Known Participant

Answered

Similar images already submitted!!!

Forum|Forum|10 months ago
March 30, 2025
71 replies
50630 views

Hello there,

I went from a 95% acceptance rate to 20% or less. Almost all of my submissions are being rejected for the "similar image" reason.

The quality of the images is really good and doesn’t have any issues.

I am uploading at most 2 or 3 variations of each object ,PNGs only and a variety of different items across many categories. I also make sure not to upload similar content that I’ve previously submitted. I am 100% certain that my entire account doesn’t have more than three variations of any given item.

Sometimes, I upload the same object in different styles.

for example, a car in a 3D style and another version in watercolor or clay, so they are still distinct. (2 to 3 variations for each style)

Is this a general issue that will be resolved soon, or is it only affecting me?

Contributors

Correct answer daniellei4510

Hello everyone. Adobe Stoke made a reject of my photo under the pretext that I posted a similar picture. But this is not true. Can anyone explain what is happening?

hanks for giving us the chance to consider your image. Unfortunately, during our review we found that it's similar to another image(s) you've already uploaded, so we can't accept it into our collection.

Images must be different enough to provide additional value to our customers. We can't accept more than three color variations of the same image or similar images, and models must appear in different situations or with different expressions to be considered. Please be selective and submit only the very best from each image series.

..

File ID: 1370485346

Original name: IMG_3779 3.jpg

(moderator merging this with similar thread)

A number of contributors are having assets rejected for being too similar when in fact they are not. We don't know why. Our only option is to wait things out until the situatioin is explained or fixed. Some have ceased to submit new assets in the meantime.

Show previous replies

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Lotus_Blanc

Participant

Hi everyone,

I’m experiencing the same issue with Adobe Stock. For the past few days, my submissions are being rejected with the reason “similar images already exist,” but the problem is, I’ve never submitted images like the ones they’re referencing. I’ve double-checked, and none of the rejected images have been submitted before, nor do they match anything in Adobe’s catalog.

I’ve been following all the submission guidelines and always ensure my content is high quality, so this sudden wave of rejections is really confusing. I’ve seen on the forum that this is happening to others as well, so I’m wondering if Adobe has made any recent changes to their review process or if there’s a new AI-based review tool causing this issue.

Has anyone else encountered this problem? If so, any insights or advice would be really appreciated. Thanks!

Jill_C

Community Expert

Many people have reported increased rejections for "similars". Adobe has offered no explanation, but they've clearly either changed the instructions to their human moderators or have implemented some sort of automated tool. It would be nice if they told us what's happening, but they're notoriously silent on internal processes and procedures.

Jill C., Forum Volunteer

photorebelle

Inspiring

AI has democratized creation, but it has also led to an overproduction of images. Many people just type in a generic prompt, generate in bulk, and submit it without really editing or organizing, just playing the numbers game. Adobe is tightening the rules to prevent its library from becoming oversaturated.

The problem is that great photographers and skilled AI creators (because yes, they do exist) end up caught in the crossfire.
It's just a simple opinion

C

coffeeman_L

Inspiring

If Adobe's software team made an addition to the software, periodically and automatically scanned the entire archive, produced a report of what was needed and what was not needed, and somehow delivered it to the contributors...

I think it would be useful.

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

If Adobe's software team made a report of what was needed... I think it would be useful.
By @coffeeman_L

================

It's all spelled out in the artist hub:

https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/artist-hub-migration/creat-what-s-in-demand.html

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert

P

Paper Ferry

Participating Frequently

@Nancy OShea Yes, they have these guidelines in the artist hub. But, for example, my images were rejected for similar images exactly in these categories - business, food, nature, seasonal, and health/wellness. They were not submitted in a series of many, only 1-2 images per category, and they were not similar to what I have in my portfolio.

So, something indeed has changed in the acceptance process and sadly Adobe Stock is not communicating it to contributors. It is unfair that we now have to play a guessing game about what to upload. I personally gave up uploading until (if ever) they provided new acceptance criteria.

S

stanislava_5223

Known Participant

I just got another auto-reply. Cool.

P

Paper Ferry

Participating Frequently

Yup, I keep getting these replies all week. I insist that they need to alert their tech team or whoever is in charge of whichever arbitrary rejection tool they are using. I will keep replying to these auto-replies with requests to either announce to the contributors their acceptance criteria changes or to fix the malfunctioning tool or whatever is going on.

daniellei4510

Community Expert

Given that assets with obvious quality issues are being rejected for being too similar, I suspect the assets in question are not even making it to the moderators. There appears to be a "gatekeeper" of sorts in play. This isn't the first time assets have been rejected for being too similar, but they were always few and far between. Something has been tweaked to the extent that many, if not the majority of assets submitted, are being erroneously tagged as too similar.

