Meta catalogue ad frames and overlays: built-in options vs designing your own
What Meta's frames and dynamic overlays for catalogue ads can and can't do, and when it's worth designing a branded image for every product instead.
AI Shopping Feeds Updated
Plain catalogue ads use the product image from your catalogue, usually a product on white. Meta gives you a few ways to dress that up inside Ads Manager. They’re quick, and for some brands they’re enough. They also have limits that matter once you want the ads to look like your brand.
This guide covers what Meta offers today, what each option can’t do, and the alternative: a designed image for every product.
Frames
A frame is a single image Meta places over every product image in a catalogue ad. Think of a border in your brand colour with your logo in a corner.
According to Meta’s help centre, you add one at the ad level of an Advantage+ catalog ad: open Creative tools, choose Edit creative, then Add a frame, and upload your image. Meta’s requirements:
- 1:1 aspect ratio
- at least 1080 x 1080 pixels
- under 1 MB
- ideally a transparent background, and no overlaid text, so it doesn’t cover the product
You can then adjust opacity, size and position.
What frames can’t do:
- Change per product. The same frame sits on every product. It can’t show the product’s brand, price or discount.
- Move the product. The frame goes on top of the existing image. If the product photo is tightly cropped, the frame may cover part of it.
- Show on Instagram. Meta’s help centre says the frame option isn’t available for Instagram placements.
Dynamic overlays
Dynamic overlays are labels Meta adds to the product image from your catalogue data. When Meta announced them in April 2025, they covered four offer types:
- the current price
- a sale price with the original price struck through
- a sale price with the percentage discount
- free shipping, where it applies
At the time they delivered to the Facebook feed only. Meta’s developer documentation lists them as an Advantage+ creative for catalog enhancement (“Add Dynamic Overlays”), which you can opt into or out of.
What overlays can’t do: you choose which information appears, not how it looks. The styling is Meta’s, and the overlay can’t use your fonts, colours or layout.
Image touch-ups
Another Advantage+ creative enhancement, “Image touch-ups”, fits catalogue images to the placements Meta predicts will perform best. Meta’s developer documentation says 4:5 and 9:16 placements are on by default. In practice this means Meta may crop or extend a square product image to fill a portrait or full-screen placement. Check how your products look in each placement preview before you rely on it.
The alternative: a designed image for every product
The other route is to design the ad image yourself and supply it through the catalogue. You build one template with your layout, colours, logo, price tag and sale badge, then render it for every product using that product’s data. The catalogue’s image for each product becomes the designed version.
| Frame | Dynamic overlays | Designed image per product | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Set up in | Ads Manager | Ads Manager | A DPA creative tool, then the catalogue |
| Changes per product | No | Price and offer only | Yes, any product field |
| Your fonts and layout | Frame image only | No | Yes |
| Instagram placements | Not available | Facebook feed only at launch | Yes, it’s the catalogue image |
| Portrait and story versions | 1:1 frame | Meta’s styling | You design each format |
| Effort | Minutes | Minutes | A template, then automatic |
When the built-in options are enough
- You want a quick brand touch on existing catalogue ads.
- Your product photos already look good and on brand.
- You mainly run on Facebook placements.
When it’s worth designing your own
- Your products look the same as everyone else’s. Resellers selling the same branded product often use the same supplier photos. A designed image is how you stand out.
- You run sales often. A template can show the sale price, the struck-through original and a discount badge only on products that are on sale, so you don’t touch the ads when a sale starts.
- Instagram, Stories and Reels matter. A designed 9:16 image fills the screen properly instead of being cropped.
- You sell several brands or ranges. You can show the product’s brand, variant or colour in your own type.
How this works in our DPA Creative Editor
In the DPA Creative Editor you start from one of 43 layouts or a blank canvas, in square 1:1, portrait 4:5 or story 9:16. Text layers can pull product data such as {{brand}}, {{title}}, {{price}}, {{sale_price}} and {{discount_pct}}. Any layer can be set to show only when a condition is true, such as the product being on sale or a custom label having a certain value.
You preview the design on real products from your feed, then publish. Each product gets its own rendered image. On Meta they reach your catalogue through our Meta catalogue sync or your feed URL, and they re-render when prices or other product data change.
One thing to know: Meta and Google treat images differently. Google Merchant Center doesn’t allow promotional text on main product images, so our Google Merchant Center sync always sends your original photos.
If you want to understand the format itself first, start with what dynamic product ads are and how they work.
Frequently asked questions
How do I add a frame to Meta catalogue ads?
In Ads Manager, at the ad level of an Advantage+ catalog ad, open Creative tools, choose Edit creative and then Add a frame. Meta asks for a 1:1 image of at least 1080 x 1080 pixels and under 1 MB, ideally with a transparent background so it doesn't cover the product.
Do Meta catalogue frames show on Instagram?
Meta's help centre says the frame option isn't available for Instagram placements. If Instagram matters to you, a designed image supplied through the catalogue shows on every placement.
What are dynamic overlays on Meta catalogue ads?
Labels Meta adds to catalogue product images using your catalogue data, such as the current price, a sale price with the original struck through, a percentage discount or free shipping. When Meta announced them in April 2025 they delivered to the Facebook feed only.
Can a frame change per product?
No. A frame is one image applied on top of every product. To show product-specific details such as the brand, the exact discount or a variant name in your own design, you need a designed image per product.