Online shoppers are visual beings because if they don't like what they see then they are unlikely to complete their purchase. So if you want to maximize conversions and revenue, your Shopify banner size must be perfect. A minor misalignment or sizing difference can mean the difference between a successful sale and no sale at all.
Shopify image sizes can be a minefield for merchants.
It’s necessary to select the best image sizes and your store will look great on any device. Or else, your sales would suffer.
We'll go over everything you need to know about Shopify banner dimensions in this post. By the end, you'll be able to optimize all of your images and provide the best possible shopping experience ever.
Why Is Shopify Banner Size Important?
Imagine entering a store and finding merchandise dispersed across shelves everywhere you turned. Assume that the store's layout was challenging to navigate and that the merchandising lacked a consistent style or recognizable aesthetic.
You'd probably turn around and walk out the door, right?
This is what happens when your Shopify banner dimensions are not properly optimized. Your store may appear cluttered, disorganized, and unprofessional. In other words, not good at all.
Also, improperly sized images can slow down the loading time of your store. And we all know that a slow loading store can completely destroy your conversions.
If your store currently looks like your product images are used straight from the manufacturer, or it contains grainy low resolution photos then it's time to take action.
Improve the user experience
It helps in boosting UX since customers are much more inclined to buy products with clear, zoomable photos than those without.
Having the appropriate image size for each use can really improve the user experience because it is easier on the eyes and prevents the need to scroll or zoom in to see the entire image.
Increase the web speed
53% of visitors abandon a mobile site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load (source: thinkwithgoogle). Your customers can quickly load product pages by using the ideal size for Shopify product images. Consequently, your sales will also experience a boost.
It takes longer for the server to load the page when a user accesses a website with large image sizes. Smaller image sizes tend to load more quickly across devices; in the language of image SEO, this is referred to as "contentful paint." Implementing Shopify Image Optimization strategies ensures your site maintains high-quality visuals without compromising loading speed.
Here’s an example of bad page load speeds:
This shows the server's excessive load speed, which is 2.1 seconds for the first image and 4.1 seconds for the largest image. Get your page speeds up to prevent a high bounce rate given that half of users abandon shopping carts if pages take longer than 6 seconds to load (source: digital.com).
Read more: 7 Actionable Tips You Must Know for Shopify Speed Optimization
Enhance website ranking
Your UX can suffer from slow loading times, which also has an impact on your SEO. By leveraging Shopify Analytics, merchants can gain valuable insights into how their site speed and image performance impact user engagement, allowing them to make data-driven improvements.
Website ranking can refer to your website's overall position or your webpage's proximity to the first page of search results when a user types in a specific phrase.
The quality of your images are taken into account by Google's algorithm, which uses a variety of metrics to decide what appears on the first page of search results.
As you can see, UX is the underlying element. When you provide the highest caliber UX, you put your e-commerce site front and center. When you don't provide a fantastic UX, you seriously damage your website.
Consequently, it's wise to use the best size for Shopify banner and product images as a general rule. The satisfaction of your customers will keep them coming back.
Enhance conversion rate
Your customers will enjoy a cleaner, more pleasant shopping experience when you optimize the images for your store, which will increase conversions and revenue for your company. Utilizing tools like Shopify Audiences helps merchants reach high-intent buyers, enhancing the impact of these optimizations on sales performance.
Recommended Image Banner Sizes for Shopify
Optimal Image Sizes
- Pixel Width: 2500px ensures full-screen clarity without blurriness.
- Image Dimensions: Adjust size based on use (e.g., larger for backgrounds, smaller for blogs).
- File Size: Keep images under 2MB; aim for 500KB for faster loading.
- Image Attributes: Use concise alt text (<100 characters) for accessibility.
