Images, Files and Asset CloudPerfion Image and File Guide
Hold every image and document with the product it belongs to, and give each channel the size, crop and format it needs from one original: previews, points of interest, media services, watermarks and, as the library grows, Perfion Asset Cloud.
Image · KC-MG-750Originalmixer-grinder-750.tifSize6000 × 6000 pxPoint of interest21 × 46HeldOnce, with the item
Requests · one originalWeb shop · 1200 px WEBP···FitMarketplace · 1000 × 1000···CropCatalogue · CMYK TIFF···PrintDealer portal · 2000 px···MarkedEach version is made from the original when it is asked for, then served from the cache the next time.
AndOne original in Perfion4 channels, 4 versionsCrops keep the product
Written for product data, design and e-commerce teams · By Vipin Kumar, Founder and Solution Architect · Last updated BPAS · Exclusive Boyum Practice. India's No.1 Customer-referred Boyum IT Partner.
At a glance
Perfion name
Image and File features, Image Previewer, Media Services and Perfion Asset Cloud
Where
Images and files held with each item; delivered by media servicesImage PreviewerMedia servicesAsset CloudPerfion Asset Cloud is a licensed service hosted by Perfion
Used by
Product data teams, designers, e-commerce and IT teamsMedia services feed web shops, portals and apps
Four documented services deliver images and filesFFileIImageWWatermarked ImageUUncached Image
How It Works
How Perfion handles images and files, from one original to every channel
Each image and document is held once, with its product. Perfion previews it and keeps its details, a point of interest guides every crop, and media services give each channel the version it needs.
Load each image once
Images and documents sit with their item in Image and File features. As an image is loaded, Perfion reads its original metadata and creates the previews it needs.
Check it in the previewer
The Image Previewer shows any image, whatever its format, with its size, its file name and the details stored inside the file.
Mark what matters
A point of interest marks the part of the image that must stay in view, so crops keep the product, not the background.
Serve every channel by link
Media services deliver each file, or each image in the size, crop and format a channel asks for, with an optional watermark, and keep it in a cache for the next request.
Grow storage without disruption
When the library grows, Perfion Asset Cloud holds the file content in cloud storage, while the details Perfion needs stay in its database.
Load, mark, serve
Perfion · Image Previewer
Images & files · KC-MG-750
Main imageTIFF
Lifestyle · kitchenJPG
Exploded drawingPDF
User manualFile
Perfion metadata6000 × 6000Pixels48 MBFile sizeTIFFFormat21 × 46Point of interest
Preview · mixer-grinder-750.tifFit heightFit widthZoom 100%Save originalSquare cropImage metadata · read from the fileEXIFIPTCXMPICCPhotoshop
Served by the image serviceMarketplace · 1000 × 1000 · crop · WEBPPoint of interest usedRequestedProcessedCached
An illustration, not a screenshot: an item’s images and files, the Image Previewer with a point of interest and a square crop, and the metadata Perfion keeps.
Shared Drives vs Perfion Images and Files
Shared drives vs Perfion images and files: what changes when images live with the product
On a shared drive, every channel gets its own copy, made by hand. In Perfion, one original sits with the product, and each channel is served the version it needs.
Shared driveFile on the driveKept inWhat happenedMG750_final.jpgWeb / 2024Which is final?MG750_final_v2.jpgWeb / 2025Which is final?MG750_1000sq.jpgMarketplaceProduct cut offMG750.tifCatalogueWeb shop cannot show itmanual_MG750.pdfEmailVersion unknownOne photo saved five times: two “final” versions, a crop that cuts the product, a format the web shop cannot show, and a manual sent by email.
vs
Perfion images and filesHeld with the productImage and File featuresPreviews and metadataEvery size on requestPoint of interestWatermarksStorage that growsCached deliveryAsset CloudOne original with the item, and every channel served the version it needs, on request.
Shared drives and manual exports compared with Perfion's Image and File features, Image Previewer, point of interest, image metadata, media services, watermarking and Perfion Asset Cloud, as described in Boyum IT Solutions' Perfion documentation.
Task
Shared drives and manual exports
Perfion images, files and media services
Where images live
Folders on a shared drive, named by whoever saved them.
Perfion image and file capabilities: eight ways to hold, check and serve every image
Each capability shows what it does in Perfion and what it is worth to the business.
