The DAM in ImageKit is called the Media Library. It runs on the same storage and delivery layer as the Image and Video APIs S10 S39. Many governance features are tied to plans: Free and Lite lack sharing/access control, public links, drafts and backup, and several items are custom-Enterprise only (see Overview → Pricing) S3. Plan restrictions are noted inline.
Ingestion & storage
- Upload channels: dashboard (files, whole folders, drag and drop) with imports from a public URL, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box and Unsplash. Also the Upload API, the desktop app (Windows, macOS), the DAM MCP server (interactive file picker in supporting clients) and Rclone for bulk migration S40 S58 S25.
- Formats: any file type, including images, video, PSD, AI, PDF and Office documents S39.
- File size limits (per file): images/audio/raw files 25 MB (Free), 40 MB (Lite), 50 MB (Pro); video 100 MB / 300 MB / 2 GB; custom on Enterprise S3 S26.
- Upload settings: unique-filename suffix, overwrite as new version or reject, private flag, published or draft, overwrite rules for tags, AI tags and custom metadata, custom focus area. Account-wide defaults can be overridden per batch or per file S40.
- Processing at upload: one pre-transformation (applied before storage) and up to five post-transformations (variants generated in advance), plus AI extensions S40.
- Versioning: on every plan. Re-uploading to the same path creates a version; restore, delete and inspect versions; max 100 versions per file. All versions count toward storage S52 S26.
- Storage options: files in the integrated Media Library (region chosen at sign-up), or left in the customer's own storage (S3-compatible, Azure Blob, Google Cloud Storage, web servers) and delivered through ImageKit as an "origin" S69 S64. Near-real-time backup of the Media Library to the customer's AWS S3 bucket (not on Free/Lite) S39 S3.
Metadata & taxonomy
- Custom metadata fields on files, folders and collections. Types: Text, Textarea, Number, Date, Boolean, SingleSelect, MultiSelect. Options include default value, required, min/max length, value or date ranges S42.
- Controlled vocabularies: SingleSelect/MultiSelect option lists, entered by hand or imported/exported as CSV. Lists of more than 100 options can only be managed by CSV S42.
- Original creation date: an optional reserved Date field keeps the original creation date of migrated assets and can be used for sorting and search S42.
- Tags: free tags with autocomplete, plus separate AI tags. Bulk add/remove in the dashboard and API S40 S26.
- Embedded metadata (EXIF and similar) is extracted and searchable on
DateTimeOriginal,KeywordsandLocationTakenS89. Writing XMP/IPTC back into files: Unknown. - Folder-level schemas: path policies decide which fields apply and which are mandatory per folder, and can run custom JavaScript upload/validate functions (naming rules, file-type and size limits, default draft status, auto-tagging). Enterprise only, beta S54 S17.
- Bulk edit: bulk tag and custom-metadata updates through the dashboard, the API, the DAM Agent and the MCP server S14 S13.
Search & discovery
- Autocomplete on file names and tags, with quick filters (folders, files, collections, tags) and highlighting S41.
- Advanced search builder: name, tags, size, dimensions, format, private flag, transparency, uploader, upload and modified dates, custom metadata. Supports AND/OR grouping and limiting to a folder S41 S10.
- API search: Lucene-like query language with full-text
HAS, ranges,EXISTS, custom and embedded metadata S89. - Saved searches and bookmarks: up to 1,000 saved searches (8 pinned) and 1,000 bookmarks per account S61.
- Visual search: by text ("summer dresses"), by uploaded image (≤ 10 MB) or by image URL (≤ 25 MB), plus "find similar" and duplicate detection. JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, AVIF and SVG only; file versions excluded. Enterprise only S41.
- Natural-language search through the in-dashboard DAM Agent and through MCP clients S14 S13.
AI capabilities
| Capability | Details | Plan / cost |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-tagging | Generic labels from Google Cloud Vision or Amazon Rekognition S44 | Extension units S3 |
| AI Tasks | LLM-based questions on images that answer only from an approved vocabulary: select tags, set a custom metadata value, or yes/no with conditional actions. Used for categorisation, brand compliance and moderation S43 S16 S11 | Extension units; "unlimited AI-powered operations" listed on Pro S3 |
| Auto-description | AI-generated image descriptions (ai-auto-description extension) S95 | Extension units |
| Image generation | Text-to-image inside the DAM, built on ImageKit's AI transformations S10 | Extension units |
| AI editing | Background removal (ImageKit or remove.bg), generative fill, upscaling, retouch, change background, drop shadow, image variants, smart crop and face detection S3 S11 S60 | Per plan table S3 |
| Video transcription | AI subtitles and chapters for the video player, with translation (2 extension units per minute of video) S91 | Extension units |
| DAM Agent | Conversational assistant in the dashboard: search, metadata schema, path policies, AI-task configuration, transformation URLs, bulk operations with confirmation, image generation. Works within the user's permissions; no additional cost S14 | All users S14 |
| Content Credentials | C2PA signing of transformed images S67 | Unknown |
Organization
- Folders and subfolders (path-based) as the main structure S39.
