A common question we get asked is “why does my updated product image not show on my website even though I have saved the new image”.
The answer is “it is showing, but it’s caching for you on your web browser”.
Caching is your web browser’s way of speeding up your internet viewing by storing common files from a website on your device. When a webpage is cached the browser does a quick check of the server and then uses the locally saved images, stylesheets and other files instead of downloading everything again.
Images are particularly stored locally on your hard drive as these can take a lot of bandwidth to download.
The new image uploaded doesn’t show because it has the same filename as the old image (it’s saved over the top of the old image), so your web browser doesn’t know to download the new image file.
No it’s a fundamental way that the web works to save bandwidth and speed up websites. It’s especially important for mobile devices to speed up web browsing.
For anyone coming the site for the first time or irregularly they will see the new image. You will be caching because you have viewed the page and image multiple times and the browser has already downloaded the file.
The easiest way is to right click on the new image and choose:
Open in a new Tab / Window
Refresh the page a few times
The new image will then appear (although it may still look the same on the product or category page).
Yes but it’s not recommended as it will significantly slow down your website and reduce your sales.
Added: 2020-8-10 and last modified: 2020-8-10