Operational Reality (Capabilities)
Images and documents are held in Image and File features, so each one sits with the item it belongs to. Image features take BMP, GIF, JPG/JPEG, PNG, TIFF/TIF, EPS, PSD, PDF (first page), SVG, WEBP and AVIF. Images and files can also be values in pick lists, kept once and used on many items, and Item Relations shows everywhere one is used. By default Perfion stores these binaries in its database, with binary metadata for each: file name, size and checksum, and small previews for images.
Image and File features on every item
Images and files as pick-list values
Name, size and checksum kept for each file
Executive ROI Value
KC-MG-750 · images and filesMain imageTIFF · 48 MBLifestyle images3 imagesDatasheetFile · PDF
Every image and document is found with the product it belongs to, and the same file is used wherever it appears.
One place
One version
Operational Reality (Capabilities)
The Image Previewer shows a preview of every image in Perfion. It uses a preview created when the image was loaded, typically about 1024 × 1024 pixels, or smaller when the original is smaller. Because of that, any image can be shown whatever the format of the original. The previewer fits the image to the height or the width of the screen, zooms in and out, saves the original image, and shows the image’s ID, file name and size, its Perfion metadata and its original metadata.
A preview whatever the original format
Fit, zoom, and save the original
Perfion and original metadata side by side
Executive ROI Value
Image PreviewerFit heightFit widthZoomSave original
Teams check the right image, even a large design file, without opening the original.
Faster checks
Any format
Operational Reality (Capabilities)
A point of interest marks the part of an image with the highest importance. Whenever an image is cropped to a new shape, using crop or smart fitting, the crop is placed around it; without one, the centre is used. It applies when images are saved or exported from Perfion, written out by actions, and served by media services. It is set in the Image Previewer, can be updated by an action, and a media service request can give its own point for one use.
Centre used when none is set
Used by saves, exports, actions and media services
Applies to crop and smart fitting
Executive ROI Value
Square crop · centre vs point of interestCentre: product cutPoint of interest: in view
Square thumbnails and wide banners keep the product in view, without anyone cropping each image by hand.
Right crops
No hand cropping
Operational Reality (Capabilities)
When Perfion loads an image, it reads and saves the image’s original metadata. Depending on how the image was created, that can include EXIF, IPTC, XMP, ICC and Photoshop data. Perfion also keeps metadata of its own, such as the point of interest, which can be updated. Both are shown in the Image Previewer and can be read by actions. For images loaded before Perfion supported image metadata, a support procedure extracts it from the images already held.
EXIF, IPTC, XMP, ICC and Photoshop data
Perfion metadata, including the point of interest
Older images can be processed later
Executive ROI Value
Read when the image is loadedEXIFIPTCXMPICCPhotoshopPerfion metadataPoint of interest 21 × 46
The details recorded when an image was made stay with it, ready to be checked or used.
Details kept
Older images included
Operational Reality (Capabilities)
Media services deliver images and files from Perfion through a web link that identifies each one. A web page can show an image, or offer a file, straight from Perfion. There are four services: File delivers the original file; Image delivers images processed on request; Watermarked Image adds a watermark to every image it serves; and Uncached Image processes without using pre-cached versions. Content can be shown in the browser or sent as a download. The services work on a pull strategy, so they scale linearly, and every file and processed image is kept in a cache for the next identical request.
File, Image, Watermarked Image, Uncached Image
Shown in the browser, or downloaded
Cached after the first request
Executive ROI Value
Media servicesFileOriginal, as it isImageProcessed, cachedWatermarked ImageMark on every imageUncached ImageNo pre-cached versions
Web shops, portals and apps take images and documents from the product record, instead of copies uploaded by hand.
No copies to upload
Scales with demand
Operational Reality (Capabilities)
The image services resize, convert and crop images as they are requested. A request can ask for a size and how to fit it: keep the proportions, stretch to fit exactly, crop, a smart mix of stretching and cropping, or keep the proportions and fill the rest with a canvas colour. It can ask for a format (BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG, TIFF, EPS, PSD, PDF, SVG, WEBP or AVIF), a resolution, a quality for JPG and PNG, a colour for transparent areas, and a colour profile such as sRGB, Adobe RGB 1998 or CMYK (Coated FOGRA39). SVG and EPS images become raster images when a size is asked for. Only images held as images are processed; files are delivered as they are.
