Convert an Image to a Stamp
Reduce any picture to a single-ink impression on a transparent background — the flat, one-colour look of something actually pressed onto paper.
Free preview · No signup · ~10 seconds
Drop an image with a clear subject
PNG, JPG, WebP, SVG or a 1-page PDF — up to 20 MB
Runs entirely in your browser. Your image is never uploaded.
What turns a photograph into a stamp
Three steps, one control
Every pixel is compared against a cut-off, the lighter half is deleted, and whatever survives is tinted with one ink. That is the entire recipe for a stamp, and the cut-off slider is the only thing you have to judge.
A real stamp has no midtones
Ink either transferred or it did not. Grey is what gives away a digital fake, which is why thresholding rather than desaturating is what makes an image read as pressed rather than pasted.
Finding the cut-off
Start at 190 and move it until the shapes you care about survive and the background does not. Too high and the subject dissolves into speckle; too low and the whole frame turns into one solid block.
Pick a high-contrast source
This works on subjects that read as a shape — a portrait against a plain wall, a bold graphic, a leaf. A busy scene with no clear separation between subject and background has no cut-off that helps it.
Traditional inks
The default is the deep red of an office date stamp. Black reads as official, dark blue as a bank endorsement, and green shows up on inspection and approval marks.
Making it read as pressed
Rotate it a few degrees
A stamp placed at exactly zero degrees looks pasted on. Two or three degrees of tilt is the single biggest tell.
Drop the opacity slightly
Real ink transfers unevenly. Around 85 percent opacity reads as pressed; 100 percent reads as printed.
Do not stamp a busy photo
Thresholding needs a subject that separates from its background. A crowded scene turns into noise at every cut-off.
How to convert an image to a stamp
Upload an image
The stronger the contrast between subject and background, the better this works. Scanned to PDF instead? A single-page PDF works as well — page 1 is turned into an image in your browser.
Set the cut-off and ink
Slide until the shape is right, then choose the stamp colour.
Download
Free preview, or the full-resolution transparent PNG in the app.
Where a stamp from an image is used
Document marks
Build an approved, paid or received impression from your own artwork.
Craft and scrapbooking
Turn a photo into a stamp graphic for cards and journals.
Print-on-demand designs
Get a single-ink graphic that screen prints cleanly.
Editorial illustration
Add a hand-pressed texture to a layout without drawing one.
Or just ask
Describe the edit in your own words
Type what you want changed and the assistant does it on the canvas — each step lands as a layer you can reopen, so nothing it does is baked in.
No edits yet.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Tools
Guides worth reading
How to Fix Blurry or Fringed Edges on a Transparent PNG
Why your transparent PNG has a white halo, a grey fringe or soft edges — the four real causes, how to tell them apart in seconds, and the fix for each.
SVG vs PNG for Logos: Which File Do You Actually Need?
What SVG and PNG really are, where each one wins, why your developer keeps asking for the SVG, and the three files that cover almost every request.
What to DIY and What to Pay a Designer For
Where design money actually earns its return at pre-seed, where it doesn't, and the honest line between the work worth commissioning and the work worth doing yourself.
Turn your image into a stamp
One cut-off, one ink, transparent background.