Add Watermark to Image — Free and Online
Your photo is decoded and edited in this tab. It stays local, including whatever its metadata says about where it was taken.
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How it works
Sized relative to the image, not the screen
The common failure in watermarking tools is measuring the text in screen pixels against a preview that is scaled to fit your window. The watermark then looks right on screen and comes out microscopic on a 6000-pixel original. Here the text size is a percentage of the image's own width, so the same setting produces a proportionally identical mark on a thumbnail and on a camera original. Opacity is straight alpha compositing over the decoded pixels, applied once, at full resolution.
- Text size
- A percentage of the image width, so the mark scales with the picture instead of with your browser window.
- Position
- A nine-point grid — corners, edge centres and middle — with an inset margin that is also proportional to the image.
- Opacity
- 0 to 100% alpha over the pixels. Around 30–50% is legible without burying the picture underneath it.
- Contrast
- White or black text with an optional outline or shadow, because a flat colour disappears against a photo that has both light and dark areas.
- Output format
- The composite is re-encoded, so a JPEG source gains one lossy generation. Export to PNG or lossless WebP to avoid that.
How to use it
How to add a watermark to an image online
- 01
Type the watermark text
A name, a handle, a domain, or a status word like DRAFT or CONFIDENTIAL.
- 02
Set position, size and opacity
The preview composites at real proportions, so what you see is what exports.
- 03
Download the marked image
Your original stays on disk unwatermarked.
Where it earns its keep
Where an image watermark does its job
- Marking proofs sent to a client before an invoice is paid.
- Stamping DRAFT across a mockup so it is never mistaken for the final asset.
- Adding a portfolio URL to images that will be reposted without a credit.
- Labelling a screenshot as confidential before it goes into a shared document.
Questions
Add Watermark, answered
Does a watermark stop people using my image?
No. It is a deterrent and an attribution, not protection. A visible mark can be cropped out, cloned over, or removed by inpainting software in seconds. Place it over the subject rather than in a corner if you want it to be inconvenient, and do not treat it as a licence enforcement mechanism.
Can I use my own logo image as the watermark?
No. This overlays text only. An image watermark needs its own upload, scaling and alpha handling, which is a separate tool rather than an option on this one.
Is my image uploaded to be watermarked?
No. The composite is drawn in this browser tab and encoded locally, so an unreleased photo is not sitting on someone else's server in order to be marked as unreleased.
Why is my watermark hard to read?
Usually low opacity over a busy photograph, or flat text over an area with mixed brightness. Raise the opacity, switch the colour, and turn on the outline — a thin contrasting edge is what keeps text legible over both light and dark regions.