Frequently Asked Questions

We offer various sizes of contents, and prices are determined by each file size. Please refer to Customer Guide.

To purchase contents at PIXTA, please take following steps :
1. Register as a member (for free)
2. Search for contents
3. Add to cart
4. Make payment
5. Download

Please see Customer Guide for more details.

You can make purchases through PIXTA using following methods :
- Credit Card
- PayPal
- Prepaid Credits　*You need to purchase in advance.

Prepaid credits could be used to purchase contents at PIXTA.

Prepaid credits are offered in preset packages. The more credits you buy, the more money you'll save compared to our standard pricing.
This also takes the hassle out of bank transfer or input of credit card information and let you download contents more speedily.
Prepaid credits are available for purchase by credit card and PayPal.

» Purchase prepaid credits

Prepaid Credits expire 1 year from the date of purchase. If you purchase more credits, that will extend the expiration date for the credits you currently have, from the new purchase date.

Receipts could be printed online after purchase.

*Receipts are issued per payments.
*Receipts can't be reissued.

Please understand that we do not issue estimate, purchase order, nor statement of delivery in order to provide highly qualified contents at affordable price.

We provide free, watermarked sample data (comp images) for comprehensive layout.
You can also check the zoomed image in each content page. You need to sign up and login when using these functions.

Note :
- You may use comp images in draft and layout work only, and may not use in final production.
- Comp images have decreased size and quality in comparison to original files.
- Using comp images for final production is regarded as an infringement of copyright and subject to indemnification.
- Sample footage is offered in flv. format.

If you are willing to upgrade the size of already purchased content, please log-in to your account page, access to Download History and apply for size upgrade.
In this case, you only have to pay for the difference in amount.

Due to the particular nature of digital data, it is not possible to return the content, ask for a refund or reduction thereof or refuse the payment after the purchase, except in the cases prescribed in the Terms of Use.

However, we accept cancellation of your purchase under the following conditions only.

In such case, please contact us within one year from purchase date.
- Purchased content itself has a physical defect or error.
- Normal payment was not made due to temporary server error or network error which caused unusual payment procedure such as payment duplication.
*Please be noted that only when the same content was purchased more than once within 24 hours we recognize that as payment duplication.

Please see theTerms of Use for more details.

A Lightbox is used to store and manage a group of contents that you would like to eventually purchase.

You could create as many Lightbox as you want. Images or footage stored in Lightboxes could be easily accessed and checked via PIXTA website (Images and footage could be mixed and placed in the same Lightbox).

You could also send the Lightbox link to your friends/colleagues for them to share. (To add contents to Lightbox, go to the search results or each content page and click "Lightbox" or light bulb icon.)
*Membership registration and log-in is necessary to create a Lightbox.

We apologize that we do not research contents for customers.

Instead, we offer useful search functions and tools to help you easily find what you want.
Please try to search with keywords, categories, file no. etc.
You can also narrow down your search results by file type, orientation, number of people in images and so on.

Please refer to content details page for particulars of a content such as name of the subject, place information and model release information.
Please note that we can't contact each contributor to ask more detailed information.

»Please also see here for relations of right such as property release.

When you purchase, please click "Enter Promotion Code" and fill in the code. After you fill in, click "Apply" and check the price after discount.

Please refer to this FAQ about coupons for subscription plans.

*Terms of use depends on coupons

"Royalty-free", or "RF", refers to a copyright license under which images / footage can be used repeatedly under the Terms of Use, once purchased. Moreover, purchasers do not need to report usage or to renew expiration dates of RF content, which keeps it reasonable.
However, this license belongs only to purchasers and is not transferable. Meanwhile, royalty-free is not the same as copyright-free in that a copyright of RF content belongs to the contributor who creates it.
Please note that PIXTA does not sell content of RF stock itself but sells licenses to use it under the Terms of Use.

The royalty free images available on PIXTA can be used as follows:
- Website design (including business websites), advertising, publications, goods packaging, TV and so forth;
- With a single download, an image can be used as many times as needed to the extent permitted under the Terms of Use;
- Altering images is also possible to the extent permitted under the Terms of Use

However, any use against public moral, selling or giving raw data or reproduction of images, any use that might damage the contributor or the model in any way is prohibited by the Terms of Use

Before using an image, please take a note of the Terms of use and "Is there any usage restrictions or prohibited matters?".

If you have any question, please use the Contact form to contact us.

