Many Shopify products assign a specific image to each variant - a red shirt’s own photo, distinct from the blue one, even though both are "the same product." The standard variant rows export includes a variant_image column just for this, alongside the product’s full image list in images_all.

If you specifically want a flat list of every image with its position and which variant IDs reference it, use the images only format instead - it’s built for exactly that image-by-image view rather than the product-by-product one.

Both formats read from the same underlying data, so pick whichever shape fits the spreadsheet work you’re doing.

In practice, most catalogs only assign distinct images to a subset of variants - a color option, typically - while others simply fall back to the product’s main photo. Either way, the variant_image column reflects exactly what the storefront itself would show for that specific variant, nothing inferred or guessed on this tool’s part.