No website can stop someone from copying an image they can see. This page explains what ArtSites does to make a copy less useful, what you can add, and what is outside your website's control. For the bigger picture of copyright and exposure, read Your Art Online: Copyright, Exposure and Control.
What we already do
- Your visitors see reduced copies. You upload your image at the highest resolution you have, and ArtSites shows your visitors smaller, lower-quality copies. A copy saved from your website looks fine on a screen and prints badly. See What Image File Types and Resolution Should I Upload?.
- Your website asks AI crawlers to stay away. Every ArtSites website tells the major AI crawlers, including those run by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google (for AI training), Apple, Meta and Common Crawl, not to collect anything. Reputable companies respect this request. It cannot stop someone who ignores it.
What you can add
Turn off the right click menu
On Advanced Settings, in the Images section, the setting Disable web browser right click menu and drop for images (copy protect image) removes the menu that lets a visitor save an image, and stops them dragging an image out of the page.
This stops casual saving only. Anyone who knows how can still get the image another way, such as a screenshot. It also takes away the right click menu for every visitor, so people lose the menu's other features, such as opening a link in a new tab. Some visitors find that annoying. Choose it if casual copying worries you more than that.
Add a watermark
A watermark or a copyright line printed on the image is a strong deterrent, and you add it in an image editor before you upload. It has costs: every visitor sees the mark on your work, and a mark tucked in a corner is easy to crop out or repair. A mark placed where it protects the image is also the one that gets in the way of looking at it. Decide for each image whether the trade is worth it.
Glaze and similar tools
Glaze is a well-intentioned tool that alters your image to disrupt AI training. We don't recommend it. It changes your artwork, and researchers have shown AI developers can filter those changes out, so you give up some of how your work looks without reliable protection in return.
The choice is yours. Glazed images upload to ArtSites like any other image.
Social media is separate
Images you post publicly on Instagram and Facebook fall under Meta's terms, which let Meta train on public posts. Your controls there are your account settings and what you choose to post. You do not need to do anything, or give us any permission, for your ArtSites website.