Product Image Size Guide: Shopify, WooCommerce, Amazon and Google Shopping

The best product image size for most online shops is a square image of around 2000 pixels on each side: large enough for zoom on Shopify, Amazon and Google Shopping, and easily scaled down for thumbnails. Keep a high-resolution master, upload a compressed copy, serve WebP or AVIF where your platform supports it, and write descriptive alt text.

Product photos are often the heaviest thing on an e-commerce site and the most important thing for conversions. Get the size wrong in one direction and zoom looks blurry and marketplaces reject your images. Get it wrong in the other and category pages crawl on mobile. The right answer depends on where the image is going, so this guide sets out the official requirements for the main platforms, verified against their own documentation, then covers formats, compression and alt text.

Product image sizes by platform

Always check the current documentation before a big photo shoot, as platforms update these numbers.

Shopify

Shopify's product media guidance says that for square product images, 2048 x 2048 px "usually displays best". Images can be any size up to 5000 x 5000 px or 25 megapixels, and must be smaller than 20 MB. It names PNG and then JPEG as the best formats for most product images, and also accepts TIFF, BMP, GIF, SVG, HEIC and WebP.

Practical points:

• Pick one aspect ratio and stick to it. Mixed shapes make collection grids look messy. Square suits most themes, but some fashion themes use portrait (for example 4:5). Check your theme's settings, and use an aspect ratio calculator to work out pixel sizes that keep the shape exact.
• Don't upload 5000 px originals for everything. They're allowed, but a 2048 px image is plenty for zoom on most themes, and smaller uploads are quicker to manage.
• Compress before upload. A 2048 px JPEG straight from an editing app can be several megabytes. Your theme will request resized copies, but the original still has to be stored and processed.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce doesn't set one upload size. Instead, WordPress creates several resized copies of each upload. WooCommerce's image sizes documentation lists three:

• Single product image (woocommerce_single): 600 px wide by default, uncropped.
• Catalogue thumbnail (woocommerce_thumbnail): 300 px wide by default, square cropped.
• Gallery thumbnail (woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail): 100 x 100 px, always square.

Store owners can change the widths and cropping in the WordPress Customizer, unless the theme declares its own sizes, in which case only the cropping option shows. After changing sizes, thumbnails need to be regenerated before existing images use the new dimensions.

What that means for uploads:

• Upload images at least twice the largest display width (so 1200 px or more for a 600 px main image) so they look sharp on high-density phone screens and zoom has detail to show.
• Around 1600 to 2000 px square works well for most themes with zoom.
• Every upload generates several copies, so very large originals fill your hosting space quickly.

WordPress has supported WebP uploads since version 5.8 and, from WordPress 6.5, AVIF too, provided your host's image library supports it.

Amazon

An Amazon staff post on product image requirements sets out the technical basics: images must be 500 to 10,000 pixels on their longest side, and Amazon prefers images larger than 1,000 pixels on the longest side to allow for zoom. Accepted formats are JPEG, TIFF, PNG and non-animated GIF, with JPEG preferred, and images must be clear with no pixelation or jagged edges.

The main image has extra rules in Amazon's style requirements, including a pure white background and the product filling most of the frame, with no added text, logos or watermarks. Requirements can vary by category, so check the Product image requirements page in Seller Central for your category before shooting. Images that don't comply can get a listing suppressed.

Google Merchant Center

If you list products on Google Shopping or free listings, Google's image requirements say images can be up to 64 megapixels and 16 MB, in JPEG, WebP, PNG, GIF, BMP or TIFF. Google recommends around 1500 x 1500 px or larger, and has set a 500 x 500 px minimum effective from 31 January 2027.

The main image should give an unobstructed view of the product, without promotional text, prices, calls to action, watermarks, barcodes or logos added afterwards. A clean main image that works for Amazon will usually satisfy Google too.

A simple workflow that covers every platform

You don't need a separate shoot for every channel.

1. Shoot and edit a master at full camera resolution. Store it safely. This is your source for everything.
2. Export a square 2048 x 2048 px version on a white or plain background. This works for Shopify, Amazon zoom and Google.
3. Compress it. Aim for the smallest file with no visible loss at 100 per cent zoom.
4. Upload to your platform and let it generate the smaller sizes.
5. Export extra sizes only when needed, such as social posts or email banners. The free image resizer has presets for common social sizes.

If staff photograph products on an iPhone, the files may arrive as HEIC. Convert them with the HEIC to JPG converter before editing.

WebP, AVIF, JPEG or PNG?

Google Search supports both WebP and AVIF, according to its image SEO best practices. A sensible approach:

• Marketplaces (Amazon, eBay, Etsy): upload high-quality JPEG unless the platform says otherwise.
• Your own site: serve WebP or AVIF to visitors. Many platforms and image CDNs convert automatically from your JPEG or PNG upload. If yours doesn't, convert with the free image converter.
• Transparent product cut-outs: use PNG or WebP, never JPEG.

