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Any photo, wrapped in a polaroid.

The real film geometry — 79 mm image window, thin borders, a fat 23.5 mm chin — with paper grain, an emulsion vignette and a handwritten caption. Pick a paper tint, a film look, a tilt angle; the tilt and shadow bake into the PNG. No sign-up, no watermark, no server. For a whole spread, grab a proper app.

Nothing uploads True 88×107mm film geometry Transparent-corner PNG
An example of what Polaroid Maker produces

try it on a sample photo

Turn a photo into a polaroid

Wrap a photo in a paper polaroid frame with a deep bottom margin, a handwritten caption and a slight tilt.

A photo before Polaroid Maker
Before
The same photo after Polaroid Maker
After

What you can change

  • Caption
  • Font
  • Caption colour
  • Photo shape
  • Paper tint
  • Film look
  • Tilt
  • Red date stamp
  • Paper shadow

How it works

  1. 01Drop in a photo, or open one of the samples.
  2. 02Write the caption and choose its font and colour, then set the photo shape, paper tint, film look and tilt, and switch on the red date stamp or the paper shadow.
  3. 03Download it at full resolution. Nothing is uploaded — the work happens in this browser tab.

Loading the film pack…

◦ why bother with a polaroid frame

Six places a polaroid frame earns its keep

  1. 01 for scrapbooks

    Digital polaroids for a paper spread

    Print one on matte photo paper, glue it into a travel journal with a strip of washi tape. Looks exactly like the OneStep shot you never took — and the caption is in your handwriting.

  2. 02 for Instagram

    Feed posts that look hand-assembled

    Drop a square polaroid onto a warm background in your stories or feed. Three of these in a row — your grid reads like a crafted board, not an algorithm's homework.

  3. 03 for birthday cards

    A single photo, dressed up

    Pick the 'aged' paper tint, add 'happy 40th, dad' in Caveat at a -3° tilt, stamp the date in red. Print it. You've made a birthday card that took two minutes and reads like a keepsake.

  4. 04 for Pinterest

    Pinnable polaroid aesthetic

    Aesthetic-board pinners know: polaroid framing adds instant mood to any photo. Wrap a coffee shot, a landscape, a still life — pin it, watch it save. Sepia + cream paper is the winning combo.

  5. 05 for mood boards

    A set that feels like one story

    Run six photos through with the same paper tint and film treatment. Drop them all on a mood board — they read as one collection, not six unrelated uploads. Fastest way to make a board cohere.

  6. 06 for zines

    B&W polaroids for a photo zine

    Flip to the 'night' tint and 'B&W' treatment. You get a high-contrast dark polaroid — fits right into a black-paper zine spread. Add a tiny date stamp for that disposable-camera vibe.

◦ in case you’re wondering

Frequently asked

Does the photo ever leave my browser? +

No. All compositing happens on a canvas element in your browser tab. We don't run a server for image work — your photo stays on your device the entire time.

What format does it export? +

PNG, around 1400 pixels on the short edge — sharp on a Retina screen and fine for a 4×6 print. The tilt and the paper shadow are baked in, and the area around a tilted print is transparent, so it drops straight onto a page. If you want JPG, export again after layering in a real app.

Can I print these and glue them in a journal? +

Yes, and that's the best way to use them. The frame follows the real 88 × 107 mm print — 79 mm image window, 4.5 mm borders, a 23.5 mm chin — so at 5 inches tall it prints crisp and reads correctly. Matte paper beats glossy for the real polaroid feel.

Why three fonts and not more? +

Caveat for handwritten (what most real polaroids look like), Instrument Serif for editorial, Inter for clean. Three covers every mood without turning this into a font picker. If you need a specific typeface, a real design app is the right home.

The caption gets cut off — can I add more lines? +

The bottom strip is single-line on purpose — it mimics a real polaroid's caption bar. If you want a paragraph, the Add Text to Photo tool (also free, also in-browser) lets you stack captions anywhere on a photo.

Is the red date stamp the photo date or today? +

Today's date, formatted MM · DD · YY. It's the disposable-camera look, not EXIF data. If you need the actual capture date, add it manually in the caption.

now what?

A few ways to extend the paper-craft scene

· Also in Frames & layouts

The rest of this shelf

31 more tools on the hub — searchable

For the real thing →

Make proper collages
in a proper app.

One polaroid is a piece. When you're laying a whole spread — twelve polaroids, washi tape, journal entries, a background texture — a real collage app handles it cleanly.