Getting started with SWPL Product Media
Last updated July 10, 2026
What SWPL Product Media does
SWPL Product Media adds two independently toggleable features to WooCommerce product pages:
- Image Magnifier – five desktop zoom styles (Hover zoom, Click zoom, Side panel popout, a cursor-following Lens, or Off), configurable magnification from 1.5x to 4x, a full zoom-and-pan lightbox (mouse wheel, double-click, pinch, double-tap), and tap-to-lightbox on mobile.
- Product Video – self-hosted video files and privacy-friendly YouTube/Vimeo embeds, authored per product in a drag-to-reorder metabox, with global playback behavior you choose (Click to play, Autoplay living photo, or custom flags).
It is dual-mode by design: the same runtime modules power the classic WooCommerce gallery replacement and any headless storefront through a REST surface.
Installation
- Go to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin, upload the plugin zip, and click Install Now, then Activate. WooCommerce is required for the classic gallery, the metabox, and the product REST endpoint; the plugin activates safely without it.
- When licensing arrives for your copy, enter your license key where prompted. Until then the plugin runs unlocked.
- Run one gallery/zoom plugin. Plugins like Magic Zoom Plus attach their own zoom UI to product images and will overlay this plugin’s gallery when both are active – deactivate the other one when enabling this.
Initial setup
General tab
- Let the theme/builder handle the gallery – the per-site escape hatch. On single product pages the plugin normally replaces the WooCommerce gallery and disables Woo’s own zoom/lightbox/slider assets for that page so the two never conflict; this switch restores stock WooCommerce untouched.
- Headless mode – only reveals the headless-specific settings fields in the admin; the REST API is fully live regardless.
Magnifier tab
Enable it, then pick the desktop style (Hover, Click, Side panel, Lens, or Off) and the magnification (1.5x to 4x). Other settings include lens shape and size, popout position, opening the lightbox on click (auto-disabled under Click zoom, where a fullscreen button takes its place), mobile zoom (tap to open the lightbox, or off), the zoom image source, lazy or prefetch zoom loading, the thumbnail swap trigger (click or hover), and a zoom cue on the image (magnifying-glass icon, a “2.5x” label, or off) so shoppers discover the zoom. A live preview with Desktop and Mobile views sits right on the tab.
Video tab
Enable it, choose whether self-hosted files and/or YouTube-Vimeo embeds are allowed, and pick the playback mode: Click to play, Autoplay living photo (muted is forced – browsers require it), or custom flags. You can auto-generate a poster from the video’s first frame (browser-native, no server processing) and choose to show the video first in the gallery. Then edit any product: the video metabox lets you add videos from the Media Library or by direct URL, drag to reorder, and add posters.
Using a page builder?
Page builders (Oxygen, Elementor, Divi, Bricks) render their own product page and bypass the WooCommerce gallery hook, so the automatic replacement is inert under them. Use explicit placement instead: the [swpl_product_media] shortcode (optional product_id attribute) or the “SWPL Product Media Gallery” block, placed wherever the gallery belongs in your builder template. Oxygen and Elementor are tested; Divi and Bricks use the same standard shortcode pipeline.
Frequently asked questions
Which video formats play?
The plugin accepts the browser-playable set and never transcodes. MP4 (H.264), WebM, and OGG play everywhere; MOV is best effort. AVI, WMV, and MKV do not play in browsers – the metabox warns you and tells you what to do: convert to MP4 first (a free tool like HandBrake does this), or upload to YouTube/Vimeo and use an Embed row. A URL without a file extension (such as a signed storage link) gets a format hint dropdown so it plays without custom code.
Are the YouTube/Vimeo embeds privacy-friendly?
Yes – YouTube embeds use the nocookie domain and Vimeo embeds use Do-Not-Track mode.
I had videos in the old _video_url field. Do they still work?
Yes, with no action needed: the plugin reads the legacy value as a fallback whenever the structured video data is absent. Adding videos in the metabox (or via import) writes the structured data, which then takes precedence. The legacy value is never modified or deleted.
What happens to my videos if I uninstall?
Uninstall removes all plugin settings but intentionally keeps per-product video data – it is a documented data contract that imports and pipelines write into, and deleting the plugin must not destroy merchant content.
Does video slow my product pages down?
The player is bandwidth-disciplined: zero video bytes are loaded before the shopper presses play when a poster is shown.