E-commerce product image optimization: a practical guide
Sizes, formats and compression settings for product photos on Shopify, Amazon and your own store, plus a batch workflow that keeps file names intact.
· 5 min read
Product photos are the closest a shopper gets to holding the product, so they need to be sharp enough to zoom into. They are also the heaviest thing on a product page, and a slow page on mobile data costs sales. The goal is simple: the detail shoppers need, at the smallest size that delivers it. Here is how to get there for marketplaces and for your own store.
Start with the platform’s rules
Marketplaces and store builders publish their own requirements. These are the commonly quoted ones; platforms update them, so check the current help pages before a big shoot.
| Platform | Recommended | Limits and rules |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify | 2048 × 2048 px for square product images | Up to 5000 × 5000 px (25 megapixels) and under 20 MB per image |
| Amazon | At least 1,000 px on the longest side, so shoppers can zoom | Main image on a pure white background (RGB 255, 255, 255), with the product filling most of the frame; JPG preferred |
| Your own store | 1600–2048 px for zoomable product images; 400–800 px for listing thumbnails | You decide, so you also control format and compression |
Hosted platform or your own site?
This decides how much compressing you should do before upload.
Marketplaces and hosted store builders
Many hosted platforms, including Shopify, store your upload as the master copy and generate smaller versions for each screen, often in modern formats. Compressing heavily before upload only gives them a worse master. Instead, resize to the recommended dimensions, save as JPG at quality 85 so the file is well under the upload limit, and let the platform do the rest. Removing unneeded megapixels still speeds up your uploads and keeps your media library manageable.
Your own store or website
If you serve the files yourself, every byte you save reaches the shopper. Create a large version for zoom and smaller versions for listings, and serve WebP (or AVIF with a fallback). Our guide to optimizing images for web performance shows the HTML that lets each browser pick the right file.
Pick the format by image type
| Image | For marketplaces | For your own site |
|---|---|---|
| Product on white | JPG, quality 85 | WebP, quality 75–80 |
| Cutout with a transparent background | PNG, or JPG on white if transparency is not allowed | WebP, which keeps transparency |
| Lifestyle and model photos | JPG, quality 85 | WebP or AVIF, quality 75 |
| Size charts and infographics with text | PNG or high-quality JPG | PNG with palette reduction, or lossless WebP |
| Color swatches | JPG | Small WebP, 200–400 px |
A useful side effect: converting a transparent PNG to JPG fills the transparent areas with white, which is exactly what a white-background rule needs. PNG to JPG does this in one step.
Keep the catalog consistent
Shoppers compare products side by side, so mismatched images look careless. Use one aspect ratio across the catalog (square is the most common), the same background, and similar padding around each product. In Graviton, pick one exact size for the batch, such as 2000 × 2000, and choose Crop or Add bars: every photo comes out the same size, and you can open any photo to choose what its crop keeps.
Color matters too. Graviton converts colors to sRGB, the color space browsers and marketplaces expect, so a red dress looks the same red on every screen instead of shifting when an embedded color profile is ignored.
Resize imagesResize a whole product shoot to one maximum size, keeping proportions and file names.A batch workflow for a product shoot
- Export your edited photos at full size and keep them as your masters.
- Name files the way your store needs, for example by SKU. Graviton keeps the names.
- Drop up to 250 images into Graviton. Turn on Resize and type the size you need, such as 2048 × 2048, or pick a preset like Full HD.
- Choose the format: JPG at 85 for marketplaces, WebP at 75–80 for your own site.
- Check the sizes in the list. To look closely at one image, compress it on its own and use the before-and-after slider.
- Download them one by one or as a ZIP: 3 a day on Free, unlimited on Pro. Each file keeps its name with the new extension, and duplicates become “name (2).jpg” instead of overwriting each other.
Your photos are processed in your browser and never uploaded, which matters for products that are not launched yet. Location and camera metadata are removed from every file, so studio or home addresses do not travel with your images. Compressing is unlimited. A free account includes 3 downloads a day, reset at midnight UTC, and Pro removes the daily limit. See plans if you process large shoots regularly.
Fast category pages
A category or search page can show dozens of products at once, so thumbnails matter as much as the main image. Serve listing images at 400–800 pixels, not the 2048-pixel zoom version scaled down in the browser. Lazy-load the rows below the first screen, and give every thumbnail a width and height so the grid does not jump while it loads. Keep the large version for the product page, and load it only when the shopper opens the gallery or zooms in.
File names and alt text
Descriptive file names such as linen-shirt-navy-front.jpg help image search and keep your media library searchable. Alt text should describe the product the way a shopper would: “Navy linen shirt, front view, button-down collar”. Both are worth doing once, at the start, because they survive every later re-export.
Checklist
- Masters saved at full size before any compression.
- One aspect ratio and background across the catalog.
- Dimensions matched to the platform, at least 1,000 px on the longest side for zoom.
- JPG at 85 for marketplaces; WebP or AVIF for your own store.
- Transparent cutouts kept as PNG, converted to WebP for your own store, or flattened on white where required.
- Descriptive file names and alt text.