- Media collections: virtual groups of assets across folders, which can be shared and hold custom metadata S55 S42.
- Public links to files, folders or collections (see Distribution).
- Brand portals or brand-guideline hubs: no dedicated product (N/A). External sharing relies on public links and collections S51.
Workflow & collaboration
- Comments pinned to a point on an image or general, tied to a file version, with mentions, emoji reactions, rich text and resolve status S56.
- Notification center for comments, mentions and new shares; entries are kept 30 days (email copies remain) S62.
- Draft assets: files and versions can be uploaded as unpublished (visible only inside the DAM) and published in batches of up to 100 S53. Unverified Plan availability is inconsistent: the pricing table lists drafts from Pro, while the Upload API reference says draft upload requires a custom Enterprise plan S3 S26.
- Image editor in the DAM: crop, resize, text and image overlays, background removal (saved as a new version), reusable saved edits, bulk ZIP download or CSV of transformed URLs S60 S39.
- Creative Automation: designers build templates with variables (product image, logo, text, price); teams generate banner variants in the UI or from a CSV; AI Assist generates inputs and translations. Outputs return to the DAM tagged and versioned S57 S15 S11. Limited exports on Free/Lite, unlimited on Pro S3.
- Formal review/approval workflows, tasks or proofing: not documented (Unknown). Draft status and path policies are the main gatekeeping tools.
- Creative tools: no Adobe CC panel is documented; Photoshop, Figma and Canva appear in the integrations directory as drag-and-drop from the desktop app S19 S20.
Rights & governance
- Roles: Account Administrator, Developer, Media Library Full Access, Media Library View-only Access, Media Library Restricted Access, Finance S46.
- Asset-level permissions (for Restricted Access users): Can view, Can contribute, Can manage on files, folders and collections. Permissions can be granted to users or user groups (max 5 groups by default), cascade to subfolders, and can be raised but not lowered in a subfolder. The highest grant wins S45 S46. Not on Free/Lite S3.
- Path policies can block deletion, rename or modification of critical assets (Enterprise, beta) S54.
- Private files and signed URLs with expiry; named transformations restrict which variants can be generated; watermarking through overlays S5 S68.
- Audit: per-asset history and central audit logs (users, settings, DAM actions), kept 12 months. Enterprise only S50 S49.
- Usage rights, licence expiry and embargo fields: no dedicated rights module. Custom metadata, public-link validity windows and draft status are the documented tools (N/A as a native feature) S42 S51. Retention policies: Unknown.
Distribution & delivery
- DAM-as-a-CDN: every published asset has a delivery URL on ImageKit's CDN (Amazon CloudFront), with real-time transformations and automatic format and quality optimisation; custom domain on Pro and above S5 S3 S1.
- Transformations: resize, crop, smart crop, overlays, effects, conditional transformations and arithmetic expressions, AI transformations, SEO-friendly URLs S1.
- Public links: view-only access for people outside the account, with validity start/end dates, optional password, max 5 per asset and 100 per account (configurable); only the current version is exposed S51 S3.
- Downloads: single files or ZIP archives (up to 2,000 files and folders), optionally transformed S55 S13.
- Embeds: video embed codes, with expiry for private videos S63.
- Templating: Creative Automation (see Workflow). Print-specific output: Unknown.
Video & rich media
- URL-based video transformations: resize, crop, trim, thumbnails, overlays, audio transformations S96 S1.
- Adaptive bitrate streaming: HLS and DASH (H.264 video and AAC audio) S65.
- Video Player SDK (beta, built on Video.js): subtitles and chapters (WebVTT or AI-generated, multi-language), shoppable videos, playlists and recommendations S66 S91 S1.
- Video processing is billed in video processing units S3. EU-region video processing is an Enterprise option S3.
- 3D assets: no 3D viewer or 3D-specific features documented (Unknown).
Analytics & reporting
- Usage analytics: daily bandwidth, requests, video units and extension usage, top assets and top transformations; detailed analytics per sub-account S93. Delivery insights (referrers, IPs, user agents, errors, formats) cover the last 90 days S5.
- Performance Center: weekly web-performance reports on image and video delivery (modern formats, sizing), by device type (Pro and above) S94 S3.
- Video analytics (engagement and quality of experience) through the player: Enterprise only, beta S92.
- DAM asset-usage or user-activity dashboards: not documented beyond audit logs (Unknown).
Administration
- User management in the dashboard; plan-based seat caps S46 S3.
- SSO: SAML with JIT provisioning and role mapping (Azure and Okta guides), Enterprise only. SCIM: Unknown S47.
- MFA by emailed code, can be enforced by administrators S5 S47.
- Multi-account / multi-brand: sub-accounts under a parent account (Enterprise or partners), each with its own settings, API keys and processing region, billed to the parent or separately S48.
- Environments: no sandbox product; sub-accounts can separate development, staging and production S48.
- Session management: users can view and end their own active sessions S1.
- Configuration UI: Media Library settings (upload defaults, custom metadata, drafts), developer options (API keys, webhooks), origins and URL endpoints, also manageable through the Admin MCP server S40 S25.