Guide

How to crop product photos into multiple ratios

A product photo may need square, portrait and vertical versions for different placements. This guide shows how to make several ratios in one batch, then check each destination’s current requirements before uploading.

Why the same photo is never quite the right shape

Different placements can ask for different aspect ratios. If the original does not have the requested shape, you must crop its edges or add space around it. Check each destination’s current specifications before preparing files.

Repeated manual exports also make it easy to lose track of which image belongs to which product. Keeping the source product code in every output name makes the ZIP easier to inspect.

The three shapes, and what each one is for

• 1:1 — the square. The safe default for grids, thumbnails and product cards.
• 3:4 — the portrait. A taller crop for placements that call for a portrait image.
• 9:16 — the vertical. A vertical image for placements that call for a tall frame.

Details differ by destination and can change. Check the required ratio, exact dimensions, file format and background rule in the destination’s own help centre. Framelet’s default ratios have a fixed 1080-pixel short edge; they may not meet an exact pixel requirement.

Crop or pad — the choice that decides whether a photo is ruined

Fitting a photo into a shape it was not shot in has only two honest answers:

• Crop to fill. The image is scaled until it covers the shape, and the overflowing edges are cut. Composition is preserved and there are no bars, but you lose part of the frame — a 4:3 photo squeezed into 9:16 loses roughly half its width.
• Keep the whole photo. The image is scaled to fit inside the shape and the remaining space is filled with a background colour. Nothing is lost, but the result is a smaller subject with visible bars.

For a centred product shot, cropping can look cleaner than adding white bars. For a wide lifestyle shot with the product off to one side, cropping to a vertical will cut the product out of the frame, and padding is the safer choice.

Steps

1. Name your source photos consistentlyName them so the product code comes first and the shot number last — FF-1001-01.jpg, FF-1001-02.jpg. The tool reads the product name from the start of the file name and keeps every shot of that product together in the ZIP.
2. Choose the shapes you needThree ratios are selected by default. Uncheck any you do not need and add a custom ratio if required. The preview table shows only selected outputs.
3. Decide crop or padUse crop to fill when the product is centred and the edges are expendable. Switch to keep the whole photo when a crop would cut into the product.
4. Check the file names before generatingEvery output is named from your own product code, shot number and shape, and the page lists the exact file each row will produce. This is the part most tools get wrong: a folder of image-001.png tells you nothing about which product it belongs to.
5. Create the ZIPSelected versions arrive as one ZIP with a folder per product. Check the exported images and each destination’s rules before uploading.

What changes when you do it in one pass

A batch reduces repeated exports. Ten products with five shots each means fifty originals and up to a hundred and fifty output files for three shapes. Check the planned file names before generating, then inspect the downloaded images for crops that cut into a product.

Keeping the naming consistent is what makes the difference between a folder you can upload and a folder you have to sort first.

Related guides

• All guides on making images in batches
• How to make Etsy listing images at scale
  What a complete listing set contains, and which parts are worth templating hardest.
• How to batch-generate product images from a CSV
  When the images need text, prices or a layout rather than a resize.
• How to build reusable social post templates
  For the sizes that need a caption, not just a crop.