# Adding a Stamp/Watermark to a PDF

Adding stamps or watermarks are two common ways to manipulate PDF files.
A stamp is adding something on top of the document, a watermark is in the
background of the document.

In both cases you might want to ensure that the mediabox/cropbox of the original
content stays the same.

## Stamp (Overlay)

```python
from pathlib import Path
from typing import Union, Literal, List

from pypdf import PdfWriter, PdfReader


def stamp(
    content_pdf: Path,
    stamp_pdf: Path,
    pdf_result: Path,
    page_indices: Union[Literal["ALL"], List[int]] = "ALL",
):
    reader = PdfReader(stamp_pdf)
    image_page = reader.pages[0]

    writer = PdfWriter()

    reader = PdfReader(content_pdf)
    if page_indices == "ALL":
        page_indices = list(range(0, len(reader.pages)))
    for index in page_indices:
        content_page = reader.pages[index]
        mediabox = content_page.mediabox
        content_page.merge_page(image_page)
        content_page.mediabox = mediabox
        writer.add_page(content_page)

    with open(pdf_result, "wb") as fp:
        writer.write(fp)
```

![stamp.png](stamp.png)

## Watermark (Underlay)

```python
from pathlib import Path
from typing import Union, Literal, List

from pypdf import PdfWriter, PdfReader


def watermark(
    content_pdf: Path,
    stamp_pdf: Path,
    pdf_result: Path,
    page_indices: Union[Literal["ALL"], List[int]] = "ALL",
):
    reader = PdfReader(content_pdf)
    if page_indices == "ALL":
        page_indices = list(range(0, len(reader.pages)))

    writer = PdfWriter()
    for index in page_indices:
        content_page = reader.pages[index]
        mediabox = content_page.mediabox

        # You need to load it again, as the last time it was overwritten
        reader_stamp = PdfReader(stamp_pdf)
        image_page = reader_stamp.pages[0]

        image_page.merge_page(content_page)
        image_page.mediabox = mediabox
        writer.add_page(image_page)

    with open(pdf_result, "wb") as fp:
        writer.write(fp)
```

![watermark.png](watermark.png)
