Let's look at how we can add media files to products in the Product Cockpit.
- Search for the wanted staged product and select its Multimedia tab.
- Click on the Image identifier and add a new media item.
- Name the Identifier, select the Staged product catalog version, upload the jpeg file either directly or via drag and drop, and click Save when done.
The following screenshot shows the Multimedia tab of the red PowerShot A480 camera. It shows different groups of media files organized by the locations where they're intended to be shown on the storefront.
Gallery Images
As you can see in the previous screenshot, the bottom-right area is called Gallery Images (under the Multimedia tab of our red PowerShot camera). That area doesn't contain media items directly. Instead, Gallery Images holds media containers, as you can see in the following screenshot.
Each media container typically contains a list of identical media items, differing only in format and/or encoding (png, jpg, bmp). Let’s open the first media container to see what's inside.
The media container contains several media items for the same red PowerShot A480 camera, in different formats.
But where and how is this content represented on the storefront?
In the following screenshot, you'll see where the four media containers are embedded. Each of which represents a single gallery image out of many, selected by the best matching format.
Adding Media to Products Using the Backoffice Product Cockpit
In this video, you'll see how to upload a media file to a product in the Backoffice Product Cockpit.
The Media Conversion Process
Let’s assume your product lacks images in various sizes for different purposes – you can only provide, for example, a high-resolution image. In that case, if enabled, media conversion might save your day:
- Upload your high-resolution image represented by a media item and corresponding format to a media container.
- The required media formats are specified in a conversion group. The media container contains both the conversion group and the source media. Therefore, the media container knows which medias in which formats are still missing.
- Initiate the conversion process by clicking the Convert missing Medias button. As a result, the media container houses both the source media and the converted media files.
Note
The following diagram illustrates the media conversion process by using a single high-resolution image to generate several identical images. The newly created images are already assigned to their corresponding media items and matching formats within a media container.
