Shopify

SOURCES FETCHED SUCCESSFULLY (all first-party): help.shopify.com file-uploads (the authoritative requirements page), help.shopify.com product-media, product-media-types, add-media, change-thumbnail, online-store/images/theme-images, and shopify.dev/docs/apps/build/online-store/product-media. Nothing was taken from a blog. The two most contentious extractions (the 16:9/9:16/4:3/3:4/1:1 aspect-ratio list and the H.264/AAC codec line) were re-fetched a second time with a strict literal-quote prompt to confirm they genuinely appear on the page rather than being inferred. IMPORTANT — ENFORCED vs RECOMMENDED. Shopify's video aspect-ratio list is under a heading literally titled "Recommended video specifications". It is NOT an upload gate. The mandatory video requirements table contains no aspect ratio at all; the only hard shape constraint is min width/height 100 px and max width/height 4096 px. So a 21:9 or 2:1 video will upload fine — it just isn't in Shopify's recommended set. Do not present the ratio list as a hard requirement. OFFICIAL PAGES DISAGREE — THREE SEPARATE CONFLICTS, all recorded above rather than resolved: 1. Image max resolution. file-uploads says "Maximum of 20 MP". product-media-types says "up to 5000 x 5000 px, or 25 megapixels". shopify.dev says "Max 4472 x 4472 px (20 MP)". 4472x4472 is exactly 20 MP and is consistent with the file-uploads cap; 5000x5000 is 25 MP and exceeds it. The theme-images page contradicts itself on a single page, stating a 20 MP maximum while recommending uploads "up to 5000px x 5000px or 25 megapixels". Safest working number is 20 MP / 4472 x 4472 px, but note that is my reconciliation, not a Shopify statement. 2. Video max resolution. file-uploads says "Maximum resolution of UHD" with max width/height 4096 px. product-media-types says "Up to 4K (4096 x 2160 px)". shopify.dev says "Max 3840x2160 (UHD/4K)". UHD is 3840x2160; 4K DCI is 4096x2160. The 4096 px dimension cap and the 3840x2160 resolution cap are not the same claim. 3. Accepted image formats. file-uploads lists only "JPEG, PNG, WEBP, HEIC, and GIF". product-media-types lists a broader set adding PSD, TIFF, BMP, and SVG. The broader list likely reflects formats accepted at upload and converted, versus formats served; Shopify does not say which, so both are recorded. COVER IMAGE / THUMBNAIL — GENUINE GAP. Video and 3D-model thumbnails are auto-generated and can be replaced from the product editor (pencil icon next to the cover image), but Shopify publishes no dimension, aspect-ratio, file-size or format requirement specific to that replacement image. I verified this by pulling the change-thumbnail page verbatim; it is a six-step procedure with zero specs. The general image limits (20 MB, 20 MP, 100:1–1:100) are the only published constraints that can apply. I have not filled this gap with a guessed number. SURFACE MODEL — Shopify is not like Reels/Shorts. There is no feed/Reels/listing-main-image split and no safe-zone or UI-overlap guidance published anywhere, because product media renders inside the merchant's own theme rather than a fixed platform chrome. The real surface-level variable is the theme: media will not display at all unless the theme supports 3D models and video. Crop and framing are therefore theme-dependent, and Shopify's only framing advice is to keep a consistent aspect ratio across a product's images. Do not expect an Amazon-main-image-style duration window or a Reels-style safe zone here — none exists. PLAYBACK CEILING WORTH FLAGGING TO CREATORS. Even though uploads up to UHD are accepted, storefront delivery is capped: videos display at 480p, 720p, or 1080p depending on connection and source. Mastering above 1080p buys nothing on the storefront today. CHANGE HISTORY — NOT ESTABLISHED. I could not verify whether any of these numbers changed in the last twelve months. Shopify does not version or date-stamp these help pages, and my web search budget for this session was exhausted before I could check the changelog or archived copies, so I could not diff against earlier versions. Treat "no recent change" as unknown, not as confirmed-stable. The 0.25 second minimum duration and the 120 fps cap are the specs most likely to be recent additions, since they read like pipeline-validation limits, but I have no evidence for that and it should not be repeated as fact. METHOD CAVEAT. Page content was retrieved through a fetch-and-extract step, so values are quoted as that extraction returned them. Every number above is presented in the wording attributed to its page, and the high-risk items were double-checked, but for anything load-bearing in a production upload validator I would re-read the file-uploads page directly before hardcoding.