Adobe Community Expert | If you can't fix it, hide it; if you can't hide it, delete it.

M

muhammad_7751

Inspiring

Adobe has significantly tightened its automated similarity detection system, likely in an effort to reduce bulk uploads and repetitive content. As a result, even subtle style changes are sometimes not enough to differentiate images in the eyes of the system. Many contributors have reported issues with over-filtering, where clearly distinct versions — such as flat vs. 3D styles, different angles, lighting, or artistic interpretations — are still being flagged as "too similar." This suggests that Adobe's algorithm may focus more on object shape and composition rather than visual style. Additionally, transparent PNG files appear to be under greater scrutiny, as the clear silhouette and isolated object structure make it easier for the system to detect perceived duplicates. This widespread issue is not account-specific, as many contributors, especially those working with vector-style illustrations, 3D renders, or isolated PNG elements, are experiencing the same problem

H

hotspurs99

Known Participant

Same thing happening to me. I even got rejected for an image of a Palace that I've never uploaded previously and the reason given was "SIMILAR IMAGES ALREADY SUBMITTED" even though it was the first time I uploaded it. I suspect reviews are done by AI.

S

Sobhy_AIAuthor

Known Participant

Was that a regular image or generated by AI?

H

hotspurs99

Known Participant

It was a regular photo. I did submit AI images and a couple got approved quickly while others still not reviewed.

S

stanislava_5223

Known Participant

Experiencing the same for a couple of weeks now. Also, the review time became much-much longer.
My random image with a human's hands holding a beaver got rejected today. I checked the search, and it looks like there is no single similar image on Adobe Stock (correct me if I'm wrong). All this looks too stupid to be new acceptance rules.

Abambo

Community Expert

All this looks too stupid to be new acceptance rules.

By @stanislava_5223

How about a bug in the system?

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

S

stanislava_5223

Known Participant

I hope that's really a bug that will be fixed by Adobe...
Currently, I just stopped uploading and deleted some of the pictures that were on a review stage.

S

Sobhy_AIAuthor

Known Participant

I used to receive a daily email with my sales from the previous day, but they stopped sending it 10 days ago, around the same time the "similar image" issue started. I’m still getting downloads, but I’m not receiving the email.

P

Paper Ferry

Participating Frequently

I'm still receiving emails with sales and with the status of files reviewed.

P

Paper Ferry

Participating Frequently

These Similar Image rejections are getting out of hand. My acceptance rate dropped from 90% to 0% in the past few days. 2-3 images get rejected every few minutes. Contributor support is not helpful at all :'(

S

Sobhy_AIAuthor

Known Participant

Same here, I got only 3 images accepted out of more than 200 in the past week. There must be another way to reach them instead of just the contributor support email.

P

Paper Ferry

Participating Frequently

Over 500 were rejected for Similar as of today, many are conceptual and unique images :'( 214 are left pending and they will be rejected too. Full 0% acceptance rate instead of the usual 90%. I took time to craft and edit each image carefully and was so excited about this project. But now this isn't very encouraging 😞 I'm going to take a long break from Adobe Stock and will focus on uploading somewhere else then.

photorebelle

Inspiring

I understand the importance of avoiding duplicates on the platform, but I would like my submissions to be evaluated with a more nuanced approach.
It would also be useful to obtain clarification on these new "likeness" criteria.
Personally on 10 images if I have one to accept it's a good day!

daniellei4510

Community Expert

Agreed. I have no issue with keeping the database lean and mean, but many of the rejections are extremely arbitrary.

Adobe Community Expert | If you can't fix it, hide it; if you can't hide it, delete it.

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

It's not just you.

Others are seeing "similar" rejections, too.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert

S

Sobhy_AIAuthor

Known Participant

Is this issue affecting AI-generated images only, or does it apply to regular images as well?

And what should we do? Should we just wait for them to fix it, or is it better to move on to another platform and remove our content from here? From all the issues I’ve seen, it seems like they don’t respect contributors at all. They don’t even answer questions, and it takes months to get a response from support.

daniellei4510

Community Expert

No. I have heard of a few photographers experiencing the same issue. Some here, and some on Facebook sites discussing Adobe Stock. I certainly wouldn't remove content that has already been accepted. As for a "fix," we don't even know for sure if Adobe is aware that something is broken or that the change is being over-zealous in rejecting duplicate assets. You may wish to email contributor support and express your concerns. You'll receive a canned response, but that doesn't mean the complaints aren't being read.

Adobe Community Expert | If you can't fix it, hide it; if you can't hide it, delete it.

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