Shopify image colors look different?
Shopify removes a photo’s color profile when you upload it. If the photo was saved in Display P3, Adobe RGB or CMYK, its colors change. Choose a photo to see which profile it has, preview what Shopify will show, and download a copy converted to sRGB. Nothing is uploaded: this runs in your browser.
Check a photo
Result
It reads the color profile saved inside a JPEG, PNG or WebP file, and says whether Shopify removing it will change how the photo looks.
Why Shopify changes your photo’s colors
Shopify’s help page says it directly (Shopify Help Center: Fix image colors):
“When you upload an image to Shopify, the colors in the uploaded image might look different from the original.”
“When images are uploaded to Shopify, their color profile is removed.”
A color profile tells a browser how to read the numbers in a photo. The same red value means a deeper red in Display P3 than in sRGB. Once the profile is gone, browsers read every photo as sRGB. A photo that was already sRGB looks the same. A photo saved in a wider space looks duller, and a CMYK photo can look badly wrong.
Which photos are affected
| Profile | Where it comes from | On Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| sRGB | Most cameras and web exports | No change |
| No profile | Many web tools and older software | No change (already read as sRGB) |
| Display P3 | iPhone photos | Duller colors |
| Adobe RGB, ProPhoto RGB | Cameras and editors set for print or wide gamut | Duller colors |
| CMYK | Files prepared for printing | Wrong colors |
Converting is not the same as removing the profile
Removing a profile keeps the numbers and changes the colors: that is what happens on Shopify. Converting to sRGB changes the numbers so the colors stay as you see them, and once the photo is sRGB, removing the profile changes nothing. This tool converts. In Photoshop the equivalent is Edit > Convert to Profile, with sRGB as the destination. Colors that sRGB cannot show, such as the most saturated reds and greens of Display P3, become the nearest color sRGB can show.
What this tool does not check
It reads the color profile only. Colors can also look different because of the theme, a filter or overlay in the theme settings, or the screen they are viewed on. For size, the Shopify megapixel checker tests the 25 megapixel limit. The Shopify product image requirements guide covers the rest of Shopify’s rules, and the checker measures a photo against them, or against five other marketplaces’, and can fix the background and framing. The first check and fix are free with no account.