Freepik's contributor side now runs under the Magnific name, and the way you get files onto it depends entirely on which upload level your account has reached. New contributors go through the web panel with one test batch. FTP only opens after 500 published files, and a monthly ceiling still applies on top of it.
That gating matters more than it sounds. A photographer who plans a 600-file week around FTP and then discovers the account is still on web upload loses the week, not the hour. This walkthrough follows the workflow in the order the platform actually enforces it: level, then method, then file spec, then batch size.
Freepik is now Magnific for contributors
The contributor documentation, the help centre and the upload panel have all moved to Magnific branding, and the older support URLs redirect there. Searches and most existing tutorials still say Freepik, which is why the two names sit side by side in almost every contributor discussion. The account, the portfolio and the earnings history carry over — only the front door changed. The field-by-field side of this is a separate subject, covered in the metadata requirements for this platform.
EyeEm, which Freepik acquired, has been folded into the same contributor system. PIXTA often gets grouped in with these platforms by mistake and behaves nothing like them: it does not accept FTP delivery at all.
The three upload levels, and what each one allows
Contributors are sorted into three levels, and each level changes both the volume you may send and the method you may use to send it.
Level 1: the test batch
A new account starts by submitting between 150 and 200 assets for review, all in the same format. That is a deliberately awkward number — too many to shoot casually, few enough that a mixed folder of leftovers will not carry it. The batch is judged as a unit before any collaboration begins, and it goes through the web panel.
Level 2: regular uploads through the panel
Once the test batch is approved, submissions loosen to a minimum of one and a maximum of 200 assets at a time, still through the web panel. Level 2 is where most contributors sit for a long stretch, because moving up requires 500 published assets. Published, not submitted — which means the review queue sets the pace, not your shutter.
Level 3: FTP unlocked
At Level 3 the minimum drops to a single asset, FTP becomes available alongside web upload, and individual batch sizes are no longer limited. What is still limited is the month: the maximum number of assets allowed per month is 200. Reviews are quoted at up to 25 working days, Monday to Friday, which is roughly five calendar weeks at the long end.
Upload levels and what each one unlocks
The upload path in order: a 150-200 asset test batch at Level 1, up to 200 assets per submission at Level 2, and FTP plus a 200-asset monthly cap at Level 3, with reviews quoted at up to 25 working days.
How FTP access actually works
FTP is not a switch you flip in settings. It is granted to contributors who have published at least 500 files, and once granted you receive a username, password and port to enter into an FTP client such as FileZilla. There is no separate API key and no per-folder token to manage.
The FTP directory is staging, not storage. Files may sit there for a maximum of six months without being submitted, and anything untouched for 180 days becomes unavailable. Contributors who treat the server as a backup drive find this out the hard way, usually while looking for something they transferred last spring.
Keywording is decoupled from the transfer. After the files land, you either upload a CSV or add keywords directly from the Upload section of the contributor panel. That split is genuinely useful: the transfer can run overnight on a slow line while the metadata pass happens the next morning, and a bad CSV does not force you to send the images again.
File requirements FTP will not forgive
Web upload gives you an error message in the browser. FTP gives you silence — a file that does not meet spec simply never appears for review. These are the specs that decide whether a transfer was worth running.
Photos
JPG, RGB, between 2,000 px and 10,000 px on any side, over 0.5 MB, with a colour profile of sRGB, Adobe RGB, ProPhoto RGB or P3. Titles and keywords have to be integrated in the metadata rather than typed in afterwards. No watermarks, no brand names, no logos, and model or property releases attached wherever the subject requires them.
Vectors
EPS plus a JPG under the same filename, sent together. The EPS must be RGB and sits between 0.5 MB and 80 MB. The platform's own pages name CS6 in one place and CC in another, so exporting to the newer of the two and keeping a CS6 fallback is the pragmatic choice. The JPG preview runs from a minimum of 2,000 px to a maximum of 8,000 px.
Layered PSD files
PSD between 1.5 MB and 250 MB, with a JPG preview under the same name, the preview between 2,000 px and 10,000 px on any side. The same-name pairing is the part that quietly breaks batches: a rename during export, an extra suffix added by a plugin, and the pair stops being a pair.
One inconsistency is worth flagging rather than papering over. The FTP page states a photo file size below 1.5 MB, while the general submission requirements page states over 0.5 MB and names no upper figure in that range. Those two cannot both describe the same rule, so check the spec shown inside your own account before committing a large batch, and if your files sit near either boundary, send a small test batch first.
