Watermark guides
Short answers to the questions people ask about watermarks on photos, PDFs and video, and about copyright notices and photo metadata. Every guide starts with the answer, links the pages it was checked against and shows the date.
Watermark photos and art in the apps you use
Step by step on iPhone, Android, Mac and Windows, and in Lightroom, Photoshop, Canva, Procreate, ibisPaint and GIMP.
- How to add a watermark to photos on iPhone
On iPhone, open the photo in Photos, tap the Edit button, then the Markup button, and use the Add Annotations button to add text or your signature, as Apple's iOS 27 guide describes. For many photos at once, or a logo, open Fix Watermark in Safari; there is no app to install.
- How to add a watermark to photos on Android
In the Google Photos app on Android, open a photo, tap Edit, then Markup, then Text, and save. Google's page describes one photo at a time. For many photos, or a logo, open Fix Watermark in Chrome on Android; it needs Chrome 69 or later.
- How to turn on the Samsung camera watermark on Galaxy phones
On a Samsung Galaxy phone, open the Camera app, tap the gear icon for Settings, select Watermark and switch it on. You can edit the text and turn on Date and time. It applies to new photos only; existing photos and logos need a browser tool.
- How to watermark photos on a Mac
On a Mac, open the photo in Preview, show the Markup toolbar, choose Text, type your mark and drag the text box into place. Photos has a Markup tool with a Text option in its editor. For many photos at once, Fix Watermark in Safari or Chrome adds one mark to the whole batch.
- How to watermark photos on Windows 11
On Windows 11, open the photo in Paint, choose the Text tool on the Home tab, click the canvas and type your mark. The Photos app's Markup section lists drawing tools only. For many photos at once, Fix Watermark in Chrome or Edge adds one mark to the whole batch.
- How to add a watermark in Lightroom Classic and Lightroom
In Lightroom Classic, choose Edit > Edit Watermarks (Windows) or Lightroom Classic > Edit Watermarks (macOS), design a text or graphic watermark and save it, then select the Watermark box in the Export dialog. In Lightroom desktop, select Include Watermark on the Export screen.
- How to add a watermark in Photoshop, to one photo or a batch
In Photoshop on desktop, add text with the Horizontal Type tool or bring in a logo with File > Place Embedded, then lower the layer's Opacity (1 to 100) in the Layers panel. For many photos, Adobe documents recording an action and running it with File > Automate > Batch.
- How to make a watermark in Canva
In Canva, add a text box from the Text panel, then use Transparency on the toolbar to make it fainter. To download the mark as a PNG with a transparent background, Canva says you need a paid plan such as Canva Pro or Canva Teams.
- How to make a watermark in Procreate
In Procreate for iPad, tap Actions, Add, Add Text, type your mark on its own layer, then lower the layer's opacity from its Blend Modes menu. Hide the Background Color layer and choose Actions, Share, PNG to export a PNG file that keeps transparency.
- How to make a watermark in ibisPaint
In ibisPaint, add text with the Text tool or draw a signature on a new layer. We suggest tapping Rasterize on text, then setting the layer's Opacity in the Layer window. To save a transparent PNG, tap Back, Save Image, set File Type to PNG and turn Transparent on.
- How to add a watermark in GIMP 3, to one image or many
In GIMP 3, add text with the Text tool (T) or a logo with File > Open as Layers, set the layer's Opacity slider (0 to 100) in the Layers dialog, then save a copy with File > Export As. We found no batch dialog in GIMP's manual, only a command-line --batch option.
- How to batch watermark photos for free
Open Fix Watermark, add your photos, type your mark, then press Download ZIP. Free runs are unlimited, so a batch of 200 is four runs. In Lightroom Classic, select the Watermark box in the Export dialog's Watermarking panel to add a copyright watermark to exported photos.
Design a watermark that works
Where to place a watermark, how big and how transparent to make it, and what to put in it, with our own measurements.
