What image size and aspect ratio works best for Etsy digital product listing photos?

Hi! For Etsy digital download listing photos, the safest “works everywhere” choice is a landscape 4:3 aspect ratio (for example 3000 × 2250 px or anything where the short side is at least ~2000 px) and then designing with a center “safe area” so your thumbnail still looks good when Etsy crops it to a square in places like search/shop grids—especially on mobile.

A few practical rules that keep thumbnails from cutting off important stuff (and keep text readable):

• Design in 4:3 (landscape) for your master. Etsy frequently crops thumbnails, and 4:3 gives you room to crop without losing the subject.
• Keep all critical content in the middle ~60–70% of the image. That means your product mockup + any key words (“Editable Canva Template”, “Instant Download”, size, etc.) should sit centered, with generous padding on all sides.
• Assume the edges will get chopped. Avoid putting text near the top/bottom/left/right edges.
• Use big, minimal text (or none on the first photo). On mobile thumbnails, small text becomes unreadable fast. If you use text, stick to 3–6 words max, high contrast, and large type.
• Use Etsy’s thumbnail crop/placement tool after uploading to fine-tune what shows in the grid.

On square vs portrait vs landscape:

• Square-only designs can work, but they’re more likely to get awkwardly cropped in some placements (and you lose horizontal room for mockups).
• Portrait tends to get cropped the most in grids/thumbnails.
• Landscape 4:3 is usually the easiest to control across search results, shop home, and mobile browsing.

For your workflow: make one master template and export versions rather than designing from scratch each time.

• Create a master in 4:3 (e.g., 3000 × 2250).
• Optionally also export a square version (e.g., 2500 × 2500) for reuse elsewhere (Pinterest/IG), but for Etsy, keep your upload set consistent so your listing photos look uniform in the grid.

If you tell me what kind of digital downloads you sell (wall art, Canva templates, planners, SVGs, etc.), I can suggest a simple photo sequence (what to put in image #1, #2, #3…) that tends to keep text readable and conversions strong on mobile.