How to Add a Date Stamp to Photos (the Digicam Look)

To add the retro digicam date stamp to a photo, overlay the capture date in the corner in that glowing orange, tabular-digit style. It's the finishing touch that makes a modern photo read like it came off an early-2000s point-and-shoot — and you can add it to any image for free, right in your browser.

Where the date stamp comes from

Film and early digital cameras had a setting that printed the date directly onto the frame. Disposable cameras did it too. For years it was just how photos looked — a small orange timestamp in the bottom corner. Now that same stamp is shorthand for the whole digicam aesthetic: a little imperfect, a little nostalgic, unmistakably "a night, on a real camera."

How to add a date stamp to a photo

The quickest route is a tool that draws the stamp for you and lets you download the result. Our free date-stamp photo tool does exactly that: drop in a JPEG, and it reads the date the photo was taken and stamps it in the corner in the authentic orange style. You can override the date with the picker if you want a different one.

1. Open the date-stamp tool and drop in a JPEG.
2. The tool reads the capture date from the photo and stamps it automatically.
3. Adjust the date with the picker if you'd like a different one.
4. Download the stamped copy — it's saved straight to your device.

Do it without wrecking your metadata

Here's the subtle part. Two different things can be called a "date stamp":

• The visible stamp — the orange date printed into the pixels. This is the look you're after.
• The metadata date — the capture date stored invisibly in the file's EXIF, used for sorting and timelines.

A good tool burns in the visible stamp while keeping the metadata date accurate — and, ideally, drops the location data in the process so the download is clean to reshare. Our tool re-saves the image with only the capture date written back, so you get the look without leaking where the photo was taken. If you want to understand the metadata side, see how to remove GPS and location data from your photos.

The whole-night version: picdibs

Stamping photos one at a time is fun for a favourite shot. For a whole night, picdibs shows the date stamp on every frame in a shared album automatically — the entire roll gets that consistent digicam look without you touching each photo. The date comes straight from each shot's metadata, and it stays an overlay so your saved originals remain clean.

Want just the stamp on a single image right now? The free tool is here: add a date stamp to a photo.