Extended License is required when a photo/illustration is used for the following purposes:
- In case that the total number for reproduction of the Content for the usages separately designated by Pixta is 300,000 or more;
- In case that the credit or copyright notice designated by PIXTA is not displayed for broadcasting or webcasting of the Content;
- Use in templates;
- Sale of certain products separately designated by Pixta.
*Extended License is not required for footage.
» See here for more information.

Yes. If you once purchased royalty-free licensed images and want to add Extended License to them, please go to your Download History page and click “Upgrade”.
Once it upgraded, you don't need to pay the extended license again for another use of the same content for extended license purpose.
*Extended License is not required for footage but required for photos and illustrations.

No. Once purchased, you don’t need to add additional Extended License.
You can use the Extended Licensed images for multi purpose, with one time licensing.
*Extended License is required for each content.

No. Once purchased, you do not need to add extra Extended License for every use.
(Please note that Extended License is required per image)
If you once purchased image without Extended License but want to use it for the Extended License purpose, you can upgrade it to the Extended License in your account page.

If an image is used for free publication, the Extended License is required once the total number of reproduction becomes 300,000 or more.

If the prescribed copyright notice is displayed, the Content may be used without obtaining the Extended License, regardless that it is charged or not upon distribution. However, otherwise, the Extended License is required.

The Extended License is not required for digital content, except for the case of broadcasting,
webcasting, and using in templates, regardless of number of reproduction or regardless that it is charged or not upon the distribution.

The Extended License will be required if the total number of reproduction of the Content is 300,000 or more. Otherwise, not necessary.

No. Once the Extended License is purchased, you do not need to add extra Extended License for every use.
For example, once you purchase an image with Extended License, you can use it for multiple Extended License purposes.

If the prescribed copyright notice is displayed, the Content may be used without obtaining the Extended License. However, otherwise, the Extended License is required.
» See here for more information.

Yes. Royalty-Free (RF) contents selling at PIXTA could be used as many times as needed once those are purchased.
However, even if you have purchased a photo/image without Extended License at first, you still have to upgrade the content to Extended Licensed if the purpose of usage changes to require Extended License later.
» Please see here for the details.

*Please be advised that downloads are available for three months since the purchase date.
*Selling and downloading may be suspended depending on the intention of contributors and other right holders, etc.

Yes. Our license prohibits such uses as follows:

- Use in obscene content or against public policy and good morals;

- Use as or in logos, service marks, or any other object, which is subject to any legal right such as trademarks or designs etc.;

- Use in adult-entertainment business, pornography, sexually explicit contents, dating site or any other equivalents;

- Use related to gangsters, terrorists or any other antisocial forces or any equivalent thereto;

- Use which leads, or would lead, to defamation, libel, abuse, violation of rights or disrepute of the Contributor Member or subject of the Content such as models, including, but not limited to, those which resulted from alteration or distorting etc. of the Content or subject of the Content;

- Use the Content in any business or service competing with Pixta’s business or service, including, but not limited to, the items below;
- Running or operating stock photography or stock content provider business;
- Distributing or adding the Content as material contained in a collection of contents such as CD, DVD, software or the like;
- Printing out or materializing the Content and distributing the same as material for users to use for any purpose, or scoring the Music and distributing the scored material; or
- Distributing the Content in any manner that users are permitted to make free alteration to the Content itself as material.

- Plagiarizing or use which would be regarded as plagiarism of the Content, including the use in which the Content is publicized or published with being misunderstood as though it is a work by any person other than the original author or the legitimate copyright holder,

- Resale, assignment or sublicensing of the Content downloaded from the Service to any third party, with or without compensation;

- Use in any manner giving impression that the subject of the Content is using or endorsing a particular business transaction, product or service with the effects as if it is real through adopting the dialogue balloons, adding false personal information (age, name, etc.) or any other way in the design;

- Use related to any of the following sensitive subject, except in cases where the Content expressly depicts such sensitive subject:

《 sensitive subjects 》
Physical or psychological disabilities or diseases, drug, tobacco, energy enhancement medicine, violence (including, but not limited to, domestic violence, abuse or bullying), infertility, birth control, abortion, sex-changes, sexual orientation, gender identity, gambling, Japanese pinball (Pachinko), consumer financing, cosmetic surgery, a portrait of a deceased person;

*tips
In principle, the Member shall not use the Content depicting a person or persons related to the above mentioned sensitive subject, except the Content expressly depicting such sensitive subject. Judgement whether the Content expressly depicts the subject or not shall be made on the basis of the visual image of the Content, and it shall not be affected because the subject is included in the title or keywords of the Content or the Content is included in the search result under the subject. If the judgement is uncertain, you are required to obtain the Contributor Member's prior approval. Any use which is illegal, defamation or against public order and good morals shall be still prohibited even if the Content expressly depicts a sensitive subject.

