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Amazon Influencer Video Requirements: The Complete 2026 Checklist

By Miles · Updated Jul 20, 2026 · every claim sourced & dated

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Most “Amazon Influencer requirements” guides mix two different things together: the technical file specs (format, length, resolution) and the content rules (what you’re allowed to say and show). You need both to pass review on the first try, so here they are combined into one checklist, current as of today.

Quick answer: to pass Amazon Influencer video review on the first try, you need an .mp4 or .mov under 5GB, longer than 5 seconds (ideally under 2 minutes), at least 1280×720 resolution, your own actual take on the product (not just a description), no PII in frame, no prohibited claims or pricing language, and a visible FTC disclosure near the start. The full checklist below covers each one.

Quick honesty note before the list: I checked Amazon’s own spec and content-guidelines pages directly while writing this, and the technical-specs page and the content-guidelines page both returned server errors on the day I checked (that happens intermittently, not a sign anything changed). Where that happened, I’ve triangulated against multiple current third-party guides that all converge on the same numbers rather than trusting any single source, and I’ve flagged it below. Where I could confirm something directly against Amazon’s own live page, that’s marked too. Amazon’s own policy-update page for the April 14, 2026 changes did load and is quoted directly.

Why this matters more than it used to: before April 14, 2026, a video that just showed a product clearly could still earn onsite commission on whatever else a shopper browsed afterward. That “halo” commission is gone now, onsite commission only pays on the exact ASIN or variant you linked. Combine that with the tightened original-content bar, and a video that’s technically fine but content-thin now earns less and risks rejection more than it would have a year ago. Getting both halves of this checklist right isn’t just about passing review, it’s what makes an individual video worth filming at all.

1. Technical specs: format, resolution, length

[Reported, not confirmed live today] The numbers below are the consistent figures across current third-party creator guides. Verify against your own Creator Hub upload screen before filming a batch, since Amazon’s own spec page wasn’t reachable when this was written:

File format: .mp4 or .mov
File size: under 5GB
Length: longer than 5 seconds, under 60 minutes. Amazon’s own best-practice guidance (as quoted consistently across current guides) recommends keeping most videos under 2 minutes, with 30 seconds or more tending to hold engagement better than very short clips.
Resolution: 1280×720 minimum, 1920×1080 recommended, 16:9 aspect ratio.

2. Content requirements: what “adds real value” means post-April 14

[Official, confirmed live today against Amazon’s own Associates Program policy-update page] Amazon’s April 14, 2026 changes added an explicit definition: original content must now “contain commentary, analysis, or transformation for additional value.” A video that just shows the product without your own take on it doesn’t clear that bar anymore. In practice that means every video needs at least one of: your actual opinion (including a downside, not just praise), a specific use case you tried yourself, or a comparison to something else you’ve used. Describing what’s already on the product listing isn’t enough on its own.

3. The originality rule: what counts as duplicate or copied content

[Reported, consistent across current creator guides, Amazon’s own guidelines page wasn’t reachable today] There are three separate ways a video can get flagged as duplicate: too similar to another creator’s upload, identical to something already on your own storefront, or identical to the product’s own detail-page media (a copyright issue, since that footage isn’t yours to reuse). Filming it yourself doesn’t automatically satisfy this. We break down each version in detail, plus how to avoid it, in a dedicated post: Amazon Influencer Video Rejected for Duplicate Content? The Real Rule.

4. What can’t be in frame: PII, prohibited claims, promotional language

Personal information is its own detailed topic, we have a full frame-by-frame guide here: Amazon Influencer Video Rejected for “Personal Information Visible”?. The short version for a pre-upload check: no license plates, shipping labels, street addresses, order-confirmation screens, or other people’s faces without consent. Separately, avoid specific health or medical claims, guaranteed-outcome language, and pricing or urgency phrasing (“on sale now”) that reads like an ad rather than a review. I couldn’t reach Amazon’s own sponsored-content terms page today to quote it directly, so treat this specific point as the consistent creator-reported pattern rather than a verbatim policy quote, and when in doubt, describe your own experience instead of making a claim.

5. FTC and Amazon’s own disclosure requirement

This is a stacked requirement, not one rule. The FTC’s Endorsement Guides require a clear, in-video disclosure of your affiliate relationship (not just a caption), and Amazon’s own Associates Operating Agreement separately requires the specific line “As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases” to appear on your content. Neither the FTC nor Amazon publishes an exact minimum on-screen duration for the disclosure text, so if a guide tells you it must be exactly 3 seconds, that’s a best-practice default, not a published rule. Full breakdown, including where the disclosure needs to go and how to say it naturally on camera, is here: FTC Disclosure Rules for Amazon Influencer Videos.

6. A pre-upload checklist you can run in 60 seconds

Check	What you’re looking for
Format and size	.mp4 or .mov, under 5GB
Length	Over 5 seconds, ideally under 2 minutes
Resolution	At least 1280×720, ideally 1080p
Your own take is in there	An opinion, a downside, or a specific use case, not just a product description
PII scrub	No license plates, labels, addresses, screens, or unconsented faces
No prohibited claims	No medical claims, guaranteed outcomes, or price/urgency language
Disclosure visible on screen	Clear and readable near the start, plus the standard Associates line in your content

Running this list yourself takes about a minute and catches most of what gets a video rejected. If you’d rather not run it manually every time, this is exactly what ReviewCut checks automatically before your video ever reaches Amazon’s queue: it blurs PII frame by frame, tightens weak footage so your actual take on the product is clearly visible, and burns in the disclosure so you’re not eyeballing “is this legible enough.” It won’t judge whether your claims are compliant, that’s still on you, but it removes the two most common preventable rejections before upload. Your first finished review is free every month.

7. What happens if you get it wrong anyway

A rejection isn’t the end of the road, and we haven’t found any evidence it penalizes your account beyond the video itself needing a fix and a resubmission. Amazon doesn’t publish a stated review turnaround time for resubmissions either, so treat any guide that gives you an exact hour or day count as a creator-reported estimate, not an official number. If it happens, the full reason-by-reason breakdown and fix for each is here: Amazon Influencer Video Rejected? Every Reason It Happens in 2026.

One last thing worth saying plainly: none of this is complicated once you’ve run it a few times. The first video you check against this list will take longer than the tenth. That’s the whole point of a checklist, it turns “did I get this right” into something you can answer in under a minute instead of guessing and waiting two days to find out.