Why does my logo watermark show a white box around it on the PDF page?
Because your logo is most likely a JPEG, and JPEG cannot store transparency at all: the white around the logo is part of the image and gets drawn as a rectangle over the page. Use a PNG logo with a genuinely transparent background; the tool keeps its transparency and multiplies it by the opacity you choose. Converting a JPEG to PNG on its own does not remove the white.
Where the box comes from
On a white background you cannot tell where a logo ends and the background begins. But the image is really a full rectangle, and every white pixel in it is a real pixel with a colour. JPEG has no slot for 'transparent', so every pixel is some colour or another. Draw that rectangle over a page of text and the white covers whatever is underneath.
Lower the opacity and the white box turns semi-transparent, but it still shows as a hazy rectangle that dulls the text beneath, which usually looks worse than the logo itself.
How to check your logo's format
- The file extension: jpg or jpeg means no transparency. png may or may not be transparent.
- Open the image on a dark background, such as your device's dark mode: a transparent logo shows on its own, a non-transparent one sits inside a white rectangle.
- After you upload the image to PDF watermark, a thumbnail appears with its pixel size. The preview after the run is the final test.
Where to get a transparent logo
The best source is your original brand files: whoever designed your logo probably delivered a transparent PNG, or a source file that can be exported with a transparent background. Ask them if you cannot find it. Renaming a JPEG to .png, or running it through a format converter, gives you a PNG with a white background, because the white is now part of the picture and a converter has no way of knowing it was meant as background.
Once you have a transparent PNG
- Open the watermark tool and choose your PDF.
- Choose Image and upload the logo. JPEG, PNG and WebP are accepted, and WebP is converted to PNG with its transparency kept.
- Set the width as a percentage of the page width, and the opacity between 15% and 30% for a background mark.
- Pick the placement and check the preview: you should see the logo alone, with the text showing around it and no rectangle.
If no transparent logo is available right now, a text mark with your store name is a good stopgap: text is transparent by nature and carries no background.
Common questions
Does the tool remove the white background from the logo?
No. It draws the image as it is. Removing a background is done in a design app before uploading.
Is a JPEG logo ever fine?
Yes, when it goes on an empty white area of the page, such as a blank corner, the box does not show because its colour matches the paper.