Five ways to fit a size
Eleven output formats, including WEBP and AVIF
Colour profiles for screen and print
Executive ROI Value
One original → each channelWeb shop1200 px · WEBPFitMarketplace1000 × 1000CropCatalogueCMYK · TIFFPrint
Each channel gets the image it needs, from thumbnails to print files, from one original and with no exports by hand.
One original
Every channel served
Operational Reality (Capabilities)
The image services can place a watermark on the images they deliver. A watermark range decides when: on every image, or only on images larger than a set number of pixels on either side; at zero, it is off. The Watermarked Image service adds it to every image it serves. The watermark always sits in the lower left corner and is scaled down when it is larger than the image, and a watermark with some transparency looks lighter. Files are never watermarked, and SVG and EPS images are turned into raster images first.
On every image, or only above a size
Lower left corner, scaled to fit
Added as images are delivered
Executive ROI Value
Watermark range · above 800 px2000 px imageAbove the rangeMarked1200 px imageAbove the rangeMarked200 px thumbnailBelow the rangeClean
Large images shared outside the business carry your mark, while small images stay clean.
Images protected
Thumbnails clean
Operational Reality (Capabilities)
By default Perfion stores images and files in its database, which is usually more expensive storage and not built for large files. Perfion Asset Cloud, offered as a service and enabled by licence, holds the file content in cloud storage built for binary data, such as Azure Blob Storage, in an account of your own that Perfion manages. The metadata stays in the database, so Perfion works as before, including while files move. Perfion hosts the storage service and media services that come with it, and settings are changed through a web-based settings site.
Content in the cloud, details in the database
Moved automatically, with Perfion working
Hosted media services included
Executive ROI Value
Where each part is heldMetadataPerfion databaseContentAsset CloudMoving 42,000 imagesPerfion working
The database stays lean as the image library grows, and nobody changes the way they work.
Leaner database
No change for users
Core Concepts
5 Core Concepts of Images and Files in Perfion
The first is about originals and the second about storage. The third keeps crops right, the fourth is how channels receive images, and the last is how storage grows without disruption.
01
SourceConcept 01 · One master, many versions
Keep One Original, Serve Every Version
The product data problem it solves
A product photo exists as eleven files: one size for the web shop, another for each marketplace, a square for the app and a CMYK copy for the catalogue. The appliance is reshot, four of the files are replaced, and the dealer catalogue goes to print with the old photo.
The concept explained
In Perfion, the original image is held once, with its item. Media services create each version as it is asked for: the size, the fit, the format, the quality and the colour profile are part of the request, not separate files. Each processed image is kept in a cache, so the next identical request is served from it. When a channel needs something new, it is a new request, not a new round of exports.
Everyday analogy
A photographer’s negative. Prints in any size are made from it when they are ordered, and nobody keeps a cupboard of every size.
In Perfion
The Image service resizes, converts and crops images on request and saves each result in a cache. The File service delivers the original file. The Uncached Image service processes without pre-cached versions.
Ten years of product photography sits inside the product database. Backups run all night, database storage is the largest line on the hosting bill, and everyday editing slows down on the days large images are loaded.
The concept explained
Every image or file in Perfion has two parts. Its binary metadata, such as file name, size, checksum and small previews for images, takes very little space and always stays in the Perfion database. Its content is the file itself. For most work Perfion needs only the metadata; the content is needed in rare cases, such as generating reports, showing image previews or sending jobs to the application server. That is why the content can move to Perfion Asset Cloud with Perfion’s performance largely unaffected.
Everyday analogy
A library catalogue. The cards stay at the front desk; the books can sit in a store across town, and every reader still finds every book.
In Perfion
Metadata is saved in the database for every image and file, wherever the content is. Content in the Asset Cloud carries its own copy of the metadata, so media services can serve it without the database. The Windows client, web client and services work the same wherever the content is.
Swipe sideways to see the full diagramMetadata always stays in the Perfion database; the content can sit in the database or in the Asset Cloud.
03
FramingConcept 03 · The point that survives every crop
Mark What Matters in Every Image
The product data problem it solves
A marketplace wants square images. The automatic crop takes the middle of a wide kitchen photo, and three hundred listings show a tiled wall with half a chimney.
