How does AI Commerce automatically optimize images?
Automatic optimization of image format and size in the online store ensures fast loading times and a high-quality user experience.
Written by Petro Mäntylä
Updated at March 12th, 2025
Table of Contents
AI Commerce can automatically optimize images for the end user's device and browser, saving the online retailer time and effort by not having to worry about separate image sizes and formats. Images can be uploaded in many different formats , and the system will do the rest: it scales and converts the files to be optimal for different devices.
The benefit to the user is clear:
- No need to manage multiple image formats or sizes
- Better performance and faster loading time
- Visually higher quality results on different devices
In this guide, we will go over how AI Commerce platform processes images, how its automation works, and what default settings merchants should be aware of.
Step-by-step instructions
1. Uploading images
- Simple upload : You can upload product images to AI Commerce platform as usual (for example, as product images, category images, or homepage banners).
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Format restrictions are loose : PNG, JPG, WebP or AVIF will work – the platform automatically converts and scales the image as long as the image is added through AI Commerce system's own tools.
Note!
Even if images are imported from an ERP system, Akeneo, or CSV files, the same optimization occurs automatically when the images are distributed to the customer.
2. Image optimization and distribution
- Accept Header Check : AI Commerce reads the browser's "Accept Header" information and determines which image format works best on the user's device.
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Size and scaling : The system automatically selects the appropriate image size (e.g., higher resolution for Retina displays). This is done using
imagesettags in a staggered manner so that each device gets the most optimal version. Learn more about the technology: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Responsive_images - Multiple versions : On first upload, the system generates multiple image formats (AVIF, WebP, JPG, PNG) and sizes. The images are cached for a year. If the image is not requested for 12 months, it will be regenerated on the next request.
Format priority order
| Priority | Format |
|---|---|
| 1 | avif |
| 2 | webp |
| 3 | jpeg |
| 4 | png |
3. Forced use of image formats
- You can force the image format by adding
?f=jpeg(orpng,webp,avif) to the image URL. - The size can be limited with parameters such as
?w=500(width) or?h=1000(height).- Recommendation: Do not use both width and height restrictions at the same time, but let the system maintain the correct aspect ratio automatically.
- Recommendation: Do not use both width and height restrictions at the same time, but let the system maintain the correct aspect ratio automatically.
URL parameters that support overwriting
- f: Image format (eg 'jpeg', 'png', 'webp', 'avif').
- h: Image height (rounded to the nearest 100, maximum 1500).
- w: Image width (rounded to the nearest 100, maximum 1500).
- q: Image quality (rounded to the nearest 10, maximum 80).
Note!
Integration partners are not recommended to add parameters separately without a specific reason. Almost without exception, it makes more sense to allow AI Commerce 's automation to handle image distribution in an optimized way. AI Commerce 's image distribution process is highly developed, sophisticated, and under continuous development.
4. Considerations for search engines
- Google Image Search and AVIF : While the Google crawler understands the AVIF format, Google Images does not yet support it. AI Commerce resolves the conflict by automatically serving the WebP version to Google crawlers, so images are indexed normally in search results.
5. Images and domains
- One image, many versions : Administratively, you only have one image file that you upload to the server. AI Commerce handles all other sizes and formats.
- Limitation : The system's automatic optimization only works for images shared by AI Commerce platform that are located in the images or uploads path of the main domain. The system does not have technical control or sufficient background information to perform optimization for images located on other domains or separate paths.
Tip!
Upload images to third-party CMS (WP, Builderio, etc.) using AI Commerce ’s “File Uploader” tool, and you can take advantage of automatic image optimization. We also recommend using responsive images in WYSIWYG and CMS tools: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Responsive_images
6. Image distribution performance
- The images are distributed via Cloudfront , where they are first transferred to a server in, for example, Frankfurt and from there to the nearest Edge server (e.g. Helsinki-Vantaa Airport).
- The first download creates the image and takes a little longer, but subsequent downloads are very quick from the cache.
Image review
When you check the format in which images are distributed, you cannot see it from the file extension (e.g. .jpg ), but the format is shown in the response headers. The response header shows you in which format the image is distributed. The file type of the image remains the same, but it is not important, as search engines, crawlers and browsers read the response header, not the image file extension. You can check this information in the browser's Network tab by examining the response header of the shared image.
Summary
AI Commerce ’s automatic image processing saves online merchants a lot of work and ensures that every user is served the best possible image quality and size as quickly as possible. The system optimizes both format and size, and takes advantage of the speed of delivery provided by the Content Delivery Network. The merchant only needs to upload one version of the image – the platform takes care of everything else.