You have probably seen this before: an AliExpress product photo shows a detailed infographic with arrows pointing to every feature — waterproof seal, USB-C port, 4000mAh battery, anti-slip base. It is the perfect sales image. Except all the text is in Chinese.
Remove the text and you are left with arrows pointing at nothing. Keep the Chinese and your Shopify customers cannot read it. Either way, a valuable photo becomes useless.
Until now, Droplio.io only offered text removal — strip everything, leave a clean product image. That worked great for simple packshots. But for infographics, comparison charts, and feature callouts, removal was destroying information that helps sell the product.
So we built the feature sellers kept asking for: AI-powered photo text translation.
Two Modes, One Choice
In AI Studio, after selecting photos for processing, you now see a toggle with two options:
- Remove text — the original behavior. AI strips all text, logos, and banners from the image. You get a clean product-only photo.
- Translate to English — AI rewrites all text in natural English while preserving the original font style, colors, and graphic layout.
You pick the mode with one click. The rest of the workflow stays identical: select photos, hit "Generate," download the results.
When Translation Beats Removal
Text removal is the right call when the photo should be clean — a product on a white background where only the object matters. No captions needed.
But a huge portion of AliExpress product photos are not simple packshots. They are infographics designed to communicate features, specifications, and comparisons visually. Remove the text from these and you destroy their purpose.
Translation works better for:
- Feature infographics with callouts ("4000A Starting Power," "Wireless Charging," "4 Flash Modes")
- Comparison images with dimension labels
- Box contents graphics showing what is included
- Material or certification callouts
- Size charts and measurement diagrams
Removal works better for:
- Clean packshots on white or colored backgrounds — captions add clutter
- Photos with Chinese promotional text like "Hot Sale 11.11" — meaningless to English-speaking buyers
- Images with store watermarks or supplier branding
- Lifestyle photos where the product should speak for itself
The choice depends on what role the text plays. If the text adds information a buyer needs, translate it. If it adds noise, remove it.
How the AI Handles Translation
The translation uses Google's Gemini model, which processes the original image and rewrites text based on context — not word-for-word translation.
This distinction matters. A literal translation of Chinese marketing copy often produces awkward phrasing like "Newly Upgraded Current" or "Super Strong Suction Power Big." The AI instead generates natural English marketing copy that reads as if someone wrote it for an English-speaking audience from the start. "Newly Upgraded Current" becomes "Enhanced Starting Power." "Super Strong Suction Power Big" becomes "High-Performance Suction."
Technical values stay untouched. Numbers like 4000A, 10W, 7.5L, and brand names pass through unchanged.
The AI also preserves visual consistency:
- Font style matches the original — if the source used a bold sans-serif, the English text uses a similar weight and style
- Colors stay the same — white text on dark backgrounds remains white text on dark backgrounds
- Layout is maintained — text appears in the same positions, arrows still point to the right features
- Image quality improves — colors are balanced, sharpness is enhanced
The result looks like the supplier created an English version of the product photo. Not like someone ran it through a translation filter.
Real-World Impact on Listings
Here is why this matters beyond aesthetics.
Product photos with English feature callouts convert better than text-free photos. When a buyer sees "IPX7 Waterproof" directly on the image, they absorb that information faster than reading it in the description. Infographics with translated text do double duty: they show the product AND communicate its selling points.
For platforms like Shopify and Amazon where buyers scroll through images before reading descriptions, these translated infographics can be the difference between a sale and a bounce. The buyer sees the features, understands the value, and adds to cart — without scrolling down to read a wall of text.
What It Costs
Photo translation costs 20 credits per photo — the same as text removal. Both modes use advanced AI models for processing.
You see the total cost in real time before clicking "Generate." If processing fails for any reason, credits are not charged.
| Operation | Credits |
|---|---|
| Translate text on a photo | 20 |
| Remove text from a photo | 20 |
| Generate product description | 10 |
| Remove background from a photo | 5 |
How to Use It
- Open AI Studio and select an imported product
- Set the generation mode to Photos or Full set (description + photos)
- In the photo processing options, choose Translate instead of Remove
- Select the photos you want translated and click Generate
You can mix modes between generation runs. Translate the infographics in one batch, remove text from packshots in another. Use whichever mode fits each photo's purpose.
Practical Tips for Better Results
Choose your best infographics. Not every AliExpress photo needs translation. Pick the 2-3 images that communicate the most important selling points — feature callouts, size comparisons, contents lists. Skip the generic lifestyle photos.
Check the source quality. Translation works best on images where text is clearly legible and well-separated from the background. Blurry text or text layered over complex backgrounds produces lower-quality results.
Combine with text removal. The most effective listing photo sets use both modes: translated infographics for feature communication, text-removed packshots for clean product presentation, and background-removed photos for that professional white-background look.
Review the output. AI translation is accurate, but always check that technical specs transferred correctly — especially for niche products where the AI might not have full context on industry terminology.
What This Means for Your Store
If you source from AliExpress, your suppliers have already created detailed product infographics. Those images contain valuable selling information — dimensions, features, specifications, use cases — packaged in a visual format that buyers process faster than text.
Until now, you had two options: post photos with Chinese text (unprofessional) or remove the text entirely (losing the information). Translation gives you the third option: keep the information, just in a language your customers read.
For sellers listing 10+ products per week, this saves hours of manual Photoshop work. For sellers who were skipping infographic photos entirely, it opens up a set of images that can significantly improve conversion rates.
No account yet? Registration is free and you get 100 credits to start — enough to translate several photos and generate a description to see the quality firsthand.
