Electronic Signature Maker

Electronic signature image maker: turn a typed name, a drawing or a photo of your signature into a transparent image

There are three ways to make the signature. Type a name writes the name you enter in a handwriting, brush or script font. Draw keeps exactly what you sketch on the pad with a mouse, finger or pen. Paper photo takes a phone photo of a signature on paper and removes the paper color and shadows, leaving only the ink. Whichever you use, you can save a PNG with a transparent background or a JPG with a white one, and a hand-drawn signature can also be saved as an SVG that stays sharp when enlarged.

The "On a document" panel places the signature on a sample consent form at its true proportions. If you enter the height the signature will have on the page in mm, a matching resolution is written into the file, and a program that reads it will place the picture at that size as soon as you insert it. The name, strokes and photo are processed inside your browser and are never sent to a server or stored.

When you need a signature image

Instead of printing, signing and scanning, you can make the image once and place the same signature at the same size on a PDF or Word document as often as you like. Typical uses:

• Returning forms remotely: a permission slip, a club or class registration, a medical office intake form or a consent form that you sign and send back as a PDF.
• Quotes, invoices and confirmation letters: the same signature on the signer's line every time. If you also need a company seal, make it separately with the online stamp maker.
• Applications and forms with a certification line: a line such as "I certify that the information above is true". If the form asks for a signature image upload, check the required format (JPG or PNG) and file size first.
• Review marks: a reviewer's signature on an internal review form or on a PDF returned with comments.
• Design work: a handwritten signature laid over a thank-you card, an artwork or a merchandise mock-up as a transparent picture.

Keep in mind that a signature picture carries no record of who placed it. If the other party or an agency asks for a signature with identity verification, follow that process. What the law says about the effect of electronic signatures is summarized below under "A signature image and the effect of an electronic signature".

Comparing the three methods

The three methods do not erase each other. If you type a name, switch to Draw and come back, the name, the strokes and the uploaded photo are all still there; what gets saved is the result of the method you have selected.

Draw: pens, width and smoothing

Press inside the pad and move to draw a line. Dragging a finger on the pad does not scroll the page, so on a phone swipe outside the pad to scroll. The dotted baseline and the ✕ mark on the left are only a guide to where to sign; they are not saved in the file.

Width runs from 2 to 16, in units where the pad is 1,000 wide. Pen, width and ink color apply again to every stroke you have already drawn, so you can sign first and choose the look afterward. A pen that reports pressure, such as a tablet stylus, also changes the width with how hard you press. A mouse or a finger does not report pressure, so only the speed of the movement sets the width.

• Smoothing (0 to 10): pulls each new input point slightly toward the previous one to reduce hand shake. A higher value gives smoother lines but rounds off quick corners, and when you lift the pen the line is extended to where the pen actually stopped. About 4 to 6 suits a mouse and 0 to 2 a pen.
• Trace the name font: lays the name in the font chosen under "Type a name" faintly on the pad. You can study that shape and trace it; the guide text is not saved.
• Undo, Redo and Clear: Undo takes back the last stroke one at a time, and Redo restores it. A pad emptied with Clear can be brought back with Undo. After you press on the pad, Ctrl (Command on a Mac) + Z undoes and adding Shift redoes.
• Replay: draws the signature again in the order and speed you drew it. Pauses between strokes are set to between 0.06 and 0.35 seconds, and if the whole replay would then run longer than 3.8 seconds it is sped up by the same ratio. The button is hidden on devices set to reduce motion.

Type a name: a gallery of 35 fonts

As you type a name the pad writes the signature at once, and the "Your name in every font" gallery below draws the same name in each font side by side. There are 20 Latin fonts, 10 Korean fonts and 5 Japanese fonts, grouped into 14 handwriting, 8 brush, 8 script and 5 signature styles. Script fonts are joined-up cursive; signature fonts look like a quickly flicked autograph. Fonts that lack a letter in your name are hidden from the gallery, and a switch shows them dimmed.

• Characters you can use: Latin letters (including accented letters such as é and ñ, in fonts that have them) and digits, Hangul syllables, kanji and kana, spaces, and the symbols . - ' · & ( ) that often appear in names. A name can be up to 30 characters after leading and trailing spaces are removed. Kanji and kana are drawn only by fonts that have those characters.
• Names in other scripts: the tool does not convert a name to the Latin alphabet automatically. If your name is written in another script, type the spelling you use on your passport or ID, and the Latin fonts will appear in the gallery.
• Slant (−20° to +20°): leans the letters to the right (+) or left (−). Script fonts are already slanted, so 0° is their natural shape.
• Bold (0 to 5): redraws the outline of the letters in the same color to thicken the strokes. It helps a thin script stay unbroken when printed small.
• Underline tail: adds a tapering underline beneath the name, or a swoosh that drops from the last letter and loops under the name.