- Where to put a watermark on a photo
Put the mark in the centre if it has to survive every common crop: in our data it stays whole in all five crops (1:1, 4:5, 3:4, 9:16 and 16:9) for every photo shape we tested. A corner mark stays whole in at most one. On a landscape photo, top-centre or bottom-centre survives four.
- What size should a watermark be?
We suggest 15 to 25% of the photo width for a logo or short name, and more for long text. In our measurements on an iPhone 18 Pro, a photo shown across the full screen is 66.6 mm wide, so a mark 20% of the image width is 13.3 mm wide.
- What opacity should a watermark be?
We suggest 40 to 60% opacity, and checking the mark on your own photo. In our measurements, a black mark over a light grey or a white mark over a dark grey reached a contrast ratio of 2.8:1 to 4.0:1 at 40 to 50% opacity.
- Photography watermark examples: name, logo or signature, and how to make one
A photography watermark can be a text name, a logo or a signature. Lightroom Classic and Lightroom desktop both offer text and graphic watermarks, and Fix Watermark makes either in your browser. Which style fits is our advice, not a rule, and depends on where the photo will be seen.
- How to make a transparent PNG of your logo for a watermark
Make the background of your logo transparent, then save it as a PNG: PNG can carry an alpha channel and JPEG cannot. In GIMP, add an alpha channel and use Colors, Color to Alpha on the background colour. In Canva, a transparent download is limited to plans such as Canva Pro.
- How to choose a watermark font you are allowed to use
Fonts under the SIL Open Font License may be used in logos and other graphics without extra permission, according to the OFL FAQ, and Google says its fonts can be used within any logo. Check each font's own licence. Pasted "fonts" are styled characters, not fonts.
- How to turn your signature into a watermark
Sign in dark ink on white paper, photograph it, and make the paper colour transparent. In GIMP 3.0 that is Layer, Transparency, Add Alpha Channel, then Colors, Color to Alpha. Save the result as a PNG and add it to your photos in Fix Watermark as a logo.
- What to put in a watermark: wording ideas and examples
In the US, a copyright notice has three parts: the © symbol, the word "Copyright" or "Copr."; the year of first publication; and the owner's name, as the US Copyright Office's Circular 3 describes. A short watermark such as "© 2026 Your Name" follows that pattern. Anything extra is your choice.
Copyright, credit and metadata
What a watermark and a copyright notice do, how photo metadata carries your name, and what Content Credentials are.
- Does a watermark protect your photos? What it does and does not do
In the US, a watermark does not create or replace copyright: under 17 U.S.C. 102(a), copyright exists once an original photo is fixed, and registration under 17 U.S.C. 411 and 412 governs suing over a US work and statutory damages. A visible mark can carry a name or notice, which can be copyright management information under 17 U.S.C. 1202(c).
- How to write a copyright notice for your photos
In the US, a copyright notice on copies has three elements under 17 U.S.C. 401(b): the © symbol (or the word Copyright, or Copr.), the year of first publication, and the owner's name, for example © 2026 Jane Smith. It is optional for works published on or after March 1, 1989.
- What is copyright management information (CMI)?
In the US, copyright management information is information conveyed with copies or displays of a work, including in digital form, that 17 U.S.C. 1202(c) lists: such as the title, the author's and owner's names, a copyright notice, and terms of use. Section 1202 bans giving false CMI, and altering or taking it off, each with intent or knowledge.
- How to add copyright information to a photo's metadata
Fill in four fields: creator, copyright notice, credit line and a web address for your terms. In Lightroom Classic, save them as a metadata preset in the Edit Metadata Presets dialog and apply it to your photos. For a batch of JPEG, PNG or WebP files, Fix Watermark does it in your browser.
- EXIF, IPTC and XMP: photo metadata explained
Exif is CIPA's standard for camera data; IPTC is the Photo Metadata Standard that defines credit and copyright fields; XMP is the Adobe-created, ISO-standardised container that can carry IPTC and other fields. A JPEG can hold all three. PNG and WebP specifications list Exif and XMP chunks.