- Use giving an impression that the subject of the Content belongs to, endorses, or gives an opinion for or against, any particular religion, political party (politics), thought, or the like;

- Portraying the subject of the Content in a way that a reasonable person would find offensive, including, but not limited to, the use by which subject of the Content may be found offensive as a result of emphasizing his or her physical features;

- Use of the Content or subject of the Content in a fallacious content, in a manner which may cause a misconception, in relation to fraud defamation, or in any other illegal content or context;

- Use or publication of data for comp of the Content for the purpose other than mockup purpose;

- Use for AI learning purpose including, but not limited to, any generative AI models (the dataset for machine learning/AI learning is available separately. Any Member who requests the license for the machine learning purpose should contact us by the designated contact form.);

- Any other use equivalent to the preceding items that Pixta considers inappropriate.

Please make sure to read and understand Terms of Use before use.
If you have any questions regarding licensing or usages, do not hesitate to contact us.

First, you are required to make any of the following alterations to the Content for the use thereof.

The Images
- Adjusting the resolution of the Content in appropriate manner for the intended use;
- Incorporating the Content in the design to ensure that any third party will not separate or download the Content itself; or
- Adding text or simple montages over the Content.

*Alterations to the Images such as trimming, turnover, resizing, changing color, adding text, and simple montages are permitted.

The Footage
- Incorporating the Content as a part of multimedia products such as films, videos, TV programs, advertisements and the like; or
- Taking technical measures to prevent any third party from isolating or downloading only the Footage from the products.

*Alterations permitted for the Images shall be also permitted for the Footage; provided, however, that the Contributor Member’s prior approval shall be required if any still image is created and used from the Footage, except that such still image is created and used in the course of promotional activities of multimedia products incorporating the Footage.

The Music
- Synchronizing the Content with multimedia products such as films, videos, TV programs, advertisements and the like; or
- Taking technical measures to prevent any third party from isolating or downloading only the Music from the products.

*Alterations to the Music shall be limited to volume control, fade-in/fade-out, loop, cut, and minor tone adjustment. Material alteration to the Music such as deleting vocal, and so forth are prohibited.

*However, any alteration such as adding simple borders or adding the designated credit or copyright note in an unrecognizable size, or any act uploading the Content in a manner enabling a third party to easily download the original data shall not be considered to meet the above mentioned alteration requirement. The above mentioned alteration is required when the Content is used in SNS etc.

Based on the above mentioned alteration, if necessary further, you may alter the content to the extent permitted under the License Agreement.

About the alteration of the content (Paragraph 12 of Article 1 of License Agreement)

“The Member is permitted to make free alterations such as trimming, turnover, resizing, changing color, adding text, and simple montages subject to the prohibitions set forth in the following paragraph.”

Also you should be noted that such alteration is strictly prohibited as falling under any of “Prohibitions” as set forth in Paragraph 13 of Article 1 of the License Agreement, for example, making material changes or alterations to subject of the Content or violating the moral rights of the subject people.

If you have any further inquiry concerning the way you want to alter the image, use the Contact form and ask us.

The copyright notice (copyright and credit notice) represents the author and copyright owner of the works, and is displayed on each work's detailed page.

When you use our items for TV programs, magazines, books, it is necesarry for you to display the copyrights of the works as a general rule.
In the case of using items for other purposes, please display the copyrights as much as possible.

* When you use our photos and illustrations for TV programs, broadcast / video distributions, if it is difficult for you to put the copyright notice of the works, you need to obtain our Extended License in addtion to the items.
* Furthermore, footage does not require the Extended License. However, in the case of the uses above, please put the copyright as a general rule.

《 An example of how to display the copyright notice 》
Photos by: PIXTA
●●● (Contributor's name) / PIXTA

<a href="https://www.pixtastock.com/">Image</a> Provided by PIXTA

<a href="https://www.pixtastock.com/">Stock Image</a>: PIXTA

* Basically, writing the copyright in any form convenient for you would be appreciated, since we don't have specified one.
Either displaying just "Photo by PIXTA" or "(Contributor's name) / PIXTA" would be appreciated, and putting it on the colophon or the end credit roll would be fine as well.
You can use any font convenient for you.
(* For illustrations and footage, please use appropriate ones, according to the type.)

