Digimarc Brings Digital Watermarking to the C2PA 2.1 Standard

Digimarc Validate is Leading the Fight Against Digital Manipulation in the Age of AI

BEAVERTON, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ: DMRC), the pioneer and global leader in digital watermarking technologies, announced today the release of the industry’s first implementation of digital watermarking technology approved for use in the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity’s (C2PA) latest standard, version 2.1. This milestone marks a critical step forward in ensuring the authenticity of digital content in an era where generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is rapidly reshaping the media landscape.

C2PA is addressing the prevalence of misleading information online through the development of technical standards for certifying the source and history (or provenance) of media content. C2PA enables content creators to attach secure, cryptographically signed metadata—known as Content Credentials—to their digital assets, providing consumers with transparent information about the origin and editing history of media (often referred to as the "nutritional facts of online assets"). By applying digital watermarking to Content Credentials, the origin and integrity of the original content will be preserved. The digital watermark is more resistant to removal—intentional or unintentional—than the credentials alone, even once the asset has been modified or shared across the many platforms that strip metadata. Under C2PA 2.1, the process for recovering and checking Content Credentials via a digital watermark is now standardized and allows the use of digital watermarks from different providers.

“With the exponential rise of AI-generated content, the need for robust, verifiable digital credentials is more urgent than ever,” said Dom Guinard, VP of Innovation at Digimarc. “The integration of our digital watermarking technology into C2PA 2.1 offers a powerful solution for maintaining the integrity of digital assets across the web, empowering creators and restoring trust for consumers.”

As a co-chair of C2PA’s watermarking task force and developers of the first digital watermarking solution compliant with C2PA 2.1, Digimarc is positioned to lead the charge against digital manipulation. Digimarc Validate offers an unprecedented level of protection for content creators against media theft, unauthorized repurposing, and AI model training—while giving consumers an easy way to verify whether content is genuine or AI-generated.

“We’re excited to collaborate with device manufacturers, content creators, and tool providers to bring this technology to the wider market. With Digimarc's digital watermarks and C2PA 2.1, we can create a safer, more transparent internet where media consumers can confidently trust the content they engage with,” said Tony Rodriguez, Chief Technology Officer at Digimarc.

To learn more about Digimarc’s digital watermarking technology and its role in C2PA 2.1, contact us at [e-mail].

About Digimarc

Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ: DMRC) is the pioneer and global leader in digital watermarking technologies. For nearly 30 years, Digimarc innovations and intellectual property in digital watermarking have been deployed at a massive scale for the identification and the authentication of physical and digital items. A notable example is our partnership with a consortium of the world’s central banks to deter counterfeiting of global currency. Digimarc is also instrumental in supporting global industry standards efforts spanning both the physical and digital worlds. In 2023, Digimarc was named to the Fortune 2023 Change the World list and honored as a 2023 Fast Company World Changing Ideas finalist. Learn more at Digimarc.com.