Best size for Shopify product images

When it comes to eCommerce stores, images play a larger role in your store’s success than you may think. Customers are much more likely to remember what they have seen, as opposed to what they have read. 

Posted 2 months ago by Jonathan Kennedy

This is why it is crucial to make sure that your product imaging is correct and optimal. Knowing what the best size for Shopify product images is is just as important as choosing a great Shopify theme.

This is because product images that are sized correctly and look professional leave a lasting impression on customers, and is a factor that could lead to increased product sales. 

But, not only is the product size important for the look of your Shopify store, but it is also super important for its functioning. 

If your product images are sized incorrectly it can slow your page down and make for a terrible user experience. 

This will deter customers from your store, which is the last thing that you want. So, let’s get into what the best sizes for Shopify product images are.

What size should Shopify product images be?

What is the Shopify recommended product image size?

When it comes to Shopify product image size, there is a very fine line when it comes to finding the correct balance. You want the product image to be of a good enough quality so that potential customers are able to zoom in on it and see the product properly. 

But, at the same time, you don’t want the product to be too large that it ends up slowing down your website, taking up too much space, and resulting in a poor customer experience.

To avoid this, Shopify has put out a recommended product image size. They have experimented with various different sizes, and they feel that this particular size hits the sweet spot and is the most ideal size to ensure that your eCommerce store runs in an efficient and optimal way. 

Shopify’s recommended product image size is 2048 by 2048 pixels. The reason why square dimensions are recommended is that square photos lend themselves best to mobile sites. 

If your product image is a square, it will keep cropping to a minimum when it is viewed from a mobile phone, and it will also look uniform and professional. 

While 2048 by 2048 pixels is the size that Shopify recommends you use, you can go smaller or bigger. 

But, it is important to take note that if you do go smaller, Shopify recommends not going below 800 by 800 pixels. 

If you do, this will take away the zooming ability, which might put off a lot of potential customers. 

Another thing that is important to note is that the theme you chose to use for your Shopify store may also have a recommended product image size. 

If it does, we would recommend using the theme’s specifications instead of our recommended 2048 by 2048 pixels. The reason for this is that the theme could crop some of your images out if Shopify’s recommended size is bigger than the theme’s recommended size.

Why is it important that you are able to zoom in on product images? 

When people buy products online, they usually have no idea what it looks like in real life. This is riskier than buying from a physical store, as you can’t get as good a look at the product.

But, this is where the zoom function comes in. If a person can zoom into the product and get an idea of its texture, design, and details, then they are much more likely to buy the product. 

This is why it is very important not to upload product images below 800 by 800 pixels. By uploading pristine quality product images that are 2048 by 2048 pixels, and allowing people to zoom in on your images, you are much more likely to secure sales. 

Customers feel that they are able to get a better idea and feel for the product and are much happier to go through with the purchase. 

What is Shopify’s maximum product image size?

Even though Shopify recommends that you use a product image size of 2048 by 2048 pixels, you can upload product images with higher dimensions than that. 

The maximum product image size that can be uploaded on Shopify is 4472 by 4472 pixels, and it can be as big as 20 MB.

But, we don’t recommend that you use such a big dimension for your product images. 

As we touched on earlier, having such a large product image size will slow down the speed that your eCommerce store loads. 

A lot of online consumers don’t have very much patience, which is exactly why they are shopping online. If the website takes too long to load there is a high chance that they will click away or abandon their cart. 

If your product images are too big, they can also have a negative effect on your SEO. When product images are optimally sized and have a fast loading speed they will signal to search engine algorithms that your website is up to standard, and will result in it ranking higher in SERPs. 

The opposite occurs when your product images are too big. 

So, even though the maximum size for Shopify’s product images is 4472 by 4472 pixels, we would recommend trying to avoid using such large images if you can help it. As mentioned above, it’s best to go with Shopify’s recommendation where possible.

How can you optimize product image size for Shopify?

As you can now see, it is important to have the correctly sized product images for your Shopify store. 

You could do this manually, but it is very tedious and takes a long time to do properly, especially if you are selling quite a few products.

And, when you are starting up a Shopify store, there are a million and one things that you are focusing on, so product image sizing might not be at the top of your list. 

Luckily, there are quite a few different apps available that can help you to resize and optimize your product images.

Some of these apps also optimize your images for SEO and help them to rank higher on Google Image Search. We would definitely recommend getting an app that does this, as it can help to draw more traffic to your store, which could result in more sales. 

Our friendly professionals at HeyCarson can help you out with image resizing and customization. While we are not SEO specialists, we can definitely help you optimize your product images for better user experience, faster website speed, and less cart abandonment.  

Is it more important for photos to look good or to be the correct size? 

Both are non-negotiables, and it is pointless to have one without the other. 

