Watermark and Logo Overlay — How to Use the overlay Filter

The overlay filter is used to burn logos and copyright notices into video. It takes two video inputs and outputs them as a single composited image. This article walks through everything from basic usage to advanced position variables, transparent PNGs, and time-limited display.

Verified with: ffmpeg 6.1

1. overlay Filter Basics

The overlay filter requires two inputs. Specify the video and logo image separately with -i, and composite them with -filter_complex.

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -i logo.png -filter_complex "overlay=10:10" output.mp4

• overlay=X:Y — Places the top-left corner of the logo at coordinate (X, Y) on the main video (origin is top-left)
• The above places the logo 10px from the left and 10px from the top

2. Built-in Variables for Position

Using variables instead of fixed numbers for coordinates allows the position to automatically adapt when the video size changes.

Bottom-right placement (the most commonly used pattern)

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -i logo.png -filter_complex "overlay=main_w-overlay_w-10:main_h-overlay_h-10" output.mp4

• main_w - overlay_w - 10 → X coordinate with a 10px margin from the right edge
• main_h - overlay_h - 10 → Y coordinate with a 10px margin from the bottom edge

Other common positions:

3. Using Transparent PNGs Directly (Alpha Channel Support)

When using a PNG logo with transparent areas, you can adjust the size with the scale filter before compositing.

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -i logo.png -filter_complex "[1:v]scale=100:-1[wm];[0:v][wm]overlay=10:10" output.mp4

Filter graph explanation:

1. [1:v]scale=100:-1[wm] — Resizes the logo (second input) to 100px wide (preserving aspect ratio) and labels it [wm]
2. [0:v][wm]overlay=10:10 — Composites the main video and the resized logo at position (10, 10)

Key point: FFmpeg automatically handles transparency for alpha channel PNGs. No special options are required.

4. Display Only During a Specific Time Range (enable Option)

Using the enable option, you can specify a time range in seconds during which the logo is visible.

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -i logo.png -filter_complex "overlay=10:10:enable='between(t,0,5)'" output.mp4

• t — Current timestamp (in seconds)
• between(t, start_seconds, end_seconds) — Function that returns 1 (active) within that range
• The above displays the logo only during seconds 0–5 of the video

This is useful when you want the logo to appear only during a specific section (e.g., intro or outro) rather than the entire video.

5. Summary: The Standard Bottom-Right Logo Command

This is the most commonly used pattern in real-world use.

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -i logo.png -filter_complex "[1:v]scale=150:-1[wm];[0:v][wm]overlay=main_w-overlay_w-20:main_h-overlay_h-20" output.mp4

• Resizes the logo to 150px wide
• Places it with a 20px margin at the bottom-right
• Natural compositing that preserves the alpha channel

Common Notes

• Difference between -filter_complex and -vf: Use -filter_complex when there are two or more inputs. -vf can only be used for single-input cases
• Logo format: JPEG cannot have an alpha channel, so use PNG (or WebP) for transparent logos
• Output codec: By default, re-encoding is done with libx264 / aac. Add -c:v libx264 -crf 18 etc. if you want to specify a codec

Related Articles

• Resizing and Scaling Video — How to Use the scale Filter
• FFmpeg Command Basic Syntax

Tested with: ffmpeg 6.1.1 / Ubuntu 24.04 (GitHub Actions runner)
Primary sources: ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html / ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html / trac.ffmpeg.org