Protect your photos against copy

Pierrick Le Gall on December 5, 2012

One of the most frequently asked questions on Piwigo.com support is “how do I forbid copy on my photos ?”. Here is how Piwigo can help you.

Before listing tips and tricks it is important to understand that no protection against copy is 100% reliable, be it on Piwigo or anywhere else: as soon as a photo is visible on the web, it can be copied, one way or another. It is just “more or less” easy, depending on computer skills of the thief. If anyone says otherwise there is a good chance he is either naive or incompetent or simply a liar.

Which technical protections are available in Piwigo?

  1. plugin rightClick prevents from  right click on photos. Please note that it has no impact on administrator users.
  2. on screen [Administration > menu Users > sub-menu Manage], say “no” on option “high definition enabled” for all users
  3. on screen [Administration > menu Configuration > sub-menu Options > tab Display > section Photo Page], deactivate icon “Download this file”
  4. on screen [Administration > menu Configuration > sub-menu Options > tab Watermark], add your own watermark.
Piwigo 2.4 introduced the "watermark" feature. All your photos are automatically watermarked.

Piwigo 2.4 introduced the “watermark” feature. All your photos are automatically watermarked.

These are only “technical” protections, with a limited efficiency. In addition we recommend to highlight that “All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in whole or in part without prior written permission.”, for example. You can choose to display this message in several locations. For example:

  • in page banner
  • in a PWG Stuffs block, anywhere on the page
  • in a personalized menu with plugin Advanced Menu Manager
  • in page footer with plugin Perso Footer
Create a custom footer on all your pages with Piwigo plugin Perso Footer

Create a custom footer on all your pages with Piwigo plugin Perso Footer