The copyrights of contents selling at PIXTA belong to contributors themselves.
Royalty-free doesn’t mean contributors abandon their rights.
Please be noted that PIXTA is selling the license to use contents within Terms of Use.

Model release
Model release is a legal release signed by the model granting permission to publish, sell and use the photos / illustrations or footage as royalty free contents.
If model releases are acquired by contributors, the release information is provided in each content page.

Property release
Property release is a legal release signed by the owner or right holder of the subject such as facility, private land and artwork granting permission to publish, sell and use the contents as royalty free.
If property releases are acquired by contributors, the release information is provided in each content page.
The necessity of property releases depend on each subject, usage and jurisdiction.
Please consider and determine if consent by right holder is necessary or not before purchase by user's responsibility.
If you decide that the consent by right holder is necessary, please confirm with the subject of contents clearly explaining the usage.

PIXTA do not hold the right of the subjects in any contents.
Please note that we can not provide information if any releases required for each content and we do not acquire the consent of usage on anyone's behalf.

The right to use the purchased contents is granted to the registered Member of the account.
If you have registered with Pixta the company to which you belong, the company is the Member, and the contents may be used in the company to the extent permitted under the Terms of Use.
Only the Member can download the contents from the account, however, if the company is the Member, only the registrant of the account can download the content from the account.
Under the single seat license of the subscription, only the Member (or only the registrant if the company is the Member) him or herself may download and alter the content.
Under the license of the single purchase, the content downloaded by the registrant may be altered by other members of the company.
If the Member uses the content in a product that the Member produces for the client, the Member may allow the client to use the content only in the said product.
If the Member entrusts to any subcontractor production of any product in which the content is used, the Member may allow the subcontractor to alter the content only in the said product.
In either event, the Member is liable for the compliance of the Terms of Use etc. by the client and the subcontractor.

Sure! You can use PIXTA contents for both commercial and personal usage.
Please read and understand our Terms of Use before using our contents.

Please be noted that in commercial usage, we prohibit any usage comes under false or illegal.
(e.g. Causing misunderstanding that the object of an image is the sales product itself, false display that make people believe the model of an image is someone else, false display that the model of an image is the user of product/service.)

*Please check Terms of Use before using our contents.

Every User who desires to use the “Free Images” that is available for free in the Service PIXTA (hereinafter referred to as the "Service") is required to agree to these Terms and Conditions in using the Free Images (hereinafter referred to as the “Free Images License Agreement”).

Article 1
The Free Images available in the Service may be downloadable only by the Member him or herself who has completed the membership registration in the Service.

Article 2
The Free Images available in the Service may be used only within the extent equal to the license for the Individual Purchase granted under the License Agreement. If the use of the Free Images by the User falls or may fall under any of the Extended License Purposes, the User is required to purchase the Extended License for the Free Images separately, provided, however, that the Footage and the Music are not subject to the Extended License. Unless otherwise agreed with Pixta in writing, the Footage and the Music may be used within the purposes as stipulated in the "About License"

About License
https://www.pixtastock.com/about-license

Additional Purchase of the Extended License
https://www.pixtastock.com/faq#Can_I_upgrade_purchased_image_to_Extended_Licensed_image

Article 3
The treatment of copyright of the Free Images or right of the subjects therein, the extent of permitted use, prohibitions and the like in respect of the Free Images shall be subject to the Terms of Use and the License Agreement of the Service. Every User who desires to use the Free Images shall read and agree to the Terms of Use.
https://www.pixtastock.com/terms

As of November 28, 2017

No problem! You can download your files for 3 months after your purchase in your account page. Please go to Download History to view and save purchased files.

*Selling and downloading may be suspended depending on the intention of contributors and other right holders, etc.

If downloaded image has any failure, please see followings.

- Full image is not showing / Image is lacking some parts.
This could be caused by download failure. Please try to download again.
If the same failure occurs for multiple times, please Contact Us with purchased File no.

- Can't view purchased image / file format is not JPG.
When you purchase more than three images and downloaded them all at once, files will be compressed to zip format instead of jpg format.
In that case, you'll need decompress software depending on your system environment.
If you are unable to decompress zip format, please log in to your account page and access to Purchase History.
From that page, you could download images one by one in jpg format.