The concept explained
A point of interest marks the part of an image that matters most. When an image is cropped to a new shape, the crop is placed around that point instead of the centre. Perfion uses it when images are saved or exported, written out by actions, and served by media services with crop or smart fitting. With no point set, the centre is used, so images with the product in the middle need nothing.
Everyday analogy
A picture framer told which part of a painting must stay in view, whatever the size of the frame.
In Perfion
The point of interest is part of the image’s Perfion metadata. It is set in the Image Previewer, can be updated by an action, and can be replaced for one request by the media services. It is used only with crop or smart fitting.
Swipe sideways to see the full diagramThe same wide image cropped to a square: from the centre, the product is cut; around the point of interest, it stays in view.
04
DeliveryConcept 04 · Pulled when needed, cached after
Deliver by Link, Not by Copy
The product data problem it solves
Every new product means downloading images from a drive, resizing them and uploading them to the web shop, two marketplaces and the dealer portal. Each channel ends up with its own copy, and nobody can say which copy is current.
The concept explained
Media services make each image and file available at a web link that identifies it in Perfion. A web shop, portal or app asks for what it needs, when it needs it: the original file, to show or to download, or an image in its own size and format. The services work on a pull strategy and scale linearly, and they cache what they deliver. Channels take images from the product record instead of keeping copies of their own.
Everyday analogy
A tap instead of a water tanker. Each house draws what it needs, when it needs it, from the same supply.
In Perfion
Each link names the service and the image or file, and can give it a new file name. Database-based media services run on your own server for one Perfion database. Cloud-based media services serve files held in the Asset Cloud, including a version hosted by Perfion.
Swipe sideways to see the full diagramChannels ask the media services for what they need; each file and processed image is cached after the first request.
05
ScaleConcept 05 · Copy first, clear after
Move Storage Without Stopping Work
The product data problem it solves
IT knows the image library has outgrown the database, but moving it sounds like a weekend shutdown, a risky export and weeks of testing. So it is put off every quarter, and the database keeps growing.
The concept explained
In Perfion, where file content is stored is a setting: the database or Perfion Asset Cloud. When it changes, the migration manager starts moving content on its own. Each file is copied to the new place first, and cleared from the database only after it has moved successfully. Perfion keeps working as usual during the move, files are served from wherever they are at that moment, and storage can be switched back at any time without side effects.
Everyday analogy
Moving house one room at a time while living in it: each room is set up in the new house before the old one is emptied.
In Perfion
The Asset Cloud needs its storage service, set up by Perfion, and a licence that includes it. Old content is cleared automatically only when moving from the database to the cloud; nothing is ever deleted automatically from the Asset Cloud. Standard media services keep working without changes, even mid-move.
Swipe sideways to see the full diagramEach file is copied first and cleared from the database only after success; Perfion works throughout, and the move can be reversed.
Best Practices
10 Best Practices for Images and Files in Perfion
Each practice says what well-run images and files look like and what it costs to ignore it. Designing it for your range and channels is what BPAS consultants do.
01
01Hold one original per image, at the best quality you have
Source · Originals
The rule
Each image is held once, as the best original available, and every channel version is created from it.
Risk if ignored
Resized copies are loaded as new images, and quality drops each time one is made from another.
Get it right with BPAS
Not sure this is in place for your images? Talk to a BPAS consultant.
Main images, lifestyle images, drawings, manuals and datasheets each sit in their own Image or File feature, so every channel takes exactly what it needs.
Risk if ignored
Every image sits in one pile, and channels publish whichever one happens to be first.
Get it right with BPAS
Not sure this is in place for your images? Talk to a BPAS consultant.
Illustrative scenario · not a client case studyA Business Like Yours
Illustrative scenario: an Indian kitchen appliance maker, with one photo and five exports
A maker of mixer grinders, cooktops, chimneys and small appliances sells about 1,800 products through dealers, its own web shop, three marketplaces and a printed dealer catalogue. Orders, stock and invoicing are in the ERP. Its range carries about 40,000 images and 5,000 manuals and datasheets.
The Operational Challenge
Product images live on a shared drive, in a folder for each channel. Two designers export every image in five sizes and formats, and upload each one by hand. A new product waits about ten days for its images to go live, and marketplace crops regularly cut off the appliance.
