Zen Cart is a free, open source shopping cart that you install on your own hosting. It does not ask for one fixed image size. Instead, it shows each product photo in boxes whose sizes you set in the admin, and it can use separate medium and large files. This page collects what the official Zen Cart docs say, plus the default values and display logic in the Zen Cart 2.2.2 source code, with the date we checked them, and turns that into settings for clothing photos. We make NotShot, an AI on-model photo tool, so we also cover where on-model images fit.
The Zen Cart docs page on preparing images (checked by us on 1 November 2026) says Zen Cart displays images in three sizes:
You set the display size of the small and medium images under Admin, Configuration, Images. The Configuration, Images docs page lists Small Image Width and Height, Product Info Image Width and Height, and Calculate Image Size. You cannot set the size of the large image: Zen Cart shows it at the dimensions you upload.
The install data in the Zen Cart 2.2.2 source, the latest Zen Cart release on GitHub when we checked on 1 November 2026, sets these defaults:
All of these boxes are wider than they are tall, while a full length photo of a standing model is taller than it is wide. A store that was set up earlier, or a third party template, may use other values, so check your own settings.
With proportional images on, the image function in the Zen Cart 2.2.2 source reads the size of your file and fits it inside the width and height box while keeping its proportions. It then writes those dimensions as width and height on the same file. Zen Cart itself does not make a smaller copy, so a big upload is still downloaded at full weight in listings unless you add an image handling plugin. If the photo is smaller than the box, it is shown at its own size and not scaled up.
So a tall clothing photo in a default landscape box comes out small: it is limited by the height. Two ways to handle it:
Because one file used at every size is either heavy in listings or soft when enlarged, the preparing images page recommends three sets of files, each saved at the size you want to show. Its example uses 500 pixel square large images, 250 pixel medium and 125 pixel small, and it says 480 or 640 pixels wide is enough for the large image for most purposes. If your shoppers enlarge photos to see fabric and stitching, you may want a bigger large image than that. Do not go larger than your original photo.
The Zen Cart docs on image filename conventions set the names:
The Zen Cart docs on image popups say that since 2.0.0, clicking the main or an additional image in the Responsive Classic template opens it in a modal dialog.
The preparing images page recommends .jpg for photos and .gif or .png for clip art and graphics. It says never to save photos as .gif, and notes that a .jpg cannot be transparent. File weight depends on dimensions, format and compression, so keep an uncompressed original and export smaller files for the web.
For names, it advises no spaces, no capital letters at the start or in the extension, and descriptive names that match how shoppers search, such as womens-straight-jeans-mid-blue.jpg.
Extra images use the base name plus a suffix such as _01 and _02, and load in alphanumeric order. The Zen Cart docs on additional images say they are switched on under Catalog, Product Types, Product - General, Layout Settings, Show Product Additional Images, and that since 2.1.0 the underscore must match exactly. In 2.2.0 and later, the database option for additional images lets you set Additional Images Handling to Database, install the Scan Additional Product Images to Database plugin, run the scan tool and then manage images on the product edit page.
Running another platform too? Compare OpenCart product image size for clothing, PrestaShop product image size for clothing and CS-Cart product image size for clothing. For lighting and backdrops, see our clothing product photography guide.
The Zen Cart docs set no rule against models in product images, so on-model photos can sit next to your packshots as the main or additional images. Check each marketplace's own rules before you sell there. NotShot renders your garment on your own model from the product photo you already have, and every render is checked by an AI judge that compares it with your upload for color, print and cut. Renders below the quality bar are refunded automatically, so you pay for photos that pass the check, not for attempts. Plans are on the pricing page.
