon's rejection notice names the reason; fix that one item and resubmit.
Can one video be used for the listing and for ads?
Yes, and it should be planned that way. Shoot once, cut a gallery edit, a shorter ad edit that opens on the strongest shot, and a longer explainer. Check each edit against the placement's length and content rules before uploading.