# Media at Scale: Callbacks vs pipelines

DevFeed: [Media at Scale: Callbacks vs pipelines](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/media-at-scale-callbacks-vs-pipelines-1490.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://shopify.engineering/media-at-scale-callbacks-vs-pipelines>)

Author: Chahna Gupta

Published: 2020-07-09T18:36:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Shopify Engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/shopify-engineering.md>), [Shopify Engineering - Shopify Engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/shopify-engineering-shopify-engineering.md>)

Topics: [Shopify](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/shopify.md>), [Rails](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/rails.md>), [Ruby](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ruby.md>), [Databases](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/databases.md>), [Transactions](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/transactions.md>), [CI/CD](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/cicd.md>)

Tags: [3d](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/3d.md>), [code](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/code.md>), [database](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/database.md>), [dependencies](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/dependencies.md>), [deployment](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/deployment.md>), [infrastructure](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/infrastructure.md>), [media](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/media.md>), [models](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/models.md>), [pipelines](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/pipelines.md>), [ruby](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ruby.md>), [videos](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/videos.md>)

## AI overview

Shopify explains how it designed media support for videos and 3D models in its Ruby on Rails monolith while preserving legacy image infrastructure. The article compares Rails callbacks with a pipeline approach and describes choosing pipelines for greater code control, maintainability, and understandability.

## Source excerpt

Shopify recently launched the ability to add videos and 3d models to products as a native feature within the Admin section. Learn how we used pipelines to manage the long-term maintenance and understandability of the code.