Product photography for Shopify after migrating from WooCommerce (2026)

Product images are often the largest driver of conversion rate difference between a store that performs well and one that doesn't. Migrating to Shopify is a good opportunity to audit your image quality, ensure images are correctly sized for Shopify's CDN delivery, and improve alt text for SEO and accessibility. This guide covers what happens to your images during migration and what to do with them afterward.

What happens to images during migration

When k-sync imports products from WooCommerce to Shopify, product images are migrated by URL reference — Shopify fetches the image from your WooCommerce store's wp-content/uploads directory and re-hosts it on Shopify's CDN. This means:

• Image URLs change from youroldstore.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/product.jpg to cdn.shopify.com/s/files/...
• You don't need to manually re-upload images — migration handles this
• Image quality: Shopify re-hosts at the original resolution. It doesn't degrade quality during upload.
• Image order: the first image in WooCommerce becomes the first image in Shopify (the product thumbnail)
• Alt text: WooCommerce alt text is included in the API response and migrates to Shopify image alt text

Shopify image specifications

Setting	Recommendation
Format	JPEG for photography, PNG for flat graphics/logos, WebP if uploading manually (Shopify converts to WebP for delivery anyway)
Resolution	2048 × 2048px minimum for main product images (allows zoom). Maximum file size: 20MB per image.
Aspect ratio	Square (1:1) for product images — most themes display products in square containers. Inconsistent ratios cause layout distortion.
Background	White (#ffffff) or consistent brand colour. Transparent PNG backgrounds render differently per theme — test before using
Colour profile	sRGB (not Adobe RGB or CMYK — screens display sRGB)

Shopify's CDN and automatic optimisation

Shopify automatically:

• Converts images to WebP format for modern browsers
• Serves appropriately sized images for the viewport (responsive images via srcset)
• Caches images at Cloudflare edge locations globally

You do not need to manually compress images before uploading to Shopify. Uploading high-resolution originals (2048px+) is better than pre-compressing, because Shopify can serve smaller sizes for mobile while keeping the full-resolution for desktop zoom.

Alt text: migration and improvement

WooCommerce alt text typically defaults to the filename (product-image-123.jpg) or the product title. Neither is ideal for SEO. Migration is an opportunity to audit and improve:

• Good alt text describes what is shown: "Blue 500ml stainless steel water bottle with carabiner clip" not "product image"
• Include relevant keywords naturally — not keyword stuffed
• Variant-specific images should have variant-specific alt text: "Red size M running jacket" not "running jacket"
• Purely decorative images: empty alt text (alt="") is correct for accessibility

After migration, bulk-update alt text via: Shopify Admin → Products → select product → click each image → add alt text. For large catalogs, use the Shopify Admin API's image update endpoint to bulk-set alt text from a spreadsheet.

Variant images

Shopify supports assigning images to specific variants. When a customer selects a colour variant, the primary image changes to the image for that colour. Configure this after migration:

1. Edit product → Scroll to Images section
2. Click the three-dot menu on an image → "Assign to variants"
3. Select which variant(s) this image represents
4. Repeat for each colour/variant image

For bulk variant image assignment on large catalogs: use the Shopify Admin API or a variant image app (Variant Image Automator).

Video on product pages

Shopify supports product page video in two ways:

• Shopify-hosted video: Upload MP4 directly to the product. Shopify hosts and delivers via CDN. Up to 1GB per video. Best for short product demos (30 seconds – 2 minutes).
• YouTube / Vimeo embed: Add the video URL to the product media. Displayed as a thumbnail with play button. Uses the external platform's CDN but shows inline on the product page.

Video on product pages increases engagement and reduces returns in high-consideration categories (apparel, electronics, outdoor gear). If you had WooCommerce Video Product Gallery plugin installed, you'll need to re-add videos to products manually after migration.

Post-migration image checklist

• Image migration verified: spot-check 20 products — confirm all images loaded in Shopify
• Consistent aspect ratio (1:1 or chosen ratio) across all products in same collection
• Alt text: review top 50 products and update from generic filenames to descriptive text
• Variant images: high-priority colour products have images assigned per variant
• At least 3 images per product: front, side/back, lifestyle/in-use
• Product video: add to top 20 products where video would reduce returns or increase conversion
• WooCommerce site images: keep wp-content/uploads accessible during migration to allow Shopify to complete image fetching. Decommission WooCommerce only after Shopify has all images.