Marketplaces reject images that are too small or in the wrong format, the catalogue team asks for CMYK files nobody kept, and nobody is sure which of three “final” files is the current photo.
Five exports for every image
Crops that cut off the product
Three “final” versions of one photo
Images ten days behind the product
The Financial Transformation
In Perfion, each image is held once with its product, in its own feature: main image, lifestyle images, exploded drawing and manual. The web shop, marketplaces and dealer portal take images from the media services in the size, crop and format each needs, and the catalogue receives CMYK files from the same original. Off-centre images carry a point of interest, so square crops keep the appliance in view.
Full-size images shared with dealers carry a watermark while thumbnails stay clean. As the library grows, its file content is held in Perfion Asset Cloud, and the team works exactly as before.
One original for every image
Every channel size on request
Crops that keep the product
Designers back on new photography
Illustrative figures for a typical Indian kitchen appliance maker of this size. They add up, but they are not a client case study.
Cost line
Before (per month)
After (per month)
Difference (per year)
Exporting and resizing images for each channel
₹ 90,000
₹ 15,000
₹ 9,00,000
Fixing rejected and badly cropped listings
₹ 35,000
₹ 10,000
₹ 3,00,000
Finding and resending images and documents
₹ 25,000
₹ 5,000
₹ 2,40,000
Total
₹ 1,50,000
₹ 30,000
₹ 14,40,000
Illustrative saving a year₹ 14,40,000Same figures as the table, not a client result
Exporting
Fixing listings
Finding files
Before After
See how your own images would reach every channel from Perfion.
prodRecord Live is a monthly webinar series on product information management, held on the second Wednesday of every month from January 2027. Each session takes one product data topic and works through it in plain English with time for your questions.
Who benefits from images held with the product: one original, three answers
One original
Promoter & CXOs
Can we launch online faster without a bigger design team?
Every channel takes its images from one original, in the size it needs, so launches wait for photography, not for exports.
Product Data Manager
Which image is the right one, and where is it used?
Each image sits with its product in its own feature, previewed with its metadata, and Item Relations shows everywhere it is used.
IT & E-commerce Manager
Will thousands of images slow the system or the web shop?
Media services cache what they deliver, and Perfion Asset Cloud holds file content outside the database while Perfion works as before.
Vocabulary
Images and Files Vocabulary and Definitions
From binaries and their metadata to previews, points of interest, media services and the Asset Cloud. Each term shows what it means, why it matters, and a household comparison.
01
Binary
Storage · basics
Image or file
Operational definition
Perfion’s word for an image or a file it holds, in an Image feature or a File feature.
Why it matters in Perfion
Previews, media services and the Asset Cloud all work on binaries.
Images, files and Asset Cloud: questions product and e-commerce teams ask
Short answers, each with a link to the part of this guide that explains it.
In the Perfion database by default, in Image and File features on your items and in your pick lists. With Perfion Asset Cloud, the file content is held in cloud storage instead, while the details Perfion needs, such as file name, size and small previews, stay in the database.
No. The image services create the size, crop, format and colour profile each channel asks for from the original, and cache the result. Only images held as images are processed; files such as manuals are delivered as they are.
BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG, TIFF, EPS, PSD, PDF, SVG, WEBP and AVIF. SVG and EPS are turned into raster images when a size is requested. Whether a format is shown inside a browser depends on the browser: most show common image formats, but not, for example, TIFF.
No. The watermark is added by the image services to the images they deliver, on all of them or only above a size you choose. It sits in the lower left corner and is scaled down to fit smaller images. Files are never watermarked.
No. The Windows client, web client and services work the same wherever file content is stored, including during the move. Standard media services keep serving images without changes. Files are copied first and cleared from the database only after success, and the move can be reversed at any time.
Perfion. It is offered as a service: Perfion creates the storage account, the storage service and the media services for each customer separately, and hosts and administers them. You change the settings you need, such as the watermark and the image shown when none is found, through a web-based settings site. It needs a licence that includes it.
Yes. Images, files, media services and the Asset Cloud work with data in Perfion itself, so this guide applies whichever ERP your other data comes from. What changes from one ERP to another is the integration that brings ERP data into Perfion.
See how your images and documents would be held, previewed and delivered from Perfion, and whether Perfion Asset Cloud fits your library. Choose the path that fits the ERP you run.