SynthID: what Google publishes about its invisible watermark

SynthID embeds an invisible watermark across Google's generative AI consumer products. Google states it is added the moment content is created, does not change quality, and is designed to survive cropping, filters, frame-rate changes and lossy compression. As of 2026-09-12.

• Machine-readable marking
  An invisible watermark is embedded across Google's generative AI consumer productsproduct-wideGoogle DeepMind, SynthID / recorded 2026-09-12
• When it is written
  The watermark is added the moment content is created and does not change image or video qualityat generationGoogle DeepMind, SynthID / recorded 2026-09-12
• Robustness
  Designed to stand up to cropping, added filters, changed frame rates and lossy compressionas stated by the vendorGoogle DeepMind, SynthID / recorded 2026-09-12
• Detection
  Gemini checks an uploaded image, video or audio clip for the watermark, and a separate SynthID Detector portal is in testing with journaliststwo published routesGoogle DeepMind, SynthID / recorded 2026-09-12

1Why this sits in a different column from a visible watermark

Every other generator recorded on this site documents a mark a viewer can see, and ties its removal to a plan. SynthID is described the other way round: nothing is visible, nothing is offered as removable, and the stated design goal is that the signal outlives ordinary handling of the file. Those are different products serving different purposes, and putting them in one yes-or-no column would lose the distinction.

The robustness claim is the part most worth reading precisely. Google names four transformations the watermark is designed to stand up to: cropping, added filters, changed frame rates and lossy compression. Designed to stand up to is the vendor's phrasing and is recorded as such; it is not a guarantee, and no figure is published for how much of each transformation the signal tolerates.

2How Google says it can be checked

Two routes are published. Gemini will check an uploaded image, video or audio clip and report whether it finds a SynthID watermark. A separate verification portal, the SynthID Detector, is described as in testing with journalists and media professionals, with a waitlist rather than open access. A publisher who needs to verify at volume therefore has one route available today and one that is gated.

For anyone reading this site to answer a compliance question, the useful consequence is that detection and marking are separate capabilities. A generator can write a signal nobody outside the vendor can read, and a platform can read a signal that most generators never write.

3Sources

Read from Google DeepMind's SynthID page, checked 2026-09-12. How the fields on this site are defined is on the protocol page.