Using the image editor

You can use the image editor to edit and resize images in your Shopify admin. The image editor is available on both desktop and mobile devices, but some image editing features are available only on the desktop version. Currently, on the mobile version of the image editor, you can only crop an image and remove or replace the background of an image.

You can use the image editor to edit product media. You can't use the image editor to edit images in the rich text editor.

Before you edit your images, 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 image 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. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.

2. Click a product whose image you want to modify.

3. In the Media section, click Edit on the image that you want to modify to open the image editor.

4. In the image editor, click Crop.

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

   • To crop the image into a custom size, click Freeform. You can click and drag the corners 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.

6. Click Apply to crop the image.

7. When you're done making edits in the image 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. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.

2. Click a product whose image you want to modify.

3. In the Media section, click Edit on the image that you want to modify to open the image editor.

4. Click Draw.

5. Select a color and a brush size.

6. Click and drag on the image to draw.

7. Click Apply to add the drawing.

8. When you're done making edits in the image 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. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.

2. Click a product whose image you want to modify.

3. In the Media section, click Edit on the image that you want to modify to open the image editor.

4. Click Resize.

5. 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.

6. Click Done to resize the image.

7. When you're done making edits in the image 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. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.

2. Click a product whose image you want to modify.

3. In the Media section, click Edit on the image that you want to modify to open the image editor.

4. Click Rotate.

5. 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.

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

7. When you're done making edits in the image 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 image editor. You can remove or replace an image's background in the image 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 image 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. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.

2. Click a product whose image you want to modify.

3. In the Media section, click Edit on the image that you want to modify to open the image editor.

4. Modify the image.

5. Click Revert to original.

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

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