Copyright & licensing
Set licenses for your photos, add watermarks, and embed copyright in EXIF metadata.
Understanding licenses
A license tells others how they may use your photos. When you share a photo online, the license you choose defines whether others can download it, use it commercially, modify it, or if they need to ask your permission first.
Setting a license helps protect your work and makes your expectations clear. It also helps others know what they can and cannot do with your images.
Without a clear license, people may assume they cannot use your photos at all, or worse, use them without permission. By choosing a license, you communicate your intentions and protect your rights. Creative Commons licenses are widely recognized and legally enforceable worldwide.
License types
Only you can use this photo. Others must ask your permission before using, sharing, or modifying it in any way.
Others can share your photo with credit, but can't change it or use it commercially.
Anyone can use or remix this photo for non-commercial purposes, as long as they credit you.
Anyone can use, share, or remix this photo — even commercially — as long as they give you credit.
You're giving up all rights. Anyone can use this photo for anything — no credit needed, no restrictions at all.
Setting your license
Go to Account settings and find the "Copyright & licensing" section. Set your default license there. All new photos you upload will use this license unless you change it.
You can also set your copyright holder name, which appears in copyright notices and watermarks.
When editing a photo (from My photos or an album), use the License dropdown to change the license for that photo. The change applies only to that photo.
Select multiple photos on the My photos or album page, then use the License dropdown in the bulk edit sidebar. Choose a license to apply it to all selected photos.
Watermarking
Watermarking adds a text overlay to your photos when they are uploaded. The text typically includes your copyright notice (e.g. "© 2026 Your Name"). This makes it harder for others to use your photos without attribution and helps identify you as the creator.
You can choose from two styles in Account → Copyright & licensing:
- Corner text — Small text in the bottom-right corner.
- Diagonal text — Centered text at a 45° angle across the image.
Enable "Auto-watermark photos" in your account settings to apply watermarks to all new uploads.
EXIF copyright
EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) is metadata embedded in image files. It can store technical data (camera, settings) and copyright information. When you enable "Embed copyright in EXIF", we add your name and copyright notice to the photo's metadata so it travels with the file when downloaded.
We only add copyright metadata if the photo does not already have it. If your camera or editing software already embedded copyright info, we leave it unchanged. This avoids overwriting existing metadata.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. You can change the license on any photo at any time. However, if someone has already downloaded your photo, their copy retains the license it had at the time of download. Changing the license on the site only affects future views and downloads.
The watermark is overlaid on the image and becomes part of the file. The underlying photo quality is preserved. The watermark itself is rendered at high resolution to stay sharp.
The downloaded file includes whatever license and metadata were on the photo at the time of download. If you use watermarking, the downloaded image will include the watermark. If you embedded EXIF copyright, that metadata will be in the file.