- How to check a photo's metadata on iPhone, Android, Windows and Mac
On iPhone, open the photo in Photos and swipe up. In Google Photos on Android, tap More, then About (Google's steps for AI info). On a Mac, open Preview's Inspector; on Windows, our steps use Properties, then Details. Apple's iPhone page lists no copyright field. A browser tool shows the copyright fields of a JPEG, PNG or WebP.
- Does Instagram keep photo metadata?
IPTC's Spring 2019 test found Instagram displayed no embedded metadata and offered no download, so no stored file could be examined. Its 2013 and 2015 tests also showed none, and in 2013 a copy saved from Instagram had its metadata stripped. We suggest not relying on metadata surviving a post.
- What are Content Credentials, and what does the CR label mean?
Content Credentials are C2PA's open standard for signed information attached to an image or video that records its origin and edits. An icon, which C2PA's guidance says is shaped like a pin, signals they are present; LinkedIn shows it as the C2PA icon. They do not say whether content is true.
- How to register your photos with the US Copyright Office
In the US Copyright Office's online system (eCO), you register one photograph with the Standard or Single Application, or up to 750 photographs in one group application of published or of unpublished photos (37 CFR 202.4). As of October 2026 the group fee is $55; the Office has proposed $85.
- Can you stop AI training on your images? The opt-out signals that exist
You can send published signals, not enforce them: a robots.txt token per crawler (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended, CCBot, Applebot-Extended), the IPTC Data Mining property inside the image file, and in the EU a machine-readable reservation under Article 4(3) of Directive (EU) 2019/790. Outside that EU rule, honouring them is voluntary.
Watermarks in documents and PDFs
DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL and picture watermarks in Word, Google Docs, PowerPoint, Excel and Acrobat, and marked copies of your ID.
- How to add a DRAFT or CONFIDENTIAL watermark to any document
Word offers DRAFT and CONFIDENTIAL under Design, then Watermark. Google Docs takes typed text under Insert, Page elements. PowerPoint needs a text box on the slide master, Excel uses a header picture on Windows and a WordArt box on Mac, and Acrobat uses Edit, then Watermark, then Add. A PDF tool covers the rest.
- How to add a watermark in Word
In Word on Windows or Mac, open the Design tab, select Watermark, and choose a ready-made mark such as DRAFT or CONFIDENTIAL. On Windows, Custom Watermark adds your own text or picture. Word for the web can show a watermark but cannot insert one.
- How to add a watermark in Google Docs
In Google Docs on a computer, choose Insert, then Page elements, then Watermark, pick Image or Text, and click Done. Google says the watermark sits behind your text and repeats on every page. It is not available in pageless documents or in the phone apps.
- How to add a watermark in PowerPoint
PowerPoint has no gallery of ready-made watermarks like Word. For all slides except title pages, open View, then Slide Master, add a text box in a light colour on the master, and exit. For one slide, our method is a text box or picture on that slide, sent behind the content.
- How to add a watermark in Excel
Excel has no Watermark button, so you mimic one. In Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows, choose Insert > Header & Footer, click Picture on the Header & Footer Elements tab and pick your image. It prints behind the data on every page, but shows only in Page Layout view, Print Preview and on paper.
- How to add a watermark in Adobe Acrobat, and without it
In Adobe Acrobat on desktop, open the PDF, select Edit, then Watermark > Add. Choose text or a file as the source, set the appearance and position, and select OK. Adobe's pages describe free Acrobat Reader as a viewer, signer and commenter, not an editor. Without Acrobat, a browser tool can stamp the PDF.
- How to watermark a copy of your ID or passport before you send it
French government guidance advises marking each copy of an identity document with the reason for sending, the date and the recipient, written over the copy. We suggest repeating that text across the copy, photo included, while keeping the details the recipient needs readable. Fix Watermark can place it in your browser, without uploading the copy.
Video and social media
Your mark on YouTube, CapCut, Premiere Pro and iMovie videos, placed where the apps' own buttons will not cover it.
