Photo Sphere Viewer is a free WordPress plugin that embeds four kinds of immersive content: 360° panoramas, multi-scene virtual tours, 360° video and AR-ready 3D models. You add them with a block, an Elementor widget or a shortcode, using any stitched equirectangular image from any 360° camera or drone — with no hosted embed account, no watermark and no limit on panoramas or tour scenes.
This guide explains what each viewer does, how to embed them, what is free and what Pro adds, and how to get sharp, well-composed 360° content.
Why use 360° content on a website
A flat photo shows one angle chosen by the photographer. A 360° panorama lets the visitor choose where to look, which is why it is common wherever people want to judge a space before they commit to it:
- Real estate — buyers walk through a property before booking a viewing.
- Hotels and vacation rentals — guests see the actual room, view and common areas.
- Museums, campuses and venues — remote visitors explore at their own pace.
- WooCommerce stores — shoppers see a product in a room, or place it in their own space with AR.
The four viewers
1. 360° panorama viewer
Upload an equirectangular JPEG or PNG and visitors can drag, pinch and zoom around it on desktop or mobile.
Free settings:
- Starting view — yaw (-180° to 180°) and pitch (-90° to 90°)
- Field of view, zoom limits and movement speed
- Width and height in px, %, vh or vw, and a canvas background color
- Mouse-wheel zoom, drag movement, two-finger touch, Ctrl+scroll, cursor capture and fisheye toggles
- Navbar buttons for zoom, auto-rotate, caption, fullscreen and download, with background, caption color and typography controls
- Auto-rotation, with an option to start on load
- Gyroscope viewing — visitors on a phone look around by moving it (HTTPS required)
- Up to five info hotspots per panorama, each with a label on hover and a panel with text and a link — in the block, click Place on panorama and then the spot
Pro adds: unlimited info hotspots with a photo in each panel, on-screen move buttons, a description panel, a gallery bar for several panoramas, restricted horizontal and vertical viewing angles (to hide a tripod or ceiling), and full-resolution loading of large originals.
2. Virtual tour builder
String together as many panoramas as you want, connected with 3D arrow hotspots. Each scene gets its own caption and starting angle, and you choose which scene loads first. Visitors click the arrows to "walk" from room to room. Auto-rotation is free here too.
In the 360° Virtual Tour block, pick several photos and they're linked in order; click Place arrow to put each link on the doorway, and Set starting view for each scene. Place each arrow where the doorway actually is — if the kitchen is to the left, put the arrow on the left — and the tour feels like moving through the real space. Our real estate virtual tour guide walks through a full property.
Pro adds: a scene gallery bar so visitors can jump to any room, and a compass overlay.
3. 360° video player
The same look-around interaction, for an equirectangular MP4. Visitors get play/pause, seek and volume controls and can drag to look in any direction while the video plays, and you can turn on muted autoplay and loop.
4. AR 3D model viewer
Embed a .glb or .gltf 3D model using Google's <model-viewer>, with an AR button on phones that support it so visitors can place the object in their own room. Point it at a Media Library file or an external URL, and set a poster image, auto-rotation, shadow intensity, HDR environment lighting, a skybox background and alignment for free. Pro adds a custom camera orbit, and the option to lock zoom and tap-to-rotate for a fixed product showcase. See how to add AR 3D models to WooCommerce.
Three ways to embed
| Method | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Block editor | 360° Panorama and 360° Virtual Tour blocks — pick photos, then place hotspots and tour arrows by clicking on the image | Gutenberg sites |
| Elementor | Four widgets — Photo Sphere Viewer, PSV Virtual Tour, PSV 360° Video and AR 3D Viewer — each can be switched off if you don't need it | Elementor sites |
| Shortcodes | [psv], [psv_tour], [psv_video] and [psv_ar], built visually in Photo Sphere Viewer → Shortcode Builder | WooCommerce product descriptions, widget areas, theme builders |
The Shortcode Builder shows a live preview and writes every attribute for you, so you never need to type a shortcode by hand — copy it and paste it wherever shortcodes render.
