Different images and videos per language

What it is for

Text can be translated, text inside an image cannot. A banner saying “Sale” or a product photo with German labels looks the same in every language. With “Images and videos per language” you choose a different image for a language — and, if you like, only for one market. It replaces the original one to one; every other language keeps seeing the original.

Theme images

Images in your theme (for example a banner on the home page) are under Content → Theme, among the texts of their section. Instead of a text field you see a preview of the image.

Whether your theme shows the image of the chosen language depends on the theme. After saving, check your store in that language; some themes may keep showing the original image.

1. Choose the language at the top — and, if the image should only differ in one market, the market.
2. Click “Choose image for this language” at the image and pick an image from your files or upload one.
3. Save. “Use original image” takes the choice back.

Product images

You set a replacement image right in the product's image gallery — also when the image manager is switched off. In the main language there is nothing special. Switch to a foreign language (and, if you like, to a market) and select an image in the gallery: in the selection's button row the button “Upload replacement image” appears between “Move” and “Delete”. Clicking it opens your files, where you pick an image or upload a new one; only what can replace the original is offered. The chosen image shows in the gallery right away, in place of the original, marked with a small round symbol in its top-left corner. It is only saved when you press “Save” at the top; the info box reports the result. “Discard” takes your choice back. Clicking the symbol shows you the original (the symbol turns grey), another click shows the replacement again. “Remove replacement image” makes the original apply again — that too is only applied with “Save”. Use an image with the same proportions as the original — the store keeps the original's frame, so a different shape gets cropped or leaves gaps.

For your store to show the replacements, turn on the “Media per language” app embed once (while it is still off, the message after saving links straight to it). The images are replaced in the product page gallery (including its thumbnails and the full-screen view). If you also use the app’s “Open Graph / Twitter” and “JSON-LD Structured Data” embeds, the main image shown when the link is shared, and the images search engines read, are replaced too.

• A replacement for a specific market takes precedence over the replacement for “All markets”.
• Your choices apply per language and market: you can choose something in one language, switch to another, and apply everything at the end with one click on “Save”.
• If you delete an image in the app, all of its replacement images (in every language and market) are deleted with it.
• In the image manager, the variant galleries show the replacement image too, and you can set it there as well: select the image in a variant gallery and the same button appears. It is the same replacement as under “All images” — what you choose in one place shows in both. Images that are only in a variant gallery (not under “All images”) and YouTube or Vimeo links in a variant gallery cannot be replaced yet, and 3D models not at all; the button is greyed out there and says why.
• If your plan does not (or no longer) include replacement images and videos, for example after a plan change, your store keeps showing the replacements that already exist. You see them in the gallery and can remove them there; new replacements can no longer be set. An uploaded video can take Shopify a few minutes to process; the file is already in your files by then and can be picked from there.
• If there are replacement images that no longer belong to anything (for example to a market or language that no longer exists in your store), a warning appears below the gallery where you can remove them. If you convert an image to WebP, the old image's replacement images are carried over to the new file automatically; only if that fails do they appear in this warning and have to be set again. Unsaved replacement images from a foreign language stay when you switch to the main language; a line below the gallery names the languages in which something is still waiting for “Save”.

Videos

The same way you also replace a product's videos per language and market — for example with a dubbed version. A video uploaded to Shopify is replaced by another uploaded video (from your files or uploaded new), a YouTube or Vimeo video by another YouTube or Vimeo link. With a video selected, the button reads “Upload replacement video” or “Enter replacement link” accordingly. An image cannot be replaced by a video or the other way round; 3D models are not replaced.

Shopify processes a newly uploaded video for a few minutes. If a note says so, pick the video from your files a little later.

Videos in the theme settings (for example a video section on the home page) are entered per language as a different link; the AI does not change them.

What is not replaced

Product cards in collections, the cart, and feeds for Google Shopping, the Shop app and other sales channels keep showing the original. For videos, the description of the video for search engines stays with the original. Collection and blog images are not covered yet.