- How to add a watermark to your YouTube videos
On a computer, open YouTube Studio, select Customization then Profile, choose when the watermark shows, pick an image and click PUBLISH. YouTube asks for an image of at least 150x150 pixels with equal width and height, under 1 MB. The setting is not available in the YouTube mobile apps.
- How to add your own watermark in CapCut
In CapCut, put your mark on a layer above the video: a transparent PNG of your logo, or a text layer. Set its opacity, place it inside the edges, and make it last the whole clip. CapCut's help documents text opacity on web and PC, so image steps here are general.
- How to add a watermark in Premiere Pro
In Adobe Premiere (Premiere Pro), choose File, Export, Media, then add an image overlay: choose an image file (Adobe recommends a transparent PNG), set Position, Offset, Size and Opacity, and export. Adobe says export overlays are baked into the output file. For a timeline mark, put a graphic on a track above the video and set its opacity.
- How to add a watermark or logo in iMovie
In iMovie on Mac, drag a clip above another in the timeline and choose Picture in Picture in the video overlay controls. On iPhone and iPad, tap Add Media, pick a photo, then More and an overlay option. A title can serve as a text mark. Apple documents opacity only for the Mac cutaway.
- Where to put a watermark on TikTok, Reels and Shorts
Keep the mark inside the area that Meta's Reels ad spec and YouTube's Shorts ad spec both leave clear: on a 1080 x 1920 frame, 907 px wide and 979 px tall, 42.8% of the frame. TikTok publishes its safe zone only as downloadable files, so check a TikTok video against those.
- How to watermark photos for Instagram so the crop keeps it
Add the mark before you upload: we found no page in Instagram's Help Center about adding one (checked October 30, 2026). Instagram's help page says a ratio outside 1.91:1 to 3:4 is cropped to a supported one. In our crop data, only the centre survives every common crop.
- How to make a watermark for your edits
Write your handle, keep it short, and save it as a PNG with a transparent background. In our phone-size data a 10-character mark 20% of the frame wide has a cap height of 1.7 mm on an iPhone 18 Pro. Add it above the video in CapCut or in the browser.
When your watermark does not show or print
Your own watermark is missing from some pages, from print or from the saved file: the usual causes and what to change.
- Word watermark not showing or not printing: how to fix it
In Word, Microsoft says File > Print shows how your watermark will look on the page, and on a Mac, View > Print Layout shows it if you cannot see it. We suggest then checking for shading or page colour over it, the print options and the PDF export.
- Word watermark not showing on every page: how to fix it
Microsoft says Word sections are linked by default and each header type is linked separately, but its header pages do not mention watermarks. We suggest checking Link to Previous, Different First Page and Different Odd & Even Pages where the watermark is missing, then applying Design > Watermark again.
- PDF watermark not printing: how to fix it
Adobe's help pages on watermarks name no print setting; they say a watermark, unlike a stamp, is embedded into the page. We suggest checking the Appearance settings, each layer's Print setting in a layered PDF, and, for a stamp, the Comments & Forms menu in Acrobat's Print dialog.
Should you watermark?
When a watermark helps, when it gets in the way, and the rules of the places where you sell or post.
- Should you watermark your photos?
It depends on where the photo goes. eBay's picture policy lists watermarks of any type as not allowed for listing photos, and Etsy's help page generally wouldn't recommend them (both read October 30, 2026). For Instagram, your own website, a portfolio or client proofs, the choice is yours, so the answers below are our advice.
- Can you watermark product photos on eBay and Etsy?
On eBay, no: its picture policy lists watermarks of any type, including ownership attributions, as not allowed. On Etsy, generally not: its help page says it wouldn't recommend them, because they make photos unsuitable for features within Etsy and ineligible for off-site advertising such as Google Shopping. Both pages as read October 30, 2026.
- How to protect your art online
Use several layers and know each one's limit. A visible mark and copyright metadata name you; a smaller file gives copiers less to use; in the US, registration (17 U.S.C. 411 and 412) governs suing over a US work and statutory damages; AI opt-out signals are requests. None of them is a lock.