Using the media editor

You can use the media editor to edit your images, 3D models, and videos. The media editor is available on both desktop and mobile devices, but some media editing features are available only on the desktop version. Currently, on the mobile version of the media editor, you can only edit image files.

You can use the media editor to edit media wherever the edit icon displays on your media. This includes product media, media in your online store editor, media in Shopify Email, and media in Content > Files. You can't use the media editor to edit images in the rich text editor.

Before you edit your media, you should understand how the aspect ratio of your images affects how they display on websites.

Understanding image aspect ratio

An image's aspect ratio is the ratio of its width to its height. For example, an image that is 200 px by 400 px has an aspect ratio of 1:2. An image that is 150 px by 450 px has an aspect ratio of 1:3.

Images can be different sizes and still have the same aspect ratio. To calculate whether images have the same aspect ratio, divide each image's width by its height, and then compare the results.

Note

You can use Shopify's product camera to take photos and videos of your products in the ideal aspect ratio, directly in the Shopify app.

Using a consistent aspect ratio for all the images of a particular type makes them display better side by side, because they all display as the same size. For example, if you want your product images to display as the same size within a collection, then they need to have the same aspect ratio.

You can use the media editor to crop your images to have the same aspect ratio.

Crop an image

You can crop an image to remove part of the image. This is useful when you want to display only a part of the image, or when you need to change the image's aspect ratio.

You can crop an image on both desktop and mobile devices. Saving a cropped image on a mobile device creates a new copy of the image.

Steps:

Desktop

1. In your Shopify admin, go to the media file that you want to edit.

2. Click the pencil icon, or click the thumbnail to open the media editor.

3. In the media editor, click Crop and transform.

4. Frame the area of the image that you want to keep:

   • To crop the image with a custom aspect ratio, click Freeform. You can click and drag the corners or edges of the highlighted area or click inside the highlighted area and drag it to a different position.
   • To crop the image using the same aspect ratio as the image, click Original. You can click and drag the corners of the highlighted area to resize it, or click inside the highlighted area and drag it to a different position. The aspect ratio stays the same as the original image when you resize it.
   • To crop the image into a square, click Square. You can click and drag the corners of the square to resize it, or click inside the square and drag it to a different position. The aspect ratio of the square stays the same when you resize it.

5. Click Apply to crop the image.

6. When you're done making edits in the media editor, click Save.

Draw on an image

You might want to draw on an image to add a line, highlight part of the image, or add a design.

Steps:

1. In your Shopify admin, go to the media file that you want to edit.

2. Click the pencil icon, or click the thumbnail to open the media editor.

3. Click Draw.

4. Select a color and a brush size.

5. Click and drag on the image to draw.

6. Click Apply to add the drawing.

7. When you're done making edits in the media editor, click Save.

You can use the eraser to remove all or part of a drawing. The eraser doesn't remove anything from the original image.

Resize an image

You can resize an image to change its actual size. If you try to adjust the aspect ratio by resizing the image, then your image might be distorted. Instead, crop the image to the aspect ratio that you want to use.

Steps:

1. In your Shopify admin, go to the media file that you want to edit.

2. Click the pencil icon, or click the thumbnail to open the media editor.

3. Click Resize.

4. Enter the new width for the image. By default, Lock aspect ratio is selected, which will update the image height automatically to maintain the images aspect ratio. If you want to adjust only the height or width of an image, then click Lock aspect ratio to deselect the setting. Resizing your image with Lock aspect ratio deactivated can distort your image.

5. Click Done to resize the image.

6. When you're done making edits in the media editor, click Save.

Change an image's orientation

You can flip or rotate an image to change its display orientation. You can also tilt the image within its frame.

Steps:

1. In your Shopify admin, go to the media file that you want to edit.

2. Click the pencil icon, or click the thumbnail to open the media editor.

3. Click Rotate.

4. To change the image's orientation:

   • Click Rotate clockwise to turn the image.
   • Click the Flip vertically or Flip horizontally buttons to flip the image.

5. Click Apply to change the image's orientation.

6. When you're done making edits in the media editor, click Save.

Removing or replacing an image's background

You can use Shopify Magic to remove or replace the background of an image in the media editor. You can remove or replace an image's background in the media editor on both desktop and mobile devices.

Learn more about Shopify Magic media generation.

Revert changes to an image

If you modified an image using the Shopify media editor, then you can choose to revert all changes back to the original image, even after the changes have been saved. Reverts to a modified image can’t be undone, so if you want to re-apply or keep any modifications to the image, then they need to be redone manually.

Steps:

1. In your Shopify admin, go to the media file that you want to edit.

2. Click the pencil icon, or click the thumbnail to open the media editor.

3. Modify the image.

4. Click Revert to original.

5. In the Revert image to original? dialog, click Revert.

A Reverted to original message displays indicating the change is complete.

Adjust a 3D model

You can adjust the following for your 3D models:

• environment
• background
• initial camera position

You can't adjust a 3D model on mobile.

Steps:

1. In your Shopify admin, go to the media file that you want to edit.

2. Click the pencil icon, or click the thumbnail to open the media editor.

3. In the Environment section, click the environment that you want to apply to your 3D model, and use the slide bar to adjust the exposure of your 3D model.

4. In the Background section, use the color picker to select the background color or input a hex code.

5. Click the camera icon to adjust the Initial camera position. You can adjust the X and Y rotation by entering in the degree of the rotation into either the X Rotation field or the Y Rotation field, and you can zoom into your 3D model by moving the slide bar to a higher percentage.

6. Click Done.

Replace the thumbnail for a video

When you upload a video, the thumbnail defaults to the first frame in the video, but you can upload your own thumbnail to replace the default.

You can't replace the thumbnail for a video on mobile.

Steps:

1. In your Shopify admin, go to the media file that you want to edit.

2. Click the pencil icon, or click the thumbnail to open the media editor.

3. Click … > Replace thumbnail.

4. Select the file from your computer.