Amazon Photos Uploader
Upload a folder of photos to Amazon Photos — without uploading the same photo twice.
A small desktop app: pick a folder, sign in to Amazon once, and it uploads everything new. Photos are identified by their content, so re-running never duplicates, and cancelling or crashing mid-upload is safe to resume.
Windows or macOS. Requires Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge to be installed. All versions · Source on GitHub
- Windows: Your browser may ask you to confirm the download ("Keep"). When you open the file, SmartScreen shows "Windows protected your PC": click More info, then Run anyway. There is no installer: the .exe is the app, so put it wherever you like and double-click it.
- macOS: Unzip the download, then right-click (or Control-click) the app and choose Open, then Open again. If macOS still refuses, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to the message about the app, and click Open Anyway.
How to use it
- Click Sign in. A browser window opens: log in to Amazon (including any verification) and keep going until you can see your Photos library. The window closes by itself once you're there, so don't close it early.
- Click Add folder and choose the folder of photos to upload. Subfolders are included. Add as many folders as you like.
- Optionally turn on Preview only to see how many files would upload, then click Start upload.
How it works
Amazon doesn't offer a public upload API for personal accounts, so the app works the way you would by hand: it opens Chrome or Edge, goes to your Amazon Photos library, and uses the site's own Add button to send your files in batches. That's why you'll see a browser window working while it runs.
Every photo is identified by its contents (an MD5 fingerprint), not its name or location, and the app keeps a small local record of what it has already sent. Renamed or moved files aren't uploaded twice, identical copies in different folders are sent once, and you can stop or crash mid-run and pick up exactly where you left off.
You sign in on Amazon's own login page inside that browser window. The app never sees or stores your password; it only keeps the browser's normal saved session on your computer, so you don't have to log in every time.
While it's running
- Leave the browser window the app opened where it is, open and visible.
- Keep the computer awake and online until it finishes (change your sleep settings if needed).
- Use other programs as normal.
- Click Cancel in the app if you need to stop. Finished batches are already remembered.
- Don't close the browser window, and don't click or type in it. The app is clicking through the page for you, and interference can make a batch fail.
- Don't sign out of Amazon in another window while it's running.
If the window does get closed or something goes wrong, nothing is lost. Click Start upload again and it skips everything already sent.
Good to know
- Unofficial and independent: this isn't made by or affiliated with Amazon. Because it drives the website, a redesign on Amazon's side can temporarily break it until the app is updated.
- Everything runs on your computer. Your photos go only to Amazon, and nothing is sent to LCD Labs.
- Sign out in the app to delete the saved Amazon session from your computer at any time.
- Uploads land in your main library; your folder structure isn't recreated as albums.
- The "already uploaded" record is kept on the computer you run it from. If you use a different computer or wipe the app's data, files may be sent again, and Amazon may or may not de-duplicate them.
- The builds are unsigned (see above), which is why your computer warns you. The source code is public on GitHub if you'd like to check what it does.