What is virtual try-on for glasses?
Virtual try-on (VTO) for glasses lets an online shopper see a frame on their own face through their phone or laptop camera before they buy. The try-on tracks the face — eyes, nose bridge, ears — in real time and draws the frame on top of the live video, so it moves with the head like a real pair.
For eyewear stores it answers the two questions that stop most online frame purchases: “Does this shape suit my face?” and “Is it the right size?”
How it works, step by step
- Face tracking in the browser. The shopper taps “Try on” and allows the camera. Face tracking runs on their own device and finds hundreds of points on the face. Nothing is installed and the video isn’t uploaded.
- Placing the frame. The frame’s bridge is anchored to the nose, the lenses centred on the pupils and the arms run back to the ears — hidden behind them when the head turns.
- Sizing. The try-on estimates the shopper’s pupillary distance (PD) from the size of the iris, which is nearly the same in all adults (about 11.7 mm). With the frame’s real width, a 52 mm frame is drawn as 52 mm on that face. That’s enough to judge fit — but it isn’t a replacement for an optician’s measurement.
- Realistic lenses. Clear lenses need to be nearly invisible but still show edge reflections; tinted, gradient and mirrored lenses keep their colour.
Do you need 3D models of your frames?
Not any more. Early eyewear try-on required every frame to be 3D-scanned or modelled — slow and expensive for a large catalogue. Today you can start from one ordinary front photo per frame:
- the background and the clear lenses are removed automatically;
- the frame is placed on the eyes from its own pixels;
- an optional side photo gives the real arms;
- and the photo can even be extruded into 3D glasses with real thickness.
If you already have GLB/glTF models, you can upload them instead. See virtual try-on without 3D models for how this works across categories.
What photos do you need?
| Photo | Required? | Tips |
|---|---|---|
| Front, straight on | Yes | Plain white or light grey background, frame level, arms folded back or hidden |
| Side | Optional | Shows the real arms instead of generated ones |
| Frame width (mm) | Recommended | Printed inside the arm (e.g. 52□18 140 → lens 52, bridge 18) |
What does glasses virtual try-on cost?
Pricing models differ a lot between vendors:
- Enterprise eyewear platforms usually quote per project, often including frame digitisation.
- Per-item packages charge for each frame for a fixed period.
- Monthly subscriptions usually cap or charge by the number of products.
TryItOnMe never charges per frame. You pay for try-ons, with every frame included: a free plan forever, then $49/month for 3,000 try-ons, $129/month for 10,000 and $299/month for 35,000, with unlimited products on every plan and yearly billing giving two months free — and a free 14-day trial of Pro, no card. See pricing.
Does it increase sales?
Retailers adopt try-on because seeing a product on yourself removes doubt. Shopify reported that product interactions with 3D and augmented reality (AR) content had a 94% higher conversion rate than those without. Results depend on your products and audience, so measure: TryItOnMe’s analytics show try-ons, screenshots, shares and Buy now clicks per frame.
How to start
- Start a free trial and upload front photos of a few frames, each named by its product code.
- Check them on the reference head and enter frame widths.
- Paste the embed code on your product pages or share each frame’s try-on link on Instagram and WhatsApp.
Or try our live eyewear demo on your own face first.