Setting up watermarks on product photos in 1C-Bitrix

Configuration of Watermarks on Product Photos in 1C-Bitrix

A competitor downloads photos from the catalog and uses them on their site. This happens precisely because images lack shop identifier. A watermark is minimal protection, but it works as a barrier against lazy copying.

Where Bitrix processes images

All images in Bitrix pass through the main module, class CFile. Resizing and conversion happen when calling CFile::ResizeImageGet() or when generating thumbnails via component. Processed files are cached physically in /upload/resize_cache/.

Watermark is not built into standard CFile. Bitrix provides the \Bitrix\Main\Diag\Image class and wrapper \Bitrix\Main\IO\File, but watermark processing is implemented in separate functionality — via main module settings in the admin panel.

Built-in mechanism: main module settings

In the admin panel (/bitrix/admin/settings.php?lang=en&mid=main) there's a "Watermarks" section. Parameters are saved in b_option with module main:

• use_watermark_text — use text as watermark
• use_watermark_image — use image
• watermark_text — watermark text
• watermark_text_color — color in R,G,B format
• watermark_text_size — font size
• watermark_position — position (TL, TC, TR, CL, CC, CR, BL, BC, BR)
• watermark_image_path — path to watermark image file
• watermark_image_alpha — transparency (0–100)

Built-in mechanism applies watermark when calling CFile::ResizeImageGet() with parameter $bUseWatermark = true. Component bitrix:catalog.element doesn't pass this parameter by default — must explicitly set it in component parameters or template.

Programmatic watermark application via GD

For non-standard positioning or dynamic watermark content (price, date) use direct GD work:

function applyWatermark(string $sourcePath, string $outputPath): void
{
    $info = getimagesize($sourcePath);
    $src  = match($info[2]) {
        IMAGETYPE_JPEG => imagecreatefromjpeg($sourcePath),
        IMAGETYPE_PNG  => imagecreatefrompng($sourcePath),
        IMAGETYPE_WEBP => imagecreatefromwebp($sourcePath),
        default        => throw new \RuntimeException('Unsupported format'),
    };

    $wmPath = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/local/watermark.png';
    $wm     = imagecreatefrompng($wmPath);

    $srcW = imagesx($src);
    $srcH = imagesy($src);
    $wmW  = imagesx($wm);
    $wmH  = imagesy($wm);

    // Position: bottom-right corner with 10px margin
    $destX = $srcW - $wmW - 10;
    $destY = $srcH - $wmH - 10;

    imagecopy($src, $wm, $destX, $destY, 0, 0, $wmW, $wmH);

    match($info[2]) {
        IMAGETYPE_JPEG => imagejpeg($src, $outputPath, 90),
        IMAGETYPE_PNG  => imagepng($src, $outputPath),
        IMAGETYPE_WEBP => imagewebp($src, $outputPath, 85),
    };

    imagedestroy($src);
    imagedestroy($wm);
}

Caching and performance

Watermark shouldn't be applied on every request. Processed image is cached in /upload/watermarked/{$fileId}/ with name including hash of watermark parameters. When logo or position changes — hash changes, cache is invalidated automatically.

For mass processing of existing images: agent or CLI-script iterates through b_file by field MODULE_ID = 'iblock' and processes files in batches of 50–100. On 10,000 images averaging 200 KB each, processing takes 15–30 minutes on normal server.

What to configure

• Built-in watermark parameters in b_option for main module
• Pass bUseWatermark flag in catalog components
• Custom watermark application function via GD for non-standard requirements
• /upload/watermarked/ cache directory with proper permissions
• Agent for mass processing of existing images
• Exceptions: images of certain categories or brands without watermark