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How to add a watermark or logo to a video on a Mac
By Himanshu Ranjan · Updated 8 November 2026
To add a watermark to a video on a Mac, select the clip in Finder, hold the right Option key and run FileDial's Adjust › Add logo or watermark… It saves a new copy with your logo on it, offline. For text instead of an image use Adjust › Add text…
Logo or text
Two tools cover branding. Adjust › Add logo or watermark… places an image on the video, and Adjust › Add text… puts words on it. Either makes a new copy beside the original, so you always keep a clean master.
A watermark has two jobs. It credits you when a video is shared and it makes copying slightly less attractive. It does not stop a determined person from cropping it out, so place it where removing it would damage the picture.
Steps
Have the logo ready as an image file before you start.
- Select the video in Finder.
- Hold the right Option key to open the dial.
- Choose Adjust › Add logo or watermark… and pick your image.
- Watch the new copy once through to check size and position.
Design choices that matter
A logo with a transparent background looks cleaner than one on a white box. Keep it small enough not to distract but large enough to read on a phone. A corner placement is conventional, but be aware that social apps overlay their own buttons on the bottom and right edges of vertical videos, so keep the mark clear of those areas.
Make the vertical or square version first, then add the logo, so it sits in the final frame rather than in an area that gets cropped later. See the vertical video guide for those shapes.
Preparing a good logo file
Use a PNG with a transparent background and a reasonable resolution, so the logo stays sharp on a 4K video. A white logo with a faint shadow reads on both light and dark footage, while a coloured logo may vanish on a similar background.
Test the mark on the busiest part of the video. If it is readable there, it will be readable everywhere.
When a watermark is not the right tool
A visible mark is no protection for sensitive material. If a video contains private information, blurring is safer than branding: Adjust › Blur faces follows faces on this Mac and Adjust › Blur a region… covers a chosen area. Hiding metadata is separate, and Adjust › Remove location & metadata gives a copy without location data.
For work-in-progress sharing, a review copy with a burned-in timecode lets reviewers refer to exact moments in their feedback.
Settings, quality and common mistakes
Placement, size and opacity decide whether a watermark helps or hurts. A mark in a corner at a modest size is conventional and does not distract. A large centred mark protects the video better but annoys viewers, and that trade-off is yours to make.
Re-encoding is the quality cost. Because adding a logo changes the picture, the video is compressed again, so start from the best copy you have and add the watermark as the final picture edit, after trimming, cropping and rotating. If you add it early and then crop, the mark can be cut off.
Common mistakes: using a logo with a white box around it, using a tiny low-resolution logo that looks fuzzy on a 4K video, placing the mark where a platform overlays its own buttons, and overwriting the master. FileDial saves a new copy, so the master is safe unless you delete it.
FileDial is the right tool for putting one logo or line of text on a clip or a batch. It is not the right tool for animated logos, lower-third titles or a mark that moves around the screen, where a video editor is better. A watermark also is not a security measure: it can be cropped or covered.
Checklist before branding a clip
Do these in order for a clean result.
- Finish trimming, rotating and cropping first.
- Prepare a transparent PNG of the logo at a decent resolution.
- Place the mark away from platform buttons.
- Watch the copy on a phone as well as the Mac.
- Compress last if the size matters.
Order of operations and size
Each tool that changes the picture makes a new copy, so do your trimming and cropping first and the watermark last. Adding a logo means the video is re-encoded, which can change the file size, so check the result card for the before and after size and use a Compress tool if needed.
For review copies that go to a client for feedback, Convert › Review copy… makes a 720p copy with a burned-in timecode. If you want to hide a face or a license plate rather than add a mark, Adjust › Blur faces and Adjust › Blur a region… do that. Everything runs on your Mac, so unreleased footage is never uploaded.
Questions
How do I add a logo to a video on a Mac?
Select the video and run FileDial's Adjust › Add logo or watermark…, choose your image and check the new copy. The original stays untouched beside it. The original stays clean beside the branded copy, so you can make other versions later.
Can I add text instead of an image?
Yes. Use Adjust › Add text… to put words on the video. It also saves a new copy beside the original. Place the mark over a part of the picture that would be damaged if someone tried to crop it out.
Will a watermark stop people copying my video?
Not entirely. It credits you and discourages casual reuse, but it can be cropped. Placing it over the important part of the picture makes removal harder. The picture is re-encoded to add the mark, so the size can change and a Compress tool can bring it down.
Does adding a watermark change file size?
It can, because the video is re-encoded. The result card shows the size before and after, and a Compress tool can reduce it if needed. A PNG with a transparent background looks cleanest, and a plain white logo with a soft shadow reads on most footage.