"Alex Morgan" on the first screen is an example. If the font that was chosen automatically lacks a letter of a new name, the tool switches to the first font that can write it; if a font you picked yourself lacks a letter, a message appears and saving is blocked. A font signature does not analyze or imitate your own handwriting.

Removing the background from a photo of a paper signature

Photograph a signature on paper with your phone and upload it with "Choose photo", drag the photo onto the pad, or paste a copied picture. If this is your first time, "Try a sample photo" shows how a photo with uneven lighting is cleaned up. The photo is reduced to 1,600px on its long side for processing, and the rotation information stored by a phone camera is followed.

1. Estimating the paper brightness: the photo is divided into small cells (about 1/64 of the long side). The brightest value in each cell is taken as the paper brightness there, and neighboring cells are blended into a smooth paper brightness map for the whole photo. Paper in shadow is estimated darker and paper in the light brighter.
2. Picking out the ink: each pixel's brightness is divided by the paper brightness at that spot to see how dark it really is. A shadow darkens the paper along with the page, so it cancels out, and only pen marks clearly darker than the paper remain. Edges are kept softly semi-transparent.
3. Removing specks: connected blobs of ink smaller than a set area are erased.
4. Recoloring: the remaining ink is painted in the ink color you chose. "Photo color" uses the average color of the darkest ink pixels in the photo.

• Darkness (0 to 100): a higher value keeps fainter lines as ink. Raise it if a pencil or light ballpoint signature breaks up, and lower it if paper grain or shadow edges show.
• Remove specks (0 to 10): each step erases larger blobs. For a one-megapixel photo, step 1 erases blobs smaller than 4 pixels, step 3 (the starting value) smaller than 20 pixels and step 10 smaller than 2,400 pixels. Set too high, it removes the dot on an "i" or short strokes, so adjust while watching the result.
• Selecting an area: drag over the photo to save only the signature inside that rectangle. Use it to leave out printed text beside the signature or the edge of the paper. Instead of dragging, you can also tap one corner and then the opposite corner. "Whole photo" goes back to the whole photo.
• Show original: shows the unprocessed photo so you can check whether any stroke went missing. Press it again to return to the result.

For a clean result, write large in black or dark blue pen on white paper and shoot from above in bright light, such as by a window, so your phone's shadow does not fall on the signature. Printed lines on lined or graph paper stay in the result if they are as dark as the pen.

File formats and size

• Margin: "Fit to signature" crops to a margin around the signature's bounding box that is slightly wider than 6% of the box's shorter side. "Whole pad" saves the entire pad including empty space (for a photo, the whole selected area). Fit is easier to handle in a document.
• Width: the width in pixels of the saved picture (600px, 1,200px or 2,400px). The height follows the proportions of the signature.
• Height on the document: the height the signature will take on the page, from 3 to 150 mm (starting value 12 mm). The resolution written into the file is calculated as height in pixels ÷ (height in mm ÷ 25.4).

For example, a 3:1 signature saved 1,200px wide is 400px tall, and placed 12 mm tall that is 400 ÷ (12 ÷ 25.4) ≈ 847 dpi. Around 300 dpi is usually enough for printing, so 600px wide is already generous for a signature; choose 2,400px only if you may print it large. A photo signature saved larger than the original gets blurrier by the amount it is stretched, so it is better to shoot the photo closer. The file info line shows the actual size of the chosen format in KB, so you can check an upload limit such as "under 200 KB" in advance.

Putting it into a document

• Word: insert the saved PNG as a picture, then set the wrap option to "In Front of Text" so you can drag it over the signature line or the "(Signature)" label. The background is transparent, so the line underneath shows through.
• Paste directly: press Copy and a PNG with the chosen background (white if JPG is selected) goes onto the clipboard, ready to paste into a document. The starting size of a pasted picture can differ from program to program.
• PDF: in a PDF editor, use its add-image or add-signature function and choose the PNG. If the program does not support transparent backgrounds, save with a white background and place it in an empty signature box.
• Resizing: drag a corner of the picture, not just one side. If the ratio changes, the signature turns flat or stretched.

