Meme Generator

Impact is the canonical meme font, established in the early 2000s with image-macro memes (LOLCats, Advice Animals). It's bundled with Windows and macOS, has a heavy condensed weight that reads well at any size, and the all-caps + black-outline treatment is recognizable at a glance. Some modern memes use other fonts (Arial Black, Roboto Black) but Impact remains the default.

This generator focuses on the classic Impact look. For different styles (Comic Sans, Helvetica, custom fonts), use the Image Text Overlay tool which has full font customization.

From the wild internet. The image-macro format goes back to 4chan and Reddit in the mid-2000s; popular templates (Distracted Boyfriend, Drake, Two Buttons, Expanding Brain) emerged from specific photos that got reused. Most templates are unattributed; KnowYourMeme.com tracks origins for the curious.

Square or 4:3 with a clear focal point. Solid background or simple scene works better than busy photos. Faces with strong expressions are the meme classic. Avoid copyrighted material if you plan to distribute commercially — many viral templates have unclear ownership.

It's complicated. Many viral templates use copyrighted photos but their commercial use as memes is widespread without attribution. For personal/non-commercial use, almost anything goes. For commercial advertising, marketing, or merchandise, source original images or use clearly licensed templates.

Often, yes. Platforms crop differently — Instagram shows 1:1, X shows 16:9 to 2:1, etc. Position text away from edges and use the Social Media Sizer to pre-crop for specific platforms. Text near the bottom is most likely to be cropped on landscape platforms.