Pre-transfer check, by format
Pre-transfer checks split by format: photos at 2,000-10,000 px and over 0.5 MB in RGB, vectors as same-name EPS and JPG pairs between 0.5 MB and 80 MB, and PSD files from 1.5 MB to 250 MB with a same-name preview.
Planning batches around a monthly ceiling
Two hundred assets a month changes what a shoot is for. A single site visit or one studio day can easily produce more keepers than a month allows, which means selection stops being optional and becomes the workflow's first real stage.
The pattern that holds up: rank a shoot before keywording, send the strongest work early in the month so the review clock starts sooner, and hold the rest for the following month rather than burning the allowance on near-duplicates. With reviews quoted at up to 25 working days, a file submitted on the 28th may not be published until the month after next — and publication is what counts toward the 500 files that unlock FTP.
Contributors who sell on several platforms usually invert the question. Instead of asking how much this platform will take, they ask which 200 files a month deserve the slot here, and let the rest of the archive go out to agencies that have no monthly cap.
Where this workflow usually breaks
The failure modes are boringly consistent. A same-name pair breaks during export and the vector never shows up for review. A CSV is written against a different agency's column order and the keywords land in the wrong field. Metadata is added in the panel for a batch that was already keyworded inside the files, and the two versions disagree.
The other common one is spec drift. An export preset that suited a different agency produces files a little under the size floor here, and because FTP does not complain, the contributor assumes the transfer succeeded. Anything that does come back with a reason attached is worth reading closely, because the documented rejection reasons overlap heavily with these same mechanical issues.
None of these are creative problems, which is exactly why they sting. They are file-handling problems, and file handling rewards a checklist rather than talent.
Fitting this into a multi-agency pipeline
Almost nobody sells on one platform any more, and the practical consequence is that a single shoot has to satisfy several different specs at once. Mechanically, delivering the same folder to a second destination over FTP works the same way — the Shutterstock FTP route is a useful comparison — but field limits, keyword counts and release handling differ enough that one export preset rarely satisfies both.
The workable approach is one master set of metadata per file, embedded in IPTC, plus a per-agency mapping layer that reshapes titles, keyword counts and category fields on the way out. Done by hand that is an evening per batch. Written once as a rule set, it is the difference between selling on three platforms and selling on ten.
Rastock AI was built around that mapping problem: AI-generated metadata that respects each platform's banned and mandatory keyword rules, then FTP or SFTP delivery to 10+ agencies from a single queue, with per-file status you can actually read. There is no revenue share and no ownership claim on your files, and IPTC and CSV export stay yours. The feature list covers the delivery side, and pricing includes a 14-day free trial with no card required.
Frequently asked questions
Does every Freepik contributor get FTP access?
No. FTP is granted to contributors who have published at least 500 files, which in practice means reaching Level 3. Before that, uploads run through the web panel: a test batch of 150 to 200 assets at Level 1, then up to 200 assets per submission at Level 2. Publication, not submission, counts toward the 500.
How many files can I upload per month?
At Level 3 the platform allows a maximum of 200 assets per month, with no separate limit on individual batch sizes. Earlier levels cap each submission at 200 assets instead. Because reviews are quoted at up to 25 working days, submitting late in the month pushes publication well into the following one.
How long does review take?
Contributors are asked to allow up to 25 working days, Monday to Friday, for assets to be reviewed. That is around five calendar weeks at the outer end. Review time is also why the 500-published-files threshold for FTP takes longer to reach than upload volume alone would suggest.
What specs do photos need?
JPG in RGB, between 2,000 px and 10,000 px on any side, over 0.5 MB, with an sRGB, Adobe RGB, ProPhoto RGB or P3 profile. Titles and keywords must be embedded in the file's metadata. Watermarks, brand names and logos are not accepted, and releases are required where the subject calls for them.
Can I leave files on the FTP server as a backup?
No. Files may remain in the FTP directory for a maximum of six months without being submitted, and anything inactive for 180 days becomes unavailable. The directory is a staging area between transfer and submission, not storage. Keep your own archive somewhere you control.
Do I keyword before or after the FTP transfer?
Either works, because the two steps are separate. Titles and keywords should be embedded in the files themselves, and you can also upload a CSV or add keywords directly in the Upload section of the contributor panel after transfer. Splitting them lets a slow overnight transfer run without blocking the metadata pass.