A signature image and the effect of an electronic signature

In the United States, 15 U.S.C. §7001(a)(1) says that for a transaction in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, a signature, contract or other record relating to the transaction may not be denied legal effect, validity or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form. The same chapter (§7006(5)) defines an electronic signature as "an electronic sound, symbol, or process, attached to or logically associated with a contract or other record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record." Each state also has its own electronic transactions law, so whether a signature picture counts depends on the intent to sign, on what the law requires for that kind of document, and on what the other party or agency accepts.

A picture file carries no record of who placed it. If a dispute arises you may have to prove separately that it was you, so for an important contract it is safer to use the e-signature or identity-verification process the other side specifies. Making or using someone else's signature without permission can be a crime under state law. Make only your own signature with this tool.

Common mistakes

• Saving with a white background and covering the line: a white PNG or a JPG laid over a signature line hides the line and any text under it with a white rectangle. Save a signature that will be laid over something as a transparent PNG. Choosing white in the document preview shows the effect.
• Saving the example name: some people save "Alex Morgan" without changing it. The name field in the document preview shows the name you entered, so check it.
• A photo with a shadow: if your phone's shadow falls across the signature, the contrast between ink and paper drops there and the stroke breaks. Retake the photo or raise Darkness.
• Drawing too close to the pad edge: strokes that leave the pad are not captured. Start a little in from the edge.
• Stretching one side: dragging only one side of the picture in a document breaks the proportions. Drag a corner, or save with the right height in mm from the start.
• Posting the signature file publicly: anyone can copy a signature picture. Do not leave it on a public board or an open sharing link; send it only to the people who need it.

Limits

• The file is a picture with no identity verification and no record of when it was signed. It does not replace a certificate-based electronic signature or the signing process of an e-signature service.
• SVG is saved only for hand-drawn signatures. A font signature and a photo signature are saved only as pixel pictures (PNG or JPG).
• Photo background removal treats anything darker than the paper as ink, so dark paper, patterned paper and strongly colored printed lines do not clear cleanly. A white pen or highlighter signature cannot be found.
• Fonts are drawn by the browser, so stroke edges can differ very slightly between browsers and operating systems.
• A program that does not read resolution data (pHYs or JFIF) will not apply the mm size you entered.
• Your work is not saved, so it disappears when you reload or close the page.

Sources

As of The U.S. Code text was read on October 23, 2026 from the U.S. Code 2023 Edition on govinfo.gov, so check the current text before relying on a later amendment. Font counts and glyph coverage were taken the same day from the font files this tool uses, and the resolution table and speck areas come from the tool's own formulas.

• 01GovInfo — 15 U.S.C. §7001, General rule of validity(a)(1) a signature or record may not be denied effect solely because it is electronic
• 02GovInfo — 15 U.S.C. §7006, Definitions(5) definition of electronic signature
• 03W3C — Portable Network Graphics (PNG) Specification (Third Edition), 11.3.4.3 pHYsPixels per unit and unit value 1 (meter)
• 04ITU-T T.871 — JPEG File Interchange Format (JFIF)APP0 density units (0 aspect ratio only, 1 dpi, 2 dots per cm) and horizontal and vertical density
• 05W3C — SVG 2, Coordinate Systems, Transformations and Unitsmm units for width and height, and viewBox
• 06MDN — PointerEvent: pressure propertyPressure from 0 to 1; 0.5 while pressed for devices that do not report pressure
• 07SIL International — OFL FAQ1.13 artwork made with an OFL font is not covered by the OFL; 2.6 removing glyphs for a webfont is a modification and reserved names cannot be used
• 08Google Fonts repositorySource of the OFL and Apache fonts (license text for each font is linked in the font table above)
• 09KOGL (Korea Open Government License) — Type 1Chusa Sarangche terms: attribution required, commercial use and changes allowed
• 10Yesan County — Chusa Sarangche font pageOriginal download source of Chusa Sarangche
• 11Asan City — Yi Sun-sin font pageFree use allowed; paid transfer or sale prohibited

If you use a signature made with Chusa Sarangche in a document or post, KOGL Type 1 asks you to credit the source. The credit line published by Yesan County is in Korean: "본 저작물은 예산군에서 2010년 작성하여 공공누리 제1유형으로 개방한 추사사랑체를 이용하였으며, 해당 저작물은 예산군 홈페이지(https://www.yesan.go.kr/kor/sub05_02_05.do)에서 무료로 내려받을 수 있습니다." (In English: this work uses the Chusa Sarangche font, created by Yesan County in 2010 and opened under KOGL Type 1; it can be downloaded free from the Yesan County website.) Under OFL FAQ 1.13, artwork made with an OFL font is not subject to the font's license.

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