Our guide to WebP and AVIF optimisation goes deeper into quality settings and browser support.

How much should you compress?

There's no single correct file size, but some principles hold:

• Judge by eye at the size customers see. Zoom to 100 per cent and look at edges, gradients and fine texture such as fabric or wood grain.
• Batch compress with consistent settings. The free image compressor runs in your browser, so product photos aren't uploaded anywhere.
• Strip unnecessary metadata. Camera data and colour profiles you don't need add weight. Keep the sRGB colour profile so colours look right across browsers.
• Watch category pages, not just product pages. A grid of 48 products is where heavy images hurt most. Make sure your theme loads appropriately sized thumbnails rather than full-size images scaled down with CSS.
• Lazy-load below the fold, but not the main image. The first product image is often the largest element on the page and affects Largest Contentful Paint, so it should load straight away.

Alt text for product images

Alt text is read aloud by screen readers and helps search engines understand an image. Google's image guidance calls alt text the most important metadata attribute for images, and warns that stuffing keywords into it creates a poor experience and can be treated as spam.

For product images:

• Describe what's in this particular image. "Navy linen shirt, front view" and "Navy linen shirt, close-up of mother-of-pearl buttons" are better than repeating the product name on every photo.
• Include the details a shopper would want: colour, material, angle, the variant shown.
• Keep it concise. One short sentence is usually enough.
• Don't start with "image of". Screen readers already announce it as an image.
• Decorative images (background textures, spacer graphics) should have empty alt text (alt="").

Most platforms let you set alt text per image in the product editor. Our guide to image SEO and alt text covers file names and image sitemaps too.

Other details that make a difference

• File names. navy-linen-shirt-front.jpg is more useful than IMG_4821.jpg.
• Consistent lighting and backgrounds across a collection make the grid look professional.
• Several angles. Front, back, side, detail, scale and in-use shots answer questions that would otherwise become returns.
• Variant images. Link each colour or style variant to its own image so the photo changes when a shopper picks an option.
• Honest images. Photos should represent the product accurately. Heavy retouching that changes the product's appearance can mislead customers.

Product image checklist

1. Square master exported at around 2048 x 2048 px on a clean background.
2. Main image meets Amazon and Google rules: product only, no added text or logos.
3. Compressed, with metadata stripped and sRGB kept.
4. WebP or AVIF served on your own site where the platform supports it.
5. Theme loads sized thumbnails on category pages.
6. Main product image not lazy-loaded.
7. Descriptive, unique alt text on every product image.
8. Meaningful file names.
9. Variant images linked to their options.
10. Master files stored safely for future re-exports.

Our page of free tools for e-commerce collects the image and SEO tools mentioned here. If processing new product photos and listings across several channels is taking hours each week, Make It Flow builds automations for e-commerce brands, with your team keeping control of what gets published.

FAQ

What is the best image size for product photos?

For most shops, a square image of about 2000 pixels on each side works well. Shopify says 2048 x 2048 px usually displays best for square product images, Amazon prefers more than 1,000 pixels on the longest side for zoom, and Google Merchant Center recommends around 1500 x 1500 px. Keep a larger master for future exports.

What size should Shopify product images be?

Shopify recommends 2048 x 2048 px for square product images. Uploads can be up to 5000 x 5000 px or 25 megapixels and must be under 20 MB. Shopify names PNG and JPEG as the best formats for most product images. Use the same aspect ratio across your catalogue so collection grids line up neatly.

What size are WooCommerce product images?

WooCommerce's defaults are a 600 px wide single product image, 300 px wide square catalogue thumbnails and 100 x 100 px gallery thumbnails, though many themes set their own. Upload images of at least 1200 px, ideally 1600 to 2000 px, so they stay sharp on high-density screens and zoom, then regenerate thumbnails if you change sizes.

Should product images be WebP or JPEG?

Use WebP or AVIF for images served on your own website, because they're usually much smaller than JPEG at similar quality. Many platforms convert automatically. For marketplaces such as Amazon, upload high-quality JPEG, which Amazon says it prefers. Keep a JPEG or lossless master so you can export any format later.

How do I reduce product image file size without losing quality?

Resize to the largest size your store actually needs, convert to WebP or AVIF for your own site, compress with consistent settings and check the result at 100 per cent zoom. Strip camera metadata but keep the sRGB colour profile. A browser-based compressor lets you batch-process photos without uploading them.

Do product images need alt text?

Yes. Alt text makes product images accessible to people using screen readers and helps search engines understand them. Describe what each image shows, including colour, material, angle or variant, in a short sentence. Avoid repeating the same text on every image and don't stuff in keywords, which Google warns against.