- There's something wrong with image size or aspect ratio.
There could be some failure occurred to pixel aspect ratio or resolution settings.
Please check pixel aspect ratio with image editing software such as Photoshop and set the pixel to square if necessary.
Please check resolution settings and fix the resolution if necessary.
Resolution (dpi) doesn't affect the quality of image. Pixel size won't change even if you change resolution.

If the issue is still not solved, please Contact Us with File no., details of the issue and your system environment.

We recommend QuickTime for footage player.

Our recommended system requirements are following. Please check your system requirements.

»Format : mov, mp4
»Codec(mov) : Either of Photo JPEG Motion JPEG A/B H.264
»Codec(mp4) : H.264

There are cases when server is not responding correctly, download of purchased footage goes wrong.
Please report to us via Contact us with File no. and order ID if the error keep on occurring.

Currently every contents are delivered via internet downloads only.

Please register from following page if you wish to register as a customer.
After you have input necessary information, confirmation e-mail will be sent to your registered address.
By clicking the URL in confirmation e-mail, your registration will be completed.
There’s no fee needed for registration.
»Sign up

You can sign up for PIXTA contributor account from here. Please see also Contributor Guide.

We do not collect registration fee nor membership fee.
Both customer membership and contributor membership could be registered for free.

《 Confirmation mail seems missing 》
Please check your spam mail folder. In case you couldn't find our mail, go to here and resend confirmation email.
( If email address was wrong or your registration is already completed, email won't be sent. )

《 Confirmation URL doesn't work 》
If the link doesn't work, please try the following :
- Copy and paste it into your browser.
- Try to login. Your registration might have already completed. If you forgot your password, please reset from here.

If you still have problems, please contact us with your email address.

If you can't log in to your account, please make sure that you have input correct e-mail address and password.
Please note that password is case-sensitive, and be careful not to input unnecessary space.
There's also some possibilities of computer environment causing the error, so please check preferred system requirements from here.
If you have forgotten your password, please input your registered e-mail address at following page.

If you have forgotten your password, please input your registered e-mail address at following page. E-mail regarding changing password will be sent to your e-mail address.
»Reset Your Password

Please note that you need to register as a new member again if you lost both email address and password.

Please register as a contributor which enables you to both purchase and sell contents.
You can sign up for PIXTA contributor account from here. Please see also Contributor Guide.

You can change your email address, password or other information at any time in your account page.
Please go to Account Settings to view or change your information.
If you are registered as a customer member and want to sell stock contents, please see a Contributor Guide. Contributor members can make purchase with no additional procedure.

Please log into your account page and follow the instructions in "Close Account".
Refer to Article 8 of the Terms of Use

PIXTA is validated by following version/system environment.
If any failure occurs in system environment other than following system requirements, please change the environment and try again.

- Mac OSX
Google Chrome (Latest version)
Firefox (Latest version)
Safari (Latest version)
*Not validated by OS9

- Windows Vista, 7, 8
Google Chrome (Latest version)
Firefox (Latest version)
Internet Explorer 8 or higher
*Not validated by Windows98, 2000, ME, XP

- Others
cookie function is enabled
JavaScript is enabled
Latest Flash player is installed
Flash player is necessary in order to utilize some functions such as uploading images and playing footage preview.
If it's not installed to your system, please download it from Adobe.
http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

Flash player is necessary to watch footage preview.

Please install from Adobe if you do not have Flash player.
http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

Our recommended network line speed is over 1.5Mbps.

PIXTA affiliate program is a performance-based advertising program in which you can display ad banners and promote PIXTA in your blogs or websites, and earn rewards from new members' purchases.
Affiliate program is available for both contributor and customer members.
To join the program, log into your account page and see "Affiliate Program".

If you want to stop receiving newsletters from PIXTA, please log in to your account page, access to Account Settings and uncheck "Opt-in Newsletters".

*E-mail announcing purchase/sales details and confirmation e-mail regarding changing account information can't be stopped.
*Please be noted that important announcement such as system maintenance might be sent to members not permitting to receive newsletters.

Please check your e-mail account again because it could be possible that our e-mail has arrived to your junk mail folder.
If not in your junk mail folder, please contact us again.

It takes about a couple of days until our reply (We are not operating during weekends and national holidays). Please be noted that it might take longer depends on the subject of inquiry or some congestion.

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If you are using other browsers now, please update your browser version or consider using another one. For details of the settings above, please refer to the Help of your terminal and browser.