Video watermarks

Watermark types

ApsaraVideo VOD supports static image watermarks, dynamic image watermarks, and text watermarks.

• Static image watermarks

  Only images in the PNG format can be used as static image watermarks. A static image watermark can be displayed in a specific position throughout a video or within a specific time period based on the start and end time that you specify.

  You can use static image watermarks to declare video copyright or promote brands.

• Dynamic image watermarks

  Dynamic image watermarks support images in the GIF and APNG formats and videos in the MOV format.A dynamic image watermark can be displayed in a specific position throughout a video or within a specific time period based on the start and end time that you specify.

  You can use dynamic image watermarks to declare video copyright or promote brands.

  Note

  • If you add watermarks in the ApsaraVideo VOD console, you can add only GIF images as dynamic image watermarks. If you add watermarks by calling API operations, you can add GIF images, APNG images, and MOV videos as watermarks.

  • If a file is used as a dynamic image watermark, the file name extension must be in lower case. File name extensions of files that are used as static image watermarks are not limited.

  • The files that are used as watermarks and the video to which the watermarks are added must be stored in the same origin. For example, videos that are stored in an origin in the China (Shanghai) region can use only watermarks that are stored in the same origin in the China (Shanghai) region. Videos cannot use watermarks that are stored in another region or origin. For more information about storage origins, see Manage VOD resources.

• Text watermarks

  You can add one or more pieces of text as watermarks to videos. You can set font configurations such as the font type, size, color, transparency, and border, and add different text content to different videos. For information about dynamic text watermarks, see SubmitTranscodeJobs.

  You can use text watermarks to declare video copyright or promote brands. You can also dynamically replace text watermarks in short videos.

  Note

  You can manage dynamic image watermarks in the MOV and APNG formats and text watermarks only by calling API operations. For more information, see AddWatermark.

Usage notes

Perform the following operations to add watermarks to a video:

1. Add and manage watermarks. For more information, see the "Watermark management" section of this topic.

2. Set a default watermark. For more information, see Manage watermarks if you add watermarks in the ApsaraVideo VOD console or SetDefaultWatermark if you add watermarks by calling API operations.

3. Create a transcoding template and set the watermark parameters. For more information, see Manage transcoding settings if you add watermarks in the ApsaraVideo VOD console or AddTranscodeTemplateGroup if you add watermarks by calling API operations.

4. Upload a video by using the template that is created in Step 3. For more information, see Upload media assets or Overview.

Watermark management

You can manage watermarks in the ApsaraVideo VOD console or by calling API operations.

• Manage watermarks in the ApsaraVideo VOD console

  For information about operations related to watermark management in the ApsaraVideo VOD console, see Manage watermarks.

  Note

  You cannot upload dynamic image watermarks in the MOV and APNG formats in the ApsaraVideo VOD console. You can do this only by calling the AddWatermark operation.

• Manage watermarks by using API operations

  You can perform the following operations to add a watermark template:

  1. Call the CreateUploadAttachedMedia operation to obtain the directory to which watermarks are added and temporary permissions.

  2. Upload watermark files by using Object Storage Service (OSS). For more information, see Upload OSS objects.

  3. Call the AddWatermark operation to add watermark information.

Watermark position parameters

Watermark position parameters are used to set the position and size of a watermark on the image of an output video. You can set the watermark position parameters in the ApsaraVideo VOD console or by calling the AddWatermark operation.

• Image watermarks

  You can use the ReferPos, Dx, Dy, Width, and Height parameters to specify the position and size of an image watermark on the image of an output video.

  API parameter	Console parameter	Description
  ReferPos	Location	The approximate position of the watermark relative to the output video image. Upper-left: the upper-left corner. Lower-left: the lower-left corner. Upper-right: the upper-right corner. Lower-right: the lower-right corner.
  Dx	Horizontal Shift	The horizontal shift of the watermark on the output video image. You can set this parameter to a value of one of the following types: Positive integer: Unit: pixels. Valid values: [8,4096]. Image proportion: a proportion to the video image. Valid values: (0,1).
  Dy	Vertical Shift	The vertical shift of the watermark on the output video image. You can set this parameter to a value of one of the following types: Positive integer: Unit: pixels. Valid values: [8,4096]. Image proportion: a proportion to the video image. Valid values: (0,1).
  Width	Width	The width of the watermark on the output video image. You can set this parameter to a value of one of the following types: Positive integer: Unit: pixels. Valid values: [8,4096]. Image proportion: a proportion to the video image. Valid values: (0,1).
  Height	Height	The height of the watermark on the output video image. You can set this parameter to a value of one of the following types: Positive integer: Unit: pixels. Valid values: [8,4096]. Image proportion: a proportion to the video image. Valid values: (0,1).
  Timeline	Timeline	The watermark timeline is used to control the start time and duration of an image watermark on a video image. You can use multiple watermark configurations to control the dynamic display effect of an image watermark on a video image. For more information, see the Timeline: specifies the configurations for a watermark timeline section of the Parameters for media processing topic. Notice This parameter is not supported for text watermarks.

  Schematic diagram

  To center a watermark on the image of an output video, set the Dx and Dy parameters to 0.5. A value of 0.5 indicates that the horizontal or vertical shift of the watermark is 50% of the video width or height.

• Text watermarks

  You can specify the position of a text watermark on the image of an output video only by setting the Top and Left parameters. The two parameters indicate the offset of the watermark relative to the upper-left corner of the output video image. The two parameters can be set only to positive integers that indicate the number of pixels. You cannot set them to decimal fractions that indicate a proportion to the video width or height.

  API parameter	Console parameter	Description
  Top	Vertical Shift	The distance between the upper-left corner of the watermark and the upper side of the output video image. Unit: pixels. Valid values: [8,4096].
  Left	Horizontal Shift	The distance between the upper-left corner of the watermark and the left side of the output video image. Unit: pixels. Valid values: [8,4096].

  Schematic diagram

• Calculation methods

  The Dx, Dy, Width, and Height parameters of an image watermark can be calculated based on the positive integers or image proportions that you specify. The Top and Left parameters of a text watermark can be calculated based only on positive integers. The following part describes the calculation methods.

  • Positive integer: Unit: pixels. Valid values: [8,4096].

    Notice

    If the parameter settings of an image or text watermark are greater than the size of the output video image, the watermark may be partially displayed or not displayed at all.

    For example, if the resolution of the output video is 640 × 360, and the ReferPos parameter is set to Upper-left, the Dx parameter is set to 4000, and the Dy parameter is set to 4000, the watermark is not displayed on the output video image.

  • Image proportion: the proportion of the width and height of the image watermark to those of the output video. Valid values: (0, 1). The value is accurate to four decimal places.

    Notice

    If the resolutions of your output videos frequently change, we recommend that you set the position and size parameters of the watermarks to image proportion values.

    Sample value: 0.9999. Example: Width/Video width = 0.1. Height/Video height = 0.06. Dx/Video width = 0.02. Dy/Video width = 0.03.

• Default values

  • If you do not set the Width and Height parameters for a watermark, the width of the watermark is calculated based on the following formula: Watermark width = Output video width × 0.12. The height of the watermark proportionally scales based on the aspect ratio of the source watermark image.

  • If you specify one of the Width and Height parameters for a watermark, the value of the other parameter is calculated based on the specified parameter and the aspect ratio of the source watermark image. For example, if the Width parameter is set to 44, and the aspect ratio of the source image is 2:1, the value of the Height parameter is 22.

  • If you set both the Width and Height parameters, the width and height of the output watermark are set to the specified values.

  • The default values of the Dx and Dy parameters are both 0.

Common scenarios