Softonic

Image Text Adder

Step 1 / 4

From meme captions to quote cards, motivational banners and product tags, text on images is how most social content gets made. Upload a photo, add one or more text layers with independent fonts, colours and positions, and this tool renders the result at full resolution with optional outline, shadow, background pill and text alignment to every corner.

How to add text to an image

  1. 1

    Upload an image

    JPG, PNG, WebP.

  2. 2

    Add a text layer

    Type your text; drag to position; resize with corner handles.

  3. 3

    Style

    Pick font (system or Google Fonts), size, colour, outline, drop shadow.

  4. 4

    Add more layers

    Stack multiple text boxes for multi-line memes or captioned photos.

  5. 5

    Export

    Rendered to the image at full source resolution.

Text-on-image design rules

Readable text on any photo

Three techniques keep text legible when the background is busy:

  1. Strong outline: white text with a 2-3 px black outline survives over any photo.
  2. Solid background pill: rectangle or rounded rectangle behind the text at 60-80% opacity.
  3. Local desaturation: apply a soft-edged darkened patch only behind the text.

Meme formats

Format Text placement Typical font
Top-bottom meme Top + bottom white text with black outline Impact, bold sans
Quote card Centred, large, serif or display Playfair, Merriweather
Instagram story caption Pill-backgrounded at bottom System sans
LinkedIn carousel Top-left, clean sans-serif Inter, Helvetica
Twitter screenshot overlay Centred with subtle shadow Serif for irony; sans for direct

Font sources

  • System fonts: zero load time, guaranteed to render.
  • Google Fonts: large library, async-loaded.
  • Custom WOFF2 upload: for brand-specific typography.

Keep the composition breathing

  • Do not place text on every part of the image.
  • Leave at least 10% padding around the text from the image edge.
  • For square social posts, the “rule of thirds” applies to text placement too.

Export size

Most social platforms will re-encode your image. Export at 2x the final display size and let the platform downscale, the result is sharper than uploading at exact target size.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, upload a WOFF, WOFF2 or TTF file and it is registered for the current session. Brand-specific fonts work immediately; nothing is uploaded beyond your browser.

Combine a thick outline (2-3 px black on white text) with a soft drop shadow, or place the text inside a semi-transparent rectangle. Always verify at real display size, text that looks fine zoomed-in can disappear against a busy background at thumbnail size.

Yes, using the system colour emoji font. The rendered emoji will look like your operating system’s version; the exported image bakes the glyphs in so it renders the same on every viewer.

Yes. Each text layer has independent rotation and skew. Useful for diagonal “sale” badges or vertical side-panel labels.

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Tool available in other languages