How To Make Product Images Native Size Woocommerce

How to Make Product Images Native Size in WooCommerce: A Beginner’s Guide

Struggling with blurry or stretched product images in your WooCommerce store? Are your images not displaying as crisp and clear as you’d like? The culprit might be WooCommerce’s default image resizing settings. This guide will walk you through how to make your product images native size in WooCommerce, ensuring they look their best without sacrificing site speed.

Why Native Size Product Images Matter

Think of Learn more about How To Change Stamps.Com Woocommerce Extension Labels your product images as your store’s online storefront. They’re the first thing potential customers see. Blurry or distorted images can:

Reduce credibility: Makes your store look unprofessional and untrustworthy. Imagine walking into a real-world store with messy displays – would you stay?
Hurt conversions: Customers are less likely to buy if they can’t clearly see the product’s details. A clear view builds confidence.
Increase bounce rate: If visitors are immediately turned off by poor image quality, they’ll leave your site quickly, impacting your SEO.
Misrepresent your product: Customers may misunderstand the details, textures, and features of your product.

Native size images, on the other hand, allow you to showcase your products in their full glory, as you intended them to appear. But there’s a catch! Using *unnecessarily* large native size images can dramatically slow down your website, which is also bad for conversions and SEO. Finding the sweet spot – good quality with optimal file size – is key.

Understanding WooCommerce Image Settings

WooCommerce automatically resizes and crops your product images to fit different areas of your store (e.g., the catalog page, single product page, thumbnails). This is done to maintain consistency and optimize page load times. However, these automated resizings can sometimes lead to the blurry or distorted images we’re trying to fix.

There are three main image sizes controlled by WooCommerce:

Thumbnail Image: Used in the product catalog, related products, and cart pages.
Catalog Image: Used on product category and shop pages.
Single Explore this article on How To Add Woocommerce Product Categories To Menu Product Image: Used on the individual product page.

You can find and adjust these settings by navigating to WooCommerce > Settings > Products > Display.

The Right Way to Display Native Size Images (With Optimization!)

The goal isn’t just to upload massive, unoptimized images. That would kill your site speed. The ideal solution is to:

1. Determine the ideal size: Decide on the largest dimensions you need for your product images (especially the single product image). This will depend on your theme and how you want to display your products. For example, if your single product image container is 800px wide, that’s a good target width.

2. Prepare your images: BEFORE uploading, resize and optimize your images to this size. This is crucial! Use image editing software like Photoshop, GIMP (free), or online tools like TinyPNG to resize and compress your images *before* you upload them.

3. Set WooCommerce image settings: Set the WooCommerce image sizes to be *equal to or smaller* than the actual image size. If you are certain that you want to display the original images you uploaded, then you can set your desired size here.

Step-by-Step Guide: Making Product Images Native Size (The Safe Way)

Let’s walk through a practical example:

Scenario: You want your single product images to be their native size, which you’ve determined to be 800×800 pixels.

1. Prepare Your Images:

Open your product images in your image editing software (e.g., Photoshop).
Resize the images to 800×800 pixels. Ensure you maintain the aspect ratio if the original image is not square. In Photoshop, you can go to Image > Image Size and enter the dimensions.
Optimize the images for web. In Photoshop, use “File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy)…” and choose JPEG at 60-80% quality. Alternatively, use TinyPNG after resizing to compress the image without significant quality loss.
Save the optimized images.

2. Upload the Optimized Images:

Upload the newly resized and optimized images to your WooCommerce product.

3. Adjust WooCommerce Image Settings (if necessary):

Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Products > Display.
Find the “Product Images” section.
Examine the “Single Product Image” dimensions. If they are smaller than 800×800, then they will still be cropped. If they are larger than 800×800, there’s no immediate harm, but your images might be upscaled (which can lead to blurriness if you are using very high resolution images).
Important: It is often best to keep the WooCommerce settings smaller to allow for better flexibility. For instance, keep the WooCommerce settings at 600×600 and use a plugin to display the full 800×800 image.

Using Plugins to Enhance Native Image Display

Sometimes, relying solely on WooCommerce’s built-in settings isn’t enough. Several plugins can help you display native-size images more effectively, often using techniques like lazy loading and responsive images:

WooCommerce Image Zoom: Allows customers to zoom in on product images without compromising the initial display size or quality.
Smush: Optimizes existing images on your site.
ShortPixel: Image compression and CDN delivery, which further optimizes images.
Responsive Menu: Optimizes images based on users’ screen sizes.

Here’s an example of how you could use code (for more advanced users) to disable WooCommerce’s automatic image resizing on specific image sizes. Use with caution and only if you understand the code!

 <?php // Remove WooCommerce generated image sizes function remove_woocommerce_image_sizes() { remove_image_size( 'woocommerce_thumbnail' ); remove_image_size( 'woocommerce_single' ); remove_image_size( 'woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail' ); } add_action( 'after_setup_theme', 'remove_woocommerce_image_sizes' Check out this post: How To Set Certain Products On Sale In Woocommerce );

//Disable the cropping of thumbnails

add_filter( ‘woocommerce_get_image_size_thumbnail’, function( $size ) {

return array(

‘width’ => ”, //Empty string is a hack to keep from using fixed size.

‘height’ => ”, //Empty string is a hack to keep from using fixed size.

‘crop’ => 0, // 0 = crop, 1 = don’t crop

);

});

Important Notes About the Code:

Place this code in your theme’s `functions.php` file or a custom plugin. Be careful editing your `functions.php` file, as errors can break your site!
Removing image sizes entirely *may* impact the layout of your store. Test thoroughly after making changes.
The code is more effective when used along with regeneration of image sizes, using a plugin such as ‘Regenerate Thumbnails’.

Key Takeaways

Optimize before uploading: Resize and compress your images before uploading them to WooCommerce.
Find the “sweet spot” Balance image quality with file size for optimal website performance.
Experiment with WooCommerce settings: Adjust the settings to match your desired image display.
Consider plugins: Use plugins to enhance image display and optimization.
Test everything: After any changes, thoroughly test your website on different devices and browsers to ensure everything looks as intended.

By following these steps, you can effectively make your product images native size in WooCommerce without sacrificing site speed, leading to a better user experience and increased sales. Remember, clear and compelling product images are crucial for creating a successful online store.