This is because professional-eyecatching images are what is likely to sell your products. People rely hugely on visual appeal, and it is the thing that will seal the deal in terms of purchases. Customers are not going to buy a product that doesn’t look good, so this plays a major role. 

Additionally, there is no point in having a good-looking product if the quality is poor and the product image size is incorrect. It is imperative that your product images are not too small, but also not too big. 

What about Shopify’s image gallery size?

For those of you who are unsure as to what a Shopify gallery refers to, it is simply a page where you can showcase your different products and potential customers can view the products that you have on offer. 

Essentially, it is a page filled with different product images for easy access. 

For this reason, you want to make sure that the customers still have the option to zoom in on the images. But, because there are multiple images on display, you want them to load quickly. 

For this reason, the best size to make your Shopify gallery images is 800 by 800 pixels. 

This dimension means that the images will be large enough to still offer the zoom function, but they will also be small enough to ensure that the page loads quickly and without any major delays. 

And Shopify’s slideshow dimensions?

Shopify’s slideshows are a great way to display what your store has on offer in terms of products and any sales you may be having. They are one of the most important and most viewed, elements of your Shopify store. So, it is a no-brainer that the images used in it have to be on par, too.

Just like with Shopify’s product images, it is ideal for your slideshow images to stick within a certain dimension. 

It is recommended that your Shopify slideshow debut image size is made up of a height between 400 and 600 pixels, and a width between 1 200 and 2 000 pixels. 

You will notice that this is smaller than the recommendation given for product image sizes. This is for a few reasons. Firstly, customers don’t need to zoom into slideshow images. They are merely just something to catch their attention and lead them toward the product’s landing page which will have adequately sized product images. 

Secondly, having a slideshow will mean that a lot of photos have to load in succession, and you would ideally like them to do so without a delay. For this reason, it is best that these images have smaller dimensions.

As we touched on earlier, it is important to remember that some themes may have specific requirements when it comes to the dimensions of their product images. This can also be true for slideshow images. So it is important to keep this in mind and check if your theme stipulates any specifications. 

Do Shopify banners also need to be a specific size? 

Yes, they do. Shopify web banner size is just as important as the product image size. Shopify banners play a key role in the success of your Shopify store. 

They alert customers to any important information or changes and can help to promote products, too. 

The dimensions for a Shopify banner are a bit more tricky than other product image sizes. This is because banners can be different sizes, and aren’t normally squares. 

Most commonly, dimensions of 1200 pixels in length and 400 to 600 pixels in width are used. But you can play around with this one and see what works best. Also, remember to check if your theme has any banner dimension specifications. 

Best size for Shopify product images (FAQs) 

How do you optimize Shopify product images for mobile use? 

Since a lot of online shopping is done through the use of mobile phones, it is imperative that your Shopify product images are optimized for mobile use. 

Luckily, for the most part, Shopify will automatically resize your product images to fit mobile screens. But, this is not always the case. Sometimes you may need to do this manually, so it is an important aspect to keep tabs on. 

In order to help with this though, we would recommend not using extremely large images, as they often become blurry on mobile phones. Additionally, try and stick to using square product images, as this will help them to remain centered and uniform. 

We would recommend reviewing your website, and its product images, on a computer and a phone once your website has launched to ensure that product images displayed on the mobile site are the correct size. 

What format should your Shopify product images be in?

Shopify product images can be uploaded in PNG, JPG, or GIF formats. But Shopify highly recommends that you upload your product images in a JPG format.

The reason for this is that JPG images have outstanding quality, and their color properties are very impressive. 

Additionally, it is easy to compress JPG images, which means that their size and quality can be easily manipulated so that it loads faster.  

This is not to say that you can’t use the other image formats if you would prefer to do so, but we have found that JPG images yield the best results and are far easier to use. 

Do logos also need to be a certain size?

Once you have figured out how to add a logo to Shopify, you may be wondering if the size of it matters. The answer is yes, it does. 

When it comes to Shopify, the size of every image is important and needs to be correctly sized. Even your Shopify favicon size is important and shouldn’t be overlooked. 

We recommend that all of your logos on Shopify should have a dimension of 200 by 200 pixels, with the maximum size being 450 by 250 pixels.  

Conclusion

While it’s something that you may never have thought of before, product image size plays a crucial role in the success and functioning of your Shopify store. Product image sizing is something you simply can’t afford to go wrong with. 

So, we would recommend following the guidelines that we provided above very closely when uploading your product images. 

Shopify product image resizing and optimizing can be fairly tedious though, even if you do use an app. While an app will make your life easier, there is still a lot of work on your part that will need to be done. 
So, if you think product image sizing is something that you might struggle with, and you don’t want to make use of an app, submit a task with the professionals, and let them help you ensure that you get every aspect of it correct.