Recommended Image Dimensions for Desktop and Mobile
The table below outlines the recommended image dimensions for both desktop and mobile platforms:Image Banner type | Desktop (Width x Height in pixels) | Mobile (Width x Height in pixels) | Recommended aspect ratio |
Background image | 2560 x 1400 | 360 x 640 | 16:9 |
Lightbox images (full screen) | 1920 x 1080 | 360 x 640 | 16:9 |
Hero Banner image | 1280 x 720 | 360 x 200 | 16:9 |
Slideshow banner | 1920 x 1080 | 320 x 180 | 16:9 |
Website banner | 1200 x 400 | 360 x 120 | 3:1 |
Blog image | 1200 x 800 | 360 x 240 | 3:2 |
Product image | 2048 x 2048 | 320 x 320 | 1:1 |
Collection image | 800 x 800 | 240 x 240 | 1:1 |
Thumbnail image | 300 x 300 | 90 x 90 | 1:1 |
Logo (rectangle) | 400 x 100 | 160 x 40 | 4:1 |
Logo (square) | 100 x 100 | 60 x 60 | 1:1 |
Social media icons | 32 x 32 | 48 x 48 | 1:1 |
Favicon | 16 x 16 | 16 x 16 | 1:1 |
Shopify Image Size Guidelines
Shopify Banner Image
1200 x 400 pixel
Banner images are similar to slideshows and frequently include text overlaid. They'll be at the top of your homepage, and they'll be the first thing new visitors see, so make them count.
Using high resolution images here, as with your slideshow images, is non-negotiable. It's also worth keeping the background light to allow your text to stand out. A lot of background noise reduces contrast and confuses visitors.
Each theme has different banner image requirements, so make sure to check what will work best for your store. You should also think about defining the height of your images for mobile devices. When it comes to banner images, what looks good on desktop may look terrible on mobile.
Shopify Logo Image Sizes
100 x 100 pixel
The logo is one of the most confusing Shopify image sizes for many merchants. I'm sure I've uploaded logos that look completely out of place with the rest of the site.
The official Shopify logo image size use 4:1 ratio.
You could also go with a square image (aspect ratio 1:1), which will look good almost anywhere on your site. Keep an eye on the maximum dimensions once more - 100px x 100px is a safe bet here.
If you don't have your own logo, you can use Hatchful a free logo maker tool from Shopify.
Hero Banner Image Size for Shopify
The optimal Hero banner size is typically 1280x 720 pixel
The main distinction between a header/hero banner image and a background image is that hero images typically have a smaller height—roughly half the size. This image type is a great choice if you need to display more text immediately on the screen without requiring users to scroll.
For best results, test your Shopify header banner size across various devices to make sure it displays correctly and maintains the intended visual appeal.
Here’s an example:
As you can see, BLK & Bold opted to go as wide as it can, with a shorter fixed-ratio image height.
Shopify Slideshow banner size
The ideal banner size for slideshow is typically 1200-2000 width x 400-600 height
Your homepage slideshow will be the first thing your visitors see on many themes. That is why you must ensure that your image parameters are correct.
Because the slideshow ‘slides’ from one image to the next, it’s a good idea to ensure all images are the same aspect ratio. This keeps things looking consistent and professional.
Image Formats and Quality Considerations
Now that you know the ideal image sizes for your Shopify store, the next thing to think about is the image formats you'll be using.
Let's look at a few of the most popular image formats used in eCommerce photography.
JPG/JPEG
The most popular image file format for Shopify stores is probably JPG. It has a good color range and a small file size, which makes for quick loading. JPG's capacity for compression provides a fantastic compromise between quality and size. For this reason, Shopify actually suggests that retailers use JPG for the product page images.
The most popular file format for images is this one.
When it comes to maintaining image quality at the smallest file sizes, JPEGs excel. For e-commerce websites that must maintain their websites' lightness and speed, this is excellent news.
JPEGs are ideal for product photos due to their excellent color range, high resolution, and small file size.
JPEGs are frequently used for:
- Products
- Banners or slideshows
- Blog posts and pages
PNG
PNG is yet another extremely popular image format used in Shopify stores. Because PNG allows you to reduce image file size without compromising overall image quality, it's fantastic for e-commerce websites. Additionally, PNG supports transparency, giving you more control over the design of your store. One issue with PNG is that it uses lossless compression, which results in frequently very large image file sizes.
PNGs, a more recent image format, are typically bigger than JPEGs but have better quality.
It is possible to compress this lossless format without sacrificing image quality. Additionally, it cannot be compressed as much as a JPEG because of this.
PNGs, as opposed to JPEGs, allow for transparent backgrounds, making them excellent for logos and icons.
PNGs are often used for:
- Logos
- Icons
- Borders and trims
GIF
Source: Pinterest
Short animations or product explainers can benefit from the universally recognized GIF image format, which is very common on Shopify dropshipping stores. Since the GIF image format only allows for about 250 colors, your pictures won't be the most vibrant. However, when combined with other image formats, they can be very effective.
