Zillow, Realtor.com and MLS Listing Photos: Size, Text and Watermark Rules

Published 19 October 2026 · by Tekiba

Zillow: no names, logos or watermarks

We read Zillow's help pages on the publication date above. The one on branded photos is direct:

Zillow Group restricts the inclusion of self-promoting information on listings. This includes, but is not limited to, an agent's name, company, logo, phone number, email address or branded watermarks.

It quotes the rule from Zillow's Listings Quality Policy:

You may not include marketing information, including, without limitation, an Agent's name, company name, logo, phone number and/or email address on listing photos or in video walkthroughs, whether as text, a watermark, or otherwise.

And it says what happens otherwise: Zillow asks you to remove it "to avoid the suspension or removal of your account and listings." Most for-sale photos reach Zillow from the MLS feed, and Zillow Rental Manager's help says such photos "must be uploaded at the feed source instead of directly on Zillow", so the MLS set is the one Zillow shows.

Zillow publishes its numbers on the Rental Manager side. Its photo tips say:

Photo dimensions must be at least 330 pixels wide by 220 pixels high – we suggest 1536 pixels wide by 1152 pixels high for best quality.

The same page asks for JPG, GIF, PNG or TIF files smaller than 10 MB. We found no size for for-sale listings and no maximum number of photos on Zillow's own pages.

Realtor.com: a size, and no rule on marks we could find

Realtor.com's support article on adding listing photos gives a format and a size:

File Type: JPG is the highly recommended file format. The dashboard accepts PNG files but will automatically convert almost all formats to JPG.

Dimensions: For optimal clarity, ensure your photos are exactly 3,264 pixels wide by 2,448 pixels high.

It caps a single upload at 20MB and notes that photos you upload yourself "will replace the automated images from the MLS". We found nothing on Realtor.com's support pages about watermarks, logos or text on photos. That is not permission: the photos most listings show are the MLS's, and the MLS's rules apply to them.

Two MLSs: branding is prohibited

Every MLS writes its own rules. Two large ones publish theirs in detail. CRMLS, in California, in its Photographs and Media FAQs:

CRMLS defines branding as the use of any media content to identify a person or entity.

Media content that CRMLS may consider branding includes, but is not limited to, signs, contact information, identifiable persons, logos, slogans, catchphrases, external links/references, team names, or any other items related to the broker or agent.

CRMLS also adds its own mark: each uploaded photo "is stamped with a watermark that displays the letters "CRMLS" in the bottom-right corner." A mark of yours in that corner would sit under it.

Bright MLS, in the mid-Atlantic, lists what a listing image may not contain, including:

Contact or identifying information or any text or graphics that have been added or superimposed.

Bright also says subscribers "may not alter or remove the copyright legend from any image unless it is the listing broker's own image." And ARMLS, in Arizona, allows only the watermarks it supplies, as our article on whether you can watermark real estate listing photos sets out. Your MLS may differ, and your broker may add to it.

The numbers side by side

None of these pages says anything about a photo's EXIF data or its GPS position. A listing's address is public, but the camera's serial number and the time each photo was taken need not be; SignetDrop's copies leave that block out by default.

Two sets from one shoot, in the browser

1. The MLS set, with no mark of your own. Open SignetDrop with the MLS (ARMLS) preset, which takes both marks off, and add the photos. Set Longest edge to the size you want: at 1536, a 4032×3024 photo comes out at 1536×1152, Zillow's suggestion, on the free version. Name them with a prefix such as 12-oak-st-mls- and download the ZIP.

2. The marketing set, with your mark. Keep the photos loaded, tick the text mark, type the brokerage name and pick a corner and opacity. Change the prefix to 12-oak-st-web- so the two sets never mix, and download the second ZIP. The Real estate listings preset does this in one step: a company-name mark at the bottom right and a 4:3 landscape shape on white, with nothing cropped. Its sample file names are in Japanese, so type your own prefix over them, and the 4:3 shape is a paid feature the free version lets you try on 3 photos.

3. Upload the right set to the right place. The unmarked ZIP goes to the MLS; the marked one to your website and social posts. Nothing is uploaded to make either: each archive is built in the page.

Realtor.com's 3,264 by 2,448 is above the free version's 2048px, and SignetDrop never enlarges a photo, so a photo smaller than that stays its own size.

What this does not do

It does not know your MLS's rules, check a photo against them or upload anything to an MLS or a portal. It cannot see a yard sign or a person in the frame, which CRMLS and Bright also treat as branding. And whether a photo passes is for Zillow, Realtor.com or your MLS to decide, not us. Output above 2048px and larger batches are in the paid version, $29 once, with the full split on the pricing panel, and SignetDrop never writes its own name onto your photos.

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