How To Easily Watermark Videos And Add A Logo?

by David
(United States)

Question: Just came across your site - I've been having a problem and hope you can help. I am trying to find a good way in which I can easily watermark my videos, and add my logo to them as well.

My videos are in MPEG-4 format, but I can convert them to WMV format. Is there a free software package that I can use to add watermarks/logo?

Thanks!

Answer: Hi David, thanks for your question. Watermarks and logos help to protect your work and also make it more unique and professional.

Here's how you can add a watermark or logo to your own video with Microsoft Movie Maker.

Lots of YouTube gurus do this and it would be very useful for you to pick up this skill.

If you want a simple text watermark, not a logo, of your name in the lower portion of your video, you can get started right away with one of the built-in titles in Movie Maker.

• Start up Windows Movie Maker. Press Ctrl + I to import your video from your computer.


• Drag your video to the timeline. Click on Title and credits under Edit in the left sidebar. Then click on Title on the selected clip.


• Type your username or the text you want to appear as your video watermark.


• Click on Change the title animation and choose Subtitle.


• If you wish to position your watermark near the bottom right or left, click on Change the text font and color and choose the icon to align text right or left. You can change how transparent or opaque your watermark, as well as your font style (e.g. make the text bold or italicized), size and color.


• Once you like what you see in the Preview (please note that the video player may take a few seconds to display any changes), click on Add Title.


• Using the resizer (which appears when your cursor hovers on the edge of the title in the timeline), drag it across the length of your video.


• Preview your final video if you’d like, otherwise, press Ctrl + P (click on File > Publish Movie) to save the video to your computer.

If you want to add an image watermark, you should create the image first. If it has a transparent background, it would look even better, so use Photoshop, GIMP, Paint.NET or most web-based image editors to achieve a transparent background. Save it in .PNG or .GIF format in C:\Program Files\Movie Maker\Shared\AddOnTFX\.

• You then need embed the image into your video using a tool like Windows Vista Logo Locator.


• In the Logo Locator, you need to specify the location in the video where you want your logo to appear, as well as the dimensions of your video and your logo image file. You then also specify the logo filename that you previously saved and specify the Name of Title as MyLogo.


• Next, open up Notepad, paste the text generated by the Logo Locator and save it as a mylogo.xml in the C:\Program Files\Movie Maker\Shared\AddOnTFX\ folder.


• Open up Windows Movie Maker import your video, drag it to the timeline and choose Titles and credits.


• Choose Title on the selected clip and in the text box under Enter text for title, input a single space (important), and click Change the title animation.


• You should see MyLogo in the options. Select it and click Add Title.


• Using the resizer, drag it across the length of your video.


• Preview your final video if you’d like, otherwise, press Ctrl + P (click on File > Publish Movie) to save the video to your computer.

You can also try using a simple tool like Video Watermark Factory. I've heard good things about this software for adding watermarks but have never tried it out.

I hope the above helps you out. And that's it! Adding a logo image to your video is obviously more complicated, but it certainly looks much better in the finished product.

So try the above tips out and how it goes ... and as always, feel free to let me know if you have questions.