Dynamic Watermark Demo: Add User Identifier Text to Videos- User ID, Email ID, Phone No.

Dynamic watermarking means overlaying user-identifiable data on a video in a moving, non-intrusive way to maximise protection against screen capture while keeping the viewing experience clean. Videos hosted with VdoCipher cannot be illegally downloaded through any tool, extension, or downloader. Screen-capture blocking with 100% certainty is possible only in mobile apps and Safari. On Chrome, Firefox, and other browsers there remains a residual risk of piracy via screen capture — and a moving watermark showing user-specific details is what discourages that, since any leaked recording is traceable back to the viewer.

The sample video below shows a dynamic watermark displaying the viewer’s name, IP address, and email. The watermark is fully customisable — movement, colour, size, transparency, and frequency. You can try it on your own site by signing up for a free 30-day trial.

Dynamic Watermark Demo

Features of Dynamic Watermark by VdoCipher

1. Overlay user details — user ID, email, phone number, and IP address — on top of your videos.
2. Add a timestamp and fixed text such as your company name.
3. Customise the moving watermark’s size, colour, transparency, and frequency. Keeping it light and intermittent preserves the viewing experience while still deterring piracy. For example, show the watermark at one position for 5 seconds and hide it for the next 20 seconds using 'interval':5000 and 'skip':20000 (1 second = 1000 milliseconds).
4. Image watermarks aren’t currently supported, but you can use your company or brand name as text.

Three Ways to Add a Dynamic Watermark

VdoCipher lets you add a watermark in three ways. Pick the one that matches how you deliver your videos — the underlying watermark settings are the same in all three.

Method 1: WordPress or Moodle Plugin

On the plugin settings page, paste your watermark JSON into the Annotation Statement box and save. It then applies to every video you embed with the plugin. Leave the box blank if you don’t want a watermark on all videos, and override it per video in the shortcode when needed.

Like the API, this is a backend integration, so it supports user-specific variables such as {name}, {email}, and {ip}. For more on securing videos in WordPress, see Protect Videos on WordPress.

Method 2: API (Custom Backend)

If you’ve integrated VdoCipher into a custom-built site, pass the watermark JSON as the annotate parameter when you generate the playback authorization (OTP). This backend integration is what lets you show user-specific details like {name} and {email}.

Full details and the exact request format are in the annotation API documentation. A sample OTP request:

curl -X POST \
  https://dev.vdocipher.com/api/videos/1234567890/otp \
  -H 'Accept: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Apisecret a1b2c3d4e5' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "annotate": "[{\'type\':\'rtext\', \'text\':\'{name}\', \'alpha\':\'0.60\', \'color\':\'0xFF0000\', \'size\':\'15\', \'interval\':\'5000\'}]"
  }'

Here the sample video ID is 1234567890 and the API Secret Key is a1b2c3d4e5. The watermark JSON must be sent as Content-Type: application/json, as the value of the annotate key.

Method 3: VdoCipher Dashboard (Quick Embed)

The fastest way, with no coding. In your VdoCipher dashboard, open the video and go to the Embed section, then the Quick Embed tab, and click Add Watermark. Set the copyright text, toggle IP and Time on or off, and adjust the text colour, size, opacity, move interval, and skip using the sliders. Click Generate Embed Code and copy the iframe — it now carries your watermark.

For finer control, switch on JSON mode to edit the raw annotation code directly (see the Watermark Code Reference below).

Watermark Code Reference (JSON)

Methods 2 and 3 — and the Dashboard’s JSON mode — all use the same annotation code: a JSON string describing what to overlay and how.

Technically it’s an array of objects, where each object is a single watermark item. Every item needs a type parameter, which is either a moving text (rtext) or a static text (text). The remaining parameters depend on that type. Here’s a sample that adds both:

[
  {'type':'rtext', 'text':'{name}', 'alpha':'0.8', 'color':'0xFF0000', 'size':'15', 'interval':'5000', 'skip':'20000'},
  {'type':'text', 'text':'static text', 'alpha':'0.5', 'x':'10', 'y':'100', 'color':'0xFF0000', 'size':'15'}
]

Moving (Dynamic) Text

The code below displays a moving watermark showing name, IP, and email on a single line in red (#ff0000), at 0.8 opacity and font size 15. It stays at one position for 5 seconds (5000 ms), then hides for 20 seconds (20000 ms), then reappears at a new position.

[{
  'type':'rtext',
  'text':'{name}, {ip}, {email}',
  'alpha':'0.8',
  'color':'0xFF0000',
  'size':'15',
  'interval':'5000',
  'skip':'20000'
}]

Show user-identifiable information. Use the variables {name}, {email}, and {ip} anywhere in the text — for example:

'text':'Name: {name}, Email: {email}, IP: {ip}'

To display them on separate lines instead of one, create three separate watermark objects:

[
  {'type':'rtext', 'text':'{name}',  'alpha':'0.8', 'color':'0xFF0000', 'size':'15', 'interval':'5000', 'skip':'2000'},
  {'type':'rtext', 'text':'{ip}',    'alpha':'0.8', 'color':'0xFF0000', 'size':'15', 'interval':'5000', 'skip':'2000'},
  {'type':'rtext', 'text':'{email}', 'alpha':'0.8', 'color':'0xFF0000', 'size':'15', 'interval':'5000', 'skip':'2000'}
]

Add a timestamp (WordPress only).

[{'type':'text', 'text':'Time: {date.h:i:s A}', 'alpha':'0.30', 'x':'12', 'y':'130', 'color':'0xFF0000', 'size':'13'}]

Add custom variables. You can also overlay your own custom variables — see Custom Variables as Watermark.

Static Text

A static watermark uses type:'text' and stays in a fixed position, set with x (distance from the left edge) and y (distance from the top edge).

[{
  'type':'text',   // static watermark
  'text':'the text you like to be displayed',
  'x':'10',        // distance from the left border, in pixels
  'y':'50',        // distance from the top border, in pixels
  'alpha':'0.8',   // opacity: 0 is invisible, 1 is full opaque
  'color':'0xFF0000', // text colour as a hex value
  'size':'15'      // font height, in pixels
}]

Still stuck adding a watermark? Send the code you’re using and the output you want to support@vdocipher.com and we’ll help.