GIFs, the traditional file format for moving images, let business owners give their stores some motion.
GIFs are the only format that works for animations, despite not being a great option for regular images and photos. PNGs can do this, but they cannot be compressed as small as GIFs.
TIFF
Several web editing tools support the useful image format TIFF. This implies that image editing and customization for marketing campaigns is simple for designers and retailers. High resolution is available with TIFF, and you can save multiple images in one file. However, similar to PNG, the file size tends to be on the larger side due to lossless compression.
JPG/Jpeg is always a smart choice if you're unsure of which image size to use. As we've already mentioned, JPG is the only image format that successfully balances file size and image quality.
WebP
Google developed WebP, one of the most recent image formats, to deliver high-quality images with much smaller file sizes.
Since Shopify automatically serves WebP images to browsers that support it, you don't need to worry about manually uploading this format.
How to Check Image Sizes on a Website
Step 1: Click right on the screen and choose "Inspect"
Step 2: Find the image code in the html code field
Top 5 Best Practices For Optimizing Shopify Banner
Discover the top 5 best practices for optimizing your Shopify banner size with our detailed guide.
1. Keep file size in mind
Decreasing the file size of your images is one of the most effective ways to tackle slow page speeds. A good rule of thumb for image sizes is to keep them under 70 kb for optimal performance.
Thankfully, Shopify already compresses your images to some extent. However, you can also use free tools like TinyPNG or Compress JPEG to compress your images too. Such tools allow you to control the amount of compressions and bulk-process many files at once.
Check out this video to know how to compress image size to optimize your shopify banner
2. Ensure responsive Shopify mobile banner size
Your images should work well across all devices. When optimizing your store for mobile users, it’s crucial to pay attention to the Shopify mobile banner size to ensure a seamless browsing experience.
The shopper's device determines the dimensions and scale of your images. The highest quality image you have that fits in the 20MB or 20-megapixel limit should be uploaded at 72dpi for the best results.
The recommended Shopify mobile banner size typically ranges from 640 x 360 pixels to 750 x 1334 pixels, ensuring that your images look crisp and load quickly on smaller screens.
3. Use consistent editing for all your images
The eye enjoys consistency. Always maintain consistency when choosing images for your store to give it a more polished appearance. Check out how Shuppa, for instance, creates a sleek browsing experience by combining a simple product photo with a palette background.
Of course, you can plan a professional photo shoot to get equivalent pictures. But if you're on a tight budget, you can achieve this consistent visual shopping experience with the help of digital tools like Canva and Photoshop.
4. A/B Testing
Last but not least, you should test various variations of your images to see which ones perform the best. You could test the following:
- How many product images are there on each page?
- The types of images that are most effective
- How many pictures do you have (10, 20, 100) on each product collection page?
To see how users are interacting with your images, use a heat mapping tool like Hotjar.
Or, you could use a straightforward post-purchase survey on your thank you page as another straightforward method to get customer feedback about their preferred image types.
5. Give your images names
The majority of retailers rush through hundreds of product images without pausing to alter the name of the default camera.
But as someone who enjoys SEO, I can assure you that this is a grave error. You see, your image names affect how your product pages rank for different keywords.
In addition to crawling the text on your pages, search engines also analyze the file names of images to determine the page's content.
Take this Allbirds product page as an illustration:
Instead of just going along with the standard camera file name (DCHIMAGE110.jpg), Allbirds have renamed each file with a descriptive title: ‘TR3MJBK080_SHOE_ANGLE_GLOBAL_MENS_TREE_RUNNER_JET_BLACK_BLACK.avif’
This makes it easier for Google to comprehend and present this page to potential clients who are looking for terms like "Mens tree runners."
Conclusion
It can be difficult to optimize the size of Shopify banner. One of those tasks that you anticipate finishing in an hour or two but wind up needing much, much more time.
However, if improving the shopping experience for customers is your goal, you must take the time to optimize your images for sales and performance.
Keep in mind that in e-commerce, customers cannot hold your products in their hands. That indicates that one of the most significant factors affecting their purchasing decisions is actually your images.
Keep in mind that many Shopify themes have specific requirements for banner size, so always double check to make sure your images are appropriate.