Add Date Stamp to Photo

Compact film cameras of the 1980s and 1990s could burn the date into the corner of each frame in small orange digits. This tool recreates that look: it reads the date the photo was taken from its EXIF data (or uses the file date or a date you choose), draws the digits as glowing seven-segment numbers and saves a new copy. It handles many photos at once and runs entirely in your browser.

How to use this tool

1. Choose one or more photos.
2. Pick where the date comes from: the EXIF "date taken", the file date, or one date for all photos.
3. Choose the format, corner, size and colour; add the time or the film look if you like.
4. Download each stamped photo, or all of them as a ZIP.

Formula

digit height = shorter side × size % ÷ 100; each digit is 0.5 × the height wide, segments 0.12 × the height thick, spaced 0.2 × the height apart, 0.8 × the height from the edges

The digits are drawn as seven-segment shapes, like the LED date backs of film cameras, so they look the same on every device without needing a special font. The slant shears the text; the glow is a soft blur in the same colour under sharp digits. The film look adds a slight warm tint, fixed-pattern grain and a darker vignette before the date is printed.

Example

A 4000 × 3000 photo taken on 21 July 1998 at the default 4.5% gets digits round(0.045 × 3000) = 135 px tall. In the classic format it reads '98 7 21, 0.8 × 135 = 108 px in from the bottom-right corner.