Sometimes you upload an image in WordPress/WooCommerce and it just doesn’t show up like you intended it. Sometimes they don’t align. Sometimes they don’t fit the placeholder. Sometimes the image just doesn’t show. And sometimes, the image gets blurry. Why the image gets blurry may be caused by one of a few problems. Here we discuss the common causes and how to fix blurry product images in WooCommerce.

You Uploaded a Blurry Image

If you uploaded a blurry image then don’t expect that you’re going to get a good image to show up. Maybe you viewed the image in a small screen so it looks okay but when you view it on a larger screen, you’ll find that it actually is blurry. If this is the case, there is hardly anything that you can do to fix the image. Image editing tools like Adobe Photoshop may be able to help a bit by making the image sharper but don’t be expecting any significant changes. Odds are you’ll have to get a better image.

WooCommerce Recommends Using Large Product Images

Before, WooCommerce images need to be a specific size that you set in WooCommerce settings. That is no longer the case. WooCommerce now uses a lighthouse so images pop up big when users click on it. Large images look great and will help sell your products. However, make sure they are properly optimized.

For most themes, WooCommerce recommends uploading an image that is at least 800×800 pixels. Don’t worry about the image being bigger than the placeholder as WooCommerce automatically sizes your images and will only show the full resolution when clicked.

To control thumbnail cropping of your product images, you can go to Appearance > Customize > WooCommerce >Product Images and then select your desired cropping settings.

If the image is not the problem, there might be a problem with how your images are rendered. You can try to regenerate image thumbnails.

How to Regenerate Thumbnails

Other than when changing image settings in WordPress and WooCommerce, you may also need to regenerate the image thumbnails on your website if they appear blurry after a redesign or changing to a different theme. The best and easiest way to regenerate image thumbnails is to use the Regenerate Thumbnails plugin. Simply install and activate the plugin and from there, go to “Tools” and “Regen. Thumbnails”. Just click on the button “Regenerate All Thumbnails” and the plugin will fix the blurry images like magic.

If you want to regenerate thumbnails for specific images instead, you can do this on the Media page on your admin panel. Make sure you are viewing images with List view. Simply hover over the image and the link to regenerate thumbnail should appear. You can also mark all the images you want to regenerate thumbnails and use Regenerate Thumbnails from Bulk Actions and then apply.

Best Practices on Image Use

There are a lot of things that you can do to avoid blurry images by following best practices. Once you set an image dimension, make sure that the images you upload comply with that requirement. Uploading a bigger image in WooCommerce is okay but make sure the image is optimized so as not to affect your page load speed. You can set how you want image thumbnails to be cropped. If you upload a smaller image, it might look okay on a mobile device but not on a PC or laptop. It is also important to know what image file types to use.

Another best practice for images is to always set an alt text for your image. If the image fails to load, the alt text will show up and the user will at least know what the image is about. Also, name your files properly. Don’t name your files after SEO keywords. If you have an image of a ukulele, give it a descriptive file name and not “buy-cheap-ukulele”.

People that read this article also liked

How to Change the Number of Related Products in WooCommerce How to Add a Hero Image in Storefront Improve Website Page Load Speed by Optimizing Images for Web Preparing Product Images for WooCommerce