Large drone panoramas: the -scaled.jpg problem
Since WordPress 5.3, any upload larger than 2560px on its long edge is saved as a -scaled.jpg copy, and WordPress serves that copy instead of your original. That is fine for a blog photo and very visible on a 40-megapixel aerial panorama stretched across a full sphere.
Photo Sphere Viewer Pro includes an ImageResolver that loads your original upload instead. Switch on Use Original Image in an Elementor widget, or add use_original="yes" to a shortcode. Why drone panoramas look blurry on WordPress explains the problem and the free and Pro fixes in detail.
Free vs Pro at a glance
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Panorama, virtual tour, 360° video and AR 3D viewers | Yes | Yes |
| Number of panoramas and tour scenes | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Panorama and tour blocks, Elementor widgets and Shortcode Builder | Yes | Yes |
| Zoom, caption, fullscreen and download buttons | Yes | Yes |
| Auto-rotation | Yes | Yes |
| Gyroscope viewing on phones (HTTPS) | Yes | Yes |
| Info hotspots | Up to 5 per panorama, text and link | Unlimited, with a photo in each panel |
| 360° video autoplay and loop | Yes | Yes |
| HDR lighting and skybox for 3D models | Yes | Yes |
| Move buttons and description panel | — | Yes |
| Tour scene gallery and compass | — | Yes |
| Panorama gallery bar and restricted viewing angles | — | Yes |
| Full-resolution original loading | — | Yes |
| Camera orbit and gesture locks for 3D models | — | Yes |
| Support | WordPress.org forum | Priority email support |
The free plugin is enough for most panoramas and tours. Pro is worth it when you shoot large drone panoramas, need more than five hotspots or photos in hotspot panels, or want the scene gallery and compass for property and venue tours. See current plans on the Photo Sphere Viewer pricing page.
How to set it up
- In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins → Add New, search for "Photo Sphere Viewer", then install and activate it.
- Block editor: add the 360° Panorama block and choose an equirectangular photo, then set the caption, height and toolbar buttons in the sidebar. For a tour, add the 360° Virtual Tour block and pick several photos.
- Elementor: search the widget panel for Photo Sphere Viewer, PSV Virtual Tour, PSV 360° Video or AR 3D Viewer and drag one into your layout.
- Anywhere else: open Photo Sphere Viewer → Shortcode Builder, build a shortcode and paste it into the page.
- Set the starting angle and navbar options, then publish.
Tips for better 360° content
- Shoot at full resolution. A 360° image is stretched across a whole sphere, so it needs far more pixels than a normal photo; use your camera's highest setting.
- Export as equirectangular. The image should be exactly twice as wide as it is tall (2:1). Most 360° cameras and stitching apps export this format by default.
- Use a tripod and consistent light. Sharp stitching and even exposure matter more in 360° than in a flat photo; remove the tripod from the bottom of the image in post if you can.
- Choose the starting view deliberately. Point the first view at what matters — the bed and window in a hotel room, the countertops in a kitchen.
- Keep file sizes reasonable. Balance JPEG quality against size so the panorama loads quickly on mobile.
Compatibility
Photo Sphere Viewer works with the block editor, Elementor and Elementor Pro, WooCommerce, Yoast SEO, Rank Math, WPML and Polylang, and with WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache and W3 Total Cache. Its frontend is built with Vite and loads only on pages that contain a viewer.
Related guides
- Best 360° panorama and virtual tour plugins for WordPress — free limits and prices compared
- WPVR alternative: Photo Sphere Viewer vs WPVR
- How to create a real estate virtual tour in WordPress
- Why drone 360° panoramas look blurry on WordPress
- How to add 360° product views and AR 3D models to WooCommerce
Get started
Install Photo Sphere Viewer from WordPress.org, then see the plugin page for the full feature list and the getting-started guide for setup.