Compress product photos by protecting the details shoppers need to judge the item. A smaller image is not an improvement if it obscures a label, material texture or important color difference. Start with representative products, choose the real display roles and compare export candidates before applying one setting to the whole catalogue.
Choose samples that expose defects
Include dark fabric, reflective packaging, fine printed labels and products with transparent edges. A setting that works for a smooth studio background may smear woven texture or small lettering. Compare the same product views across candidates rather than evaluating unrelated photographs.
Separate listing and zoom requirements
Catalogue cards, detail panels and zoom views may need different dimensions. Keep a source with enough detail for the largest useful role and use suitable variants for smaller displays. Avoid treating a universal quality value or byte limit as a platform requirement.
Illustrative comparison: make two exports of a label-heavy product at the same dimensions, then read the label at the actual detail-page size. If the smaller version loses required information, raise quality or change format before comparing bytes again.
Check the storefront output
The store may resize and recompress uploads or generate its own variants. Inspect the file requested on mobile and desktop, and open the zoom view. Check whether background treatment, orientation or color appearance changed. If a platform cannot process the format you selected, retain an accepted export rather than renaming its extension.
Publish useful context with the photo
Use descriptive filenames and accurate alternative text without keyword stuffing. Google recommends useful image quality and relevant landing-page context; it does not promise a conversion or ranking increase from a particular compression setting. Retain originals, record the chosen export approach and review outliers separately rather than degrading them to satisfy an arbitrary catalogue-wide number.