Image ratio

v1.0.0

Images are the primary visual gateway to the products on eBay. To ensure a consistent, professional, and engaging experience for all users, it's essential to understand and utilize the recommended image aspect ratios.

Stylized pictogram image of aspect ratios

Tenets

Aspect ratio refers to the proportional relationship between an image's width and height. On eBay, we've established key aspect ratios to ensure optimal display across various devices and platforms in our product.

Consistency

Consistency with aspect ratios should be chosen deliberately to serve the content and user experience, maintaining consistency across the platform for a unified visual language.

Adaptability

Image aspect ratios must accommodate diverse screen sizes and contexts, ensuring a seamless composition and optimized viewing experience across all devices.

Effortless

Seamlessly optimize user images without requiring excessive manual adjustments, ensuring a smooth and intuitive experience.

Ratios

1:1

The square format, our dominant and recommended ratio, ensures consistency across all surfaces of eBay item listings. 

3:4 & 4:3

These ratios are often camera phone defaults. These ratios can be optimal for specific categories like automotive and fashion. Sellers retain ratios when uploading images to preserve the intended composition.

16:9 & 9:16

For masonry and video, we offer the flexibility of 9:16 and 16:9 formats, in addition to our standard options.

Responsive

Across devices, image aspect ratios are preserved. Though grid layouts may shift, individual images maintain their original proportions, preventing unwanted cropping or stretching.

Images remain the same ratio across screen sizes. In this case, the square ratio remains consistent across small and large screens.

Import

When sellers upload product images, we retain the original aspect ratio of the imported image. However, in most surfaces, the aspect ratio will display at 1:1, so it is important to allow users to provide a preferred framing. The original aspect ratio, if different than 1:1 may be leveraged in masonry feeds, gallery views, and single category layouts.

Camera

By recognizing these defaults, such as 3:4 & 4:3 being common smartphone camera defaults, we can better anticipate the aspect ratios of seller-uploaded images. 

Guidance

This knowledge enables us to develop guidelines and tools that accommodate these common ratios while promoting the use of our preferred 1:1 format.

Convenience

We want to meet sellers where they are, and provide tools that help them optimize the images they have, instead of creating overly complex capture requirements.

Devices using native image capture. Number 1 points to portrait orientation. Number 1 points to landscape orientation.

3:4 is used mostly in the wild for general picture taking
4:3 is used less, but good for landscape-style photos

Image integrity

Our system prioritizes the integrity of user images. We maintain the original aspect ratio of all uploaded content, avoiding automatic cropping. By recognizing common camera defaults, such as 3:4 and 4:3, we ensure accurate and consistent display across our platform. Users should have the option to define a fixed ratio focal point within their images, providing additional control over visual presentation. 

An image that is cropped, and another where the original size is preserved.

In context

eBay uses various aspect ratios to optimize displays. While 1:1 is our standard, other formats enhance specific contexts.

1:1 standard

Square is the primary aspect ratio, ensuring a uniform look in mixed-category areas like search results and home page carousels.

Masonry grids

Masonry grids display images closer to their original aspect ratios for a dynamic view. Learn more about using Masonry grids.

Category-specific optimization

For searches or category pages with dominant aspect ratios, such as 4:3 for automotive or 3:4 for graded cards, eBay may adjust displays for a better browsing experience.