Watermark could be a logo, signature, or a line of text on an image or video. To stop the artwork from being used illegally, many platforms and photographers will add watermarks to the images or videos created on or by them. Sometimes watermarks could provide a copyright protection. Besides, the use of watermarks could also help promote the brand and enhance the professional appearance. iStock is one of them as well. They will add watermarks on the design. But they could also be nuisance when you want a clean picture or video for personal or special use. Here we will teach you how to get rid of the iStock watermarks step by step.

Part 1. How to Remove iStock Watermark

iStock is a top-rated media library platform that provides original royalty-free stock content including photos, illustrations, videos, and audio tracks. It's one of the world's largest stock photo agencies which sells original high-quality content online at low prices with a minimum payment requirement. However, when you download a video or image from their site, the platform will stamp their watermark on them. It's very annoying, especially when you need the design for a presentation or something like that. How can we get rid of the iStock watermarks then?

1. Purchase the Photo (Official Way)

Usually there's nothing you can't achieve with the right budget. So obviously the first method we're going to introduce is paying in an official way to avoid the watermarks.

One-month Free Trial

First, iStock will provide you with a free trial at first. It will last for a month and you can do 10 downloads of royalty-free images without iStock watermarks. If you cancel before the time expires, you won't be charged for an annual plan, and you can keep the images.

Subscriptions

After that month, if you want to download more images or videos without watermarks, you will need to pay for them. You can use the la carte pricing option or subscribe to their plans as a user. If you need at least 10 photos or videos per month, then you should pick subscriptions. For ten downloads, the lowest plan will cost you $29/month.

There are three types of plans. Basic, Premium, and Premium + Video. The first two ones only serve the images while the third one obviously will work for videos as well. And compared to other stock content sites, their subscriptions are reasonably priced.

2. AVAide Watermark Remover (Editor's Choice)

So that's the method if you have the money. But what if you don't want to spend a penny for removing the iStock watermark? Then you could try out a third-party watermark remover like AVAide Watermark Remover to do that for free. It is the perfect tool to help you handle this with an algorithm analyzing the surrounding pixels of images. What's more it allows you to refine the edges and repair details to achieve flawless watermark removal and give you the best results. It performs great on any photo, including PNG, JPG, JPEG, GIF, etc.

Step 1Enter the website. Just upload the picture you want to remove the watermark from.

Step 2Then you can mark out the area of the iStock watermark. Make sure you include the whole logo in your area. Then click Remove.

AVAide Remove

Step 2If it looks good, you can click Save to download it.

AVAide Save

3. Google Search Engine

Another clever way to get the watermarks removed without paying is making good use of Google. As we know Google is a super powerful search engine. So in theory you could find a lot of images there including the ones you want on iStock. Maybe you could find the same images without the watermarks on Google.

All you need to do is using the Search by image feature. Just click the camera icon on Google. If you are using the mobile, you could just point your camera at the iStock photo. Or if you're on desktop, just paste the picture in the search bar. Then it will display all the relevant images. Scroll to find the ones you want and download them!

Google Search

Bonus: Best Video Watermark Remover

However, the methods mentioned above only work for images. So, what if you have videos watermarked by iStock? Is it possible to get iStock videos without watermark as well? Of course! AVAide Video Converter is a perfect tool for you if you want to remove the watermark from your iStock videos. It is 100% safe and free. Except for the watermark feature, it also has many video editing tools, such as editing, adding text, special effects, movie maker and video collage maker, etc.

Step 1Launch the software after you download it and import your video.

Watermark Upload

Step 2Click Crop to resize the frame and crop the watermark out of your sight. Then click the OK button to save the changes. That's how easy it is.

Part 2. FAQs of Removing iStock Watermark

Is iStock content free?

Some of them are free. By signing in, there is no need to pay any money, and the pictures or videos are available free of cost. The free pictures you get from iStock are royalty free and cleared for commercial use.

Is it legal to remove iStock watermark?

You may need to pay for its plan to use the images without watermark legally. Otherwise, it can be illegal to remove an iStock watermark.

How to remove iStock watermark with Photoshop?

You can use Photoshop's Magic Wand Tool to remove the watermark.

Conclusion

Now you're aware of the different ways to remove iStock watermarks from images and videos. The purchase of an official license is the easiest way to do this. Try the tools that we've suggested if you want to do it for free. But please be aware of the risk behind them as well.

By Jane Pineda on Mar 28, 2024

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