My product photo shows up sideways after I upload it. Will compressing it fix that?
Most of the time, yes. Phones often store a photo's rotation as a flag in its EXIF data instead of actually turning the pixels, and some websites ignore that flag. The compressor applies the orientation first and then saves an image that is upright in its real pixels, so it no longer depends on how a site reads the flag. If the photo looks wrong in the tool's preview too, it was shot that way and needs rotating.
Why it looks fine to you and wrong to them
When you shoot with the phone held upright or upside down, it does not always rearrange the pixels. Sometimes it saves them exactly as the sensor produced them and writes a small EXIF flag that says 'show this rotated 90 degrees'. Your phone's gallery and most modern browsers read the flag, so you see an upright photo. But if a website or program strips or ignores EXIF while processing the image, it shows the raw pixels, and your photo lies on its side.
What the compressor does, exactly
- The Image compressor reads the photo and applies the orientation flag as it opens it, so the pixels themselves end up the right way round.
- It draws the upright image onto a Canvas, and the correct dimensions appear under the file name. A portrait phone photo, for example, shows a width smaller than its height.
- It encodes the result as JPEG or WebP with no EXIF data, orientation flag included.
- The output is upright everywhere, because there is no longer a flag for anyone to ignore.
A quick test before you upload again
- Add the photo to the tool and look at the preview. If it is upright there, the flag was the problem, and uploading the output instead of the original will fix it.
- Check the dimensions under the file name: for a portrait photo, the first number should be smaller than the second.
- If the photo is tilted or upside down in the preview itself, the flag is not the issue; it was shot that way. Use the Image rotator and flipper tool to turn it, then compress if you like.
- If you edit the photo in another app after compressing, make sure it has not added a new orientation flag.
A side benefit: a lighter file
Since you are re-uploading anyway, the copy that comes out of the tool is usually lighter than the original, which helps your product page load faster. Use a quality between 75 and 85 for product photos. If several photos have the same problem, put them all in one batch of up to 30 and download them as a ZIP. Remember that dropping EXIF also drops the location and capture date from the published copy, so keep the original if you need them.
Common questions
Does the automatic rotation reduce quality?
The rotation itself loses nothing, but saving as JPEG or WebP gives up some detail depending on the quality you pick.
My photo is right on the website on a computer but sideways in the phone app. Why?
Each program handles the orientation flag its own way. Baking the orientation into the pixels by compressing makes it display the same everywhere.
Can the tool mirror or rotate a photo by hand?
No, the compressor does not rotate or flip manually. Use the Image rotator and flipper tool for that.