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Download Product Images Tool for BigCommerce

🔧 Quick Info: This tool will return a zip file with all the product images, along with an optional csv file that can be used to import the images back into BigCommerce.

What it does

This tool collects images from your products and packages them into a single ZIP file you can download. You can grab images for your whole catalog or narrow it down with filters (SKU, keyword, category, brand, channel, and more).

You can also choose to include an optional CSV spreadsheet alongside the images. That CSV lists each product’s ID, SKU, and image file names — it’s designed so you can edit your images and then re-import them into BigCommerce later.

The download is built in the background. When it’s ready, the tool emails you a secure link to download the ZIP file.

When to use it

  • You want a backup of all your product images.
  • You’re editing or optimizing product photos and want to pull them down, change them, and push them back up.
  • You need images for a specific brand, category, or set of SKUs rather than the entire catalog.
  • You want just the main (primary) image for each product, or every image.
  • You’re compressing or resizing every photo in the catalog to speed up your storefront.
  • You’re rebranding and need a new logo, watermark, or background on every product photo.
  • You’re handing your catalog photos to a photo editor or agency and want their edits back in one import.

Use case: edit your product photos and put them back

The optional CSV is what makes the round trip possible. The ZIP on its own is just a flat folder of image files — nothing in it tells you which photo belongs to which product, or which slot it sits in on that product. The CSV is that map: each row carries the product’s id and sku, and for every image, its BigCommerce Image ID paired with the URL the edited file will live at.

The round trip looks like this:

1 Run this tool with Are you planning on updating these product images? set to Yes, and set Image Location to the folder your edited images will live in.

2 Edit the images in bulk on your computer — batch compress, resize, watermark, clean up backgrounds. Keep the file names exactly as they are, since the CSV points at them by name.

3 Upload the whole folder, flat, to the location you entered (your BigCommerce WebDAV content/files/ folder, or any publicly reachable host or CDN).

4 Open Import Products, upload product_images.csv, and map its Product Image ID and Product Image File columns to the matching image fields. Products are matched by SKU, BigCommerce fetches each URL, and the edited photos land back in the same slots.

Because Import Products asks you to match columns yourself, the CSV’s headers don’t have to line up perfectly with anything — you point each column at the right field during the import.

Choose No when you only want a copy of your current photos: a backup, an archive before a big change, or images to hand off somewhere else.

Before you start

  • Decide which products you want: everything, or a filtered subset.
  • If you plan to re-upload edited images, decide whether you want the optional re-import CSV (and have a place to host the edited images, such as your BigCommerce WebDAV folder).
  • Confirm the email address where you’d like the download link sent. (Your account email is filled in by default.)

Step-by-step

1 Open the Tool

Open the Download Product Images tool from your BigCommerce tools dashboard.

2 Select Products

On Select Products, leave everything blank to export your full catalog, or apply any of the filters (see the field reference below) to narrow it down.

3 Export Settings

On Export Settings, choose:

  • Which images do you want to download? — All Images (the default) or Primary Image Only.
  • Are you planning on updating these product images? — set to No by default. Choose Yes to also generate the re-import CSV, or leave it on No for images only.
  • Image Location (appears only when you choose Yes) — the URL path where your edited images will live, used to fill in the CSV’s file column.

4 Email Delivery

Continue to Email Delivery, leave the Yes/No choice on Yes so you get the download link by email, and confirm the address it should go to.

5 Submit

Submit. You’ll see a confirmation that the download has started; the ZIP is assembled in the background.

6 Download the ZIP

When it’s ready, you’ll get an email with a secure, time-limited link. Click it to download your ZIP.

File / field reference

Filters (Select Products step) — leave any blank to skip it:

Filter What it does
Sku A single SKU or a comma-separated list of SKUs.
Keyword Search by product name or SKU. Leave blank to export all products.
Categories One or more categories to limit the export.
Brand Limit to a single brand.
Storefront Channel Limit to one or more sales channels.
Product Availability Available, Disabled, or Preorder.
Product Condition New, Refurbished, or Used.
Featured Products Featured or Not Featured.
Product Visibility Visible or Not Visible.
Product Shipping Type Free Shipping or Paid Shipping products.
Product Stock Status Out of Stock or In Stock products.

Export settings

Which images: All Images downloads every image on each matched product; Primary Image Only downloads just the main/thumbnail image.

Re-import CSV (Yes/No): when Yes, the ZIP also contains product_images.csv with a product id and sku column plus paired columns for each image (Product Image ID and Product Image File, up to 10 images per product). You can edit this and use it to update images in BigCommerce. If a product has more than ten images, all of them are still in the ZIP — only the first ten get columns in the CSV.

Image Location: the URL of the folder where you’ll upload your edited images. The CSV’s Product Image File column is built as this URL plus the image’s file name, so BigCommerce can fetch each image when you import. Every image in the ZIP sits at the top level with no sub-folders, so upload them all into one folder and point this at that folder. A trailing slash is added for you. Any publicly reachable URL works — for example, upload to a files folder under content on your BigCommerce WebDAV and enter that folder’s public URL. The field shows your own store’s WebDAV path as a greyed-out example, so in most cases you can type that same pattern. Required when you choose Yes above.

What you receive

  • A ZIP file named for your store and the time it was generated, containing the image files (named by their original file names).
  • Optionally, product_images.csv inside that same ZIP if you chose to build the re-import file.

Troubleshooting / FAQ

A product is missing from the ZIP.

Products with no images are skipped automatically. Also double-check your filters aren’t excluding it.

I only got one image per product.

Check the Export Settings step — Primary Image Only downloads just the main image for each product. Re-run with All Images to get them all.

A product’s CSV row stops at ten images.

That’s the CSV’s column limit. The remaining images are still in the ZIP; you can add extra columns to the spreadsheet yourself if you need them.

My download link expired.

The link is secure and time-limited. Re-run the tool to generate a fresh download.

The CSV file paths are wrong.

The file column is built from the Image Location you entered. Re-run with the correct URL prefix for where you’ll host the edited images.

Big catalog taking a while?

Large stores take longer to assemble. The job runs in the background and emails you when it’s done.