A second layer that stays in the pixels and samples
An invisible watermark is embedded in the media itself, then the watermarked file is signed. It is meant to survive edits that strip a C2PA manifest, such as re-encoding. Watermarking is optional: you choose it per request.
- MANIFEST
- Embedded · valid
- WATERMARK
- In the pixels or samples
- RESULT
- Declared origin readable
Recovery is a lead back to your signed record, not cryptographic proof. Picture: AI-generated illustration.
Watermarking by media type
Image watermarking
JPEG, PNG, WebP, TIFF and AVIF. Meta PixelSeal by default; Adobe TrustMark and Meta VideoSeal image mode are selectable.
Audio watermarking
WAV and MP3. Meta AudioSeal in its quality-first streaming variant by default.
Video watermarking
MP4 video. Meta PixelSeal for video by default; Meta VideoSeal 1.0 is selectable.
How a watermark works with Content Credentials
- Embed. The job writes an invisible signal into the pixels or audio samples.
- Sign. The watermarked file is signed with a C2PA manifest. When the algorithm is on the C2PA soft-binding list, the manifest records the watermark as a soft binding, so a validator can use it to find the manifest again.
- Recover. If a copy arrives without its manifest, verification can search your account's watermark bindings for the original. A match is reported as recovery, never as cryptographic validity. Only an intact signed manifest establishes validity.
Opt in per request
Signing alone is the default. Set watermark to true when you want one:
| You want | Request fields |
|---|---|
| Sign + watermark | "watermark": true |
| Sign + watermark + fingerprint | "watermark": true, "fingerprint": true |
Omit watermark_algorithm to get the default for the media type, or name another algorithm listed by GET /v1/capabilities. A job keeps the algorithm it was admitted with.
Three strength levels
watermark_strength narrows each algorithm's qualified strength ladder:
subtleuses the lowest qualified strength only, and fails rather than embed more strongly.balancedis the default.robustallows the full qualified ladder.
What a watermark is not
A watermark does not say whether content is true or authentic. It links a copy back to a record of the file you signed. Text, structural and sidecar formats take no watermark.
Watermarking questions
Is watermarking required?
No. The default request signs with C2PA only. Watermarking is optional and available when you want a signal that can outlive stripped metadata. Some AI labeling rules and codes describe a watermark as one of several layers; check with your counsel what applies to you.
How is watermarking billed?
One unit per image, or one unit per started second of audio or video. Units are graduated per month, from $0.015 down to $0.0025, and billed separately from signing.
Can anyone detect our watermark?
Recovery runs through the verification API and searches the watermark bindings of the account that asks. A copy is matched against your own records, not against other customers' files.
Add a watermark by changing one field
Same upload, same sign call. Set watermark to true and the job embeds it before signing.