git clone https://github.com[username]/[project-name].git Install Dependencies: pip install -r requirements.txt
The Portable Document Format (PDF) is a ubiquitous format for document exchange. Watermarking is a common method to embed ownership or provenance information. While legitimate uses exist (e.g., removing a “Draft” watermark from an internal document after approval), many tools are used to strip copyright or tracking marks without permission. GitHub hosts dozens of repositories with names like pdf-watermark-remover , remove-pdf-stamps , and unwatermark-pdf . This paper aims to systematically evaluate these tools, their underlying algorithms, and the implications of their availability.
Many text watermarks are added as separate text objects with specific fonts, colors, or rotation angles. Tools like pdf-remove-watermark iterate through all text rendering operations and filter out those whose text matches a user-provided string (e.g., “SAMPLE”). pdf watermark remover github
Using QPDF or pdf-redact-tool , one can dump the PDF’s object structure, identify objects containing watermark XObjects, and delete references to them. This preserves text and images.
For each, we analyzed: programming language, PDF library used, detection method, removal technique, watermark type targeted, success rate, and side effects. git clone https://github
When a watermark is embedded directly into the image of a scanned document, simple metadata deletion won't work. This project uses generative adversarial networks (GANs) to "fill in" the pixels behind the watermark.
No single tool removes all watermark types; effectiveness depends heavily on how the watermark was embedded. GitHub hosts dozens of repositories with names like
: Designed specifically for academic papers (e.g., "RETRACTED" stamps), this tool offers three levels of aggressivity .