FIELD GUIDE / PRODUCT PHOTOS

A square frame shouldn’t cost you half a product.

Supplier photos don’t always arrive in matching shapes. A tall bottle, a wide shoe, and a square detail shot can look uneven together—or lose their edges when a storefront crops every image to fill the same box.

First, check what your theme is doing.

If a complete product is visible in the original but cut off in your store, the theme may be using a crop-to-fill setting. Check its image ratio and fit options before changing every file. A contain or adapt setting, where available, may already solve the problem.

Shopify recommends consistent aspect ratios for featured images. It also notes that themes can request consistent sizing through its image service. Padding isn’t the only solution. Read Shopify’s product media guidance.

Use padding when the files need to match.

Padding places the whole photo inside a square and fills the remaining space. It helps when you want a reusable set of square files, rather than a fix that depends on one storefront’s theme.

1. Start with the largest original files you have.
2. Choose a square canvas size. Shopify suggests 2048 × 2048 pixels for square product images; this is a recommendation, not a requirement that all photos be square.
3. Add a modest margin. Our 5% option leaves at least 5% on each side; a rectangular image also needs extra space along its shorter dimension.
4. Inspect the preview, especially small source images.
5. Export copies and retain your originals.

White padding isn’t background removal.

A gray or colored background inside the source image stays there. The tool fills the new space with white; it doesn’t separate the product from the background. Transparent pixels are also filled with white on export.

Pick an export format for the job.

JPG is a practical default for product photography. PNG uses lossless encoding, but can produce much larger files. WebP is useful for web images when your destination accepts it. Every export is a newly encoded copy, so preserve the original for future editing.

Independent guide. Not affiliated with Shopify. Guidance checked 30 September 2026.