What aspect ratio should I use for product photos on each ecommerce platform?

Quick Answer

Use 1:1 (square) as the safe default for Shopify, Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Google Shopping, Facebook Shop, Instagram Shop, and TikTok Shop product tiles. Switch to 4:3 for the first Etsy listing image, 4:5 (portrait) for Meta and TikTok in-feed ads, 9:16 (vertical) for Stories, Reels, and TikTok creative, and 2:3 for Pinterest. In Nightjar the shape is an output setting on the Create form (1:1, 4:5, 9:16, 2:3, and others), so the same product image can be generated at every destination's ratio without recropping.

Aspect Ratio by Platform

The table is the answer. Specs are taken from each platform's current image documentation; the underlying pages move, so link out before publishing a listing if a number looks tight.

Platform	Primary product image ratio	Recommended size	Notes
Shopify	1:1 (square)	2,048 x 2,048 px for product zoom; up to 4,472 x 4,472 px	Storefront serves up to 5,760 x 5,760 px. Keep the catalog grid uniform by sticking to square.
Amazon	1:1 (square)	1,600 px on the longest side for zoom; 500 px minimum	Main image must be pure white (#FFFFFF), product fills 85% of the frame, no text or props.
Etsy	4:3 (landscape) for the first image	2,000 px on the shortest side	Etsy crops thumbnails to 4:3. Portrait or square first images get cut. Gallery images can be any shape.
eBay	1:1 (square)	1,600 px on the longest side; 500 px minimum	Zoom enables at 800 px and up. White background required for many categories.
Walmart Marketplace	1:1 (square)	2,200 x 2,200 px; 1,500 px minimum on the longest side	Pure white background, product fills 85% of the frame.
Google Shopping	1:1 (square) non-apparel; 1:1 to 4:3 apparel	800 x 800 px minimum; up to 64 MP	No promotional text or watermarks in the primary `image_link`.
Facebook Shop	1:1 (square) tile	1,024 x 1,024 px minimum	Catalog uploads accept up to 4:5; merchandising tile is square.
Instagram Shop	1:1 tile; 4:5 feed ad; 9:16 Reels/Stories	1,080 x 1,080 px minimum	The Shop tile pulls the square. Feed and Reels need their own shapes.
TikTok Shop	1:1 tile; 9:16 in-feed video	800 x 800 px tile; 1,080 x 1,920 px vertical creative	Product detail page is square; discovery is vertical-first.
Pinterest	2:3 (vertical)	1,000 x 1,500 px	9:16 also supported for idea pins. Anything wider than 2:3 gets truncated in the feed.
YouTube Shopping	16:9 horizontal; 9:16 for Shorts	1,280 x 720 px thumbnails; 1,920 x 1,080 px ideal	Shorts shelf is vertical-first.

The pattern across the marketplaces is straightforward. Marketplace tiles and PDP grids want square. Social discovery wants portrait or vertical. Pinterest is the outlier at 2:3. Etsy is the outlier at 4:3.

Generating Once Per Shape, Not Cropping

The common mistake is shooting one square hero and cropping it into every destination. A 1:1 image cropped to 9:16 either loses most of the product or leaves the phone screen half-empty. A 1:1 cropped to Pinterest's 2:3 loses the bottom third of the frame.

The cleaner approach is to set the aspect ratio at generation time. Nightjar exposes ten output ratios on every Generation (1:1, 4:5, 4:3, 3:2, 5:4, 3:4, 16:9, 9:16, 21:9, plus Default), so the same product brief can produce a square Shopify tile, a 4:5 Meta feed creative, a 9:16 Reels frame, and a 2:3 Pinterest pin without recropping the source.

For a finished image that needs a new shape, the Edit tab accepts a /ratio command, and the Reframe Edit Shortcut extends the canvas to a new ratio rather than cropping the product out of the frame.

Saving the Per-Platform Setup

Once a per-destination shape is dialed in, it usually travels with every product in the catalog, not just one. Nightjar has a feature called Recipes: a saved Create-form setup that captures the photography style, composition, model choice, background, and output settings (aspect ratio, resolution, format) together. A "Shopify packshot" Recipe at 1:1 and a "Reels vertical" Recipe at 9:16 can both apply to the same product, so the catalog can ship every platform's shape from one source brief.

The point of treating aspect ratio as a setting rather than a crop is that the eight or so shapes a DTC catalog actually needs become a flag, not a separate shoot.