Shopify product video: a video for every product in your store

How Shopify product media takes video

Shopify treats a product video as one more item in the product's media, next to its photos, and your theme decides how the gallery shows it.

These are the limits in Shopify's help centre. Two apply to the whole store, not one product.

Where the video appears depends on your theme. Shopify says your store needs a theme that supports video, which includes every Online Store 2.0 theme Shopify builds; an older theme version may need updating. The video sits in the product's media gallery. The first media item is the featured media, so keep a photo first unless you want the video as the main image.

The theme also sets whether video autoplays, loops, starts muted or shows controls; in Shopify's theme documentation each is off unless the theme turns it on. Agencies: check the client's theme before promising a behaviour.

This guide covers the Shopify side of the job. What a product video should show, and why every product rather than a few best sellers, is in ecommerce product video.

Which cut to upload, the cover image and captions

Upload one cut per product, in the shape of your product photos, with captions burned in.

• Match the gallery. Videngine renders a 9:16 and a 16:9 cut for each product, and 1:1 or 4:5 as well. Square photos take the 1:1 cut, 4:5 portrait photos the 4:5 cut, and a landscape gallery 16:9. A 9:16 cut can look tall and narrow among square photos. Upload one, check the page on a phone and a laptop, then do the rest.
• 1080p is enough. In browsers that stream, Shopify plays video at up to 1080p.
• Choose the cover image. Shopify makes a thumbnail automatically. To replace it, click the video in the product's Media section, then the pencil icon next to the cover image. Use the product's main photo, not a frame caught mid-transition.
• Burn the captions in. A shopper may be browsing with the sound off, and Shopify's guidance to theme developers says product video should be paused on page load, and muted if it does play. Burned-in captions work in every theme. Keep the .srt for YouTube.
• Use the other cuts elsewhere. The 9:16 cut suits Reels, Shorts and TikTok; 16:9 suits your YouTube channel.

Whether a product video helps the page in Google, and what markup that needs, is a separate job, covered in product page video SEO.

Bulk product videos for a Shopify catalogue

A whole catalogue runs as one batch: list the products, render and review, then upload each approved file to the product it is named after.

Videngine has no Shopify app and does not upload to Shopify. Its website publishing writes into static HTML sites built from a GitHub repository, which a Shopify store is not. The upload is done in your Shopify admin, or by a script you write.

1. List the products. Give the studio your store's sitemap, which Shopify generates at /sitemap.xml with links to all your products, and pick the products to turn into videos. Or export your products and cut the file to one row per video: one per handle, or one per SKU for variant videos. CSV and JSON batches start on Growth.
2. Pilot the hard cases. Render the longest title, a product with two photos, one with many variants and a typical one. Fix the scene set and pronunciation lexicon, so brand and material names are said the same way every time, then release the batch.
3. Name files by handle or SKU. Shopify's CSV guide describes the handle as the unique identifier for each product, used in its URL, and the SKU as a variant's stock code. A file named linen-apron_1x1_v1.mp4 (an illustrative product) can only belong to one product.
4. Review in the studio. Every video is reviewed before it goes out. A rejection gets a defect code: photo for another product's picture, specification for a wrong size or material, pronunciation for a misread name.
5. Upload in Shopify admin. Open the product and, in the Media section, click Upload new or drag the file in. For many files, upload them to Content > Files, up to 200 at a time, then add each one to its product with Select existing. A product CSV import will not carry them.
6. Set the order and cover. Drag the video into place, replace the thumbnail if needed, and check the page on a phone.

Mind the store-wide caps. On Basic, 250 videos and 3D models will not cover a large catalogue, so move to a plan with a higher cap or start with the products where shoppers need video most.

Handing over the files, or scripting the upload

If someone else runs the store, give them the files and a list. Google Drive delivery (Growth, rolling out) puts the cuts in a folder the business owns, with a sheet listing every product. The video ledger records each version, builder, reviewer and status, and its CSV export doubles as the upload checklist.

An agency with a developer can automate the upload on its own side. Shopify's Admin API documents uploading a video and attaching it to a product, and Videngine's read-only API (Growth) looks up the approved video for each product by its reference. That script is yours to write and run.

For several client stores, give each store its own brand (3 on Growth, 10 on Scale). A workspace can require the approver to be someone other than the builder.

One video per product or per variant

Make one video per product unless variants differ in something a shopper needs to see, because in Shopify a video belongs to the product, not to a variant.

Shopify says variants do not support video or 3D models, and each variant takes one image. When a shopper picks a colour, the theme shows that variant's image; the video stays where you put it.

On Plus and enterprise plans, Shopify's Combined Listings app joins separate products into one listing. Shopify describes it as allowing extra images for product options; it does not mention video, so test it in your theme before planning around it.

Keep the facts true across variants: a video narrating the sand apron (illustrative) should not sit above the charcoal one's price. Product video automation covers keeping product facts apart from creative choices and tying every output to the variant it came from.

Keeping Shopify product videos current

Re-render a video when a fact in it changes, and take it out of your list when the product goes.

• The product changes. New photos, a new title, new dimensions or a price the narration states: render again and review. The rebuild is saved as _v2 beside the original; re-rendering in the same month is free. In Shopify, delete the old video and upload the new one in the same position.
• New products arrive. Shopify updates the sitemap when you add a product, so read it again before each batch.
• Some products are unlisted. Shopify says unlisted products are left out of your store's sitemap, so list those from the product export instead.
• A product is archived. Shopify hides an archived product from your storefront, video included. Mark it in your checklist, and if the product returns, check the video still matches.
• Reconcile each month. Compare the ledger export with a fresh product export, matched by handle. Look for active products with no approved video and videos for products you have archived.

Keep the file name, handle and ledger in step, and a changed product is a quick rebuild.

When Videngine is the wrong tool for Shopify video

Videngine turns your product pages and data into narrated videos outside Shopify; it does not film, edit inside your admin or build storefront widgets.

The two can sit together: an app for storefront widgets and customer clips, and a rendered video for each product nobody has time to film.

Questions Shopify store owners ask

How do I add a video to a Shopify product?

In Shopify admin, go to Products, open the product, and in the Media section click Upload new or drag the file in. Shopify accepts MP4, MOV and WebM files up to 1 GB and 10 minutes, or a YouTube or Vimeo link. Your theme must support video.

Can I add product videos to Shopify with a CSV import?

No. Shopify's CSV guide says videos and 3D models are not supported in the product CSV, which takes image URLs only. Upload videos to each product's media, or to Content > Files and then add them to products.

Can a Shopify variant have its own video?

Not as variant media. Shopify variants take one image each and do not support video. The video sits in the product's gallery, so make one video per product, or label variant videos clearly and name the files by SKU.

Does Videngine have a Shopify app?

No. Videngine has no Shopify app and does not upload to Shopify. It reads your sitemap, product pages or product export, renders and queues each video for review, and you upload the approved MP4 files, named by handle or SKU.

Which video shape should I upload to a Shopify product page?

The one that matches your product photos: 1:1 for square photos, 4:5 for portrait, 16:9 for a landscape gallery. Upload one, check the page on a phone, then do the rest. Keep captions burned in for shoppers watching without sound.

How many product videos can a Shopify store upload?

Shopify allows up to 1,000 video uploads a week per store and up to 250 media items per product. The total number of videos and 3D models in a store is capped by plan, at 250 on Basic.

Choose your next step

Go wider on product video, or deeper on search and catalogue data.

• Plan a video for every product in your shop
• Get product page videos found in search
• Structure a product export for a batch