Image overlay

Version 1.3 (3.72 KB) by Steve Eddins

Overlay a binary mask onto an image using a specified color

30.6K Downloads

Updated 3 Dec 2019

The function IMOVERLAY creates a mask-based image overlay. It takes input image and a binary mask, and it produces an output image whose masked pixels have been replaced by a specified color.

NOTE: This original implementation of IMOVERLAY was superseded in R2016a by a new function, with the same name, in the Image Processing Toolbox. The version here has been renamed to IMOVERLAY_OLD.

Cite As

Steve Eddins (2026). Image overlay (https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/10502-image-overlay), MATLAB Central File Exchange. Retrieved January 9, 2026.

MATLAB Release Compatibility

Created with R2006a

Compatible with any release

Platform Compatibility

Windows macOS Linux

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Acknowledgements

Inspired: JalaliLabUCLA/Image-feature-detection-using-Phase-Stretch-Transform, Image Sequence Display and Overlay with Binary Mask, Multi wall (COST231) Signal Propagation Models + Python Code, Visualization of multi-modal volume segmentation, 3D Ray Tracing For Indoor Radio Propagation, imagescnan.m v2.1 (Aug 2009), flattenMaskOverlay, ALPHAMASK: semi-transparent image overlay, Neuron counting, TeloTool - Terminal Restriction Fragment Analysis

imoverlay

imoverlay_old

Version	Published	Release Notes
1.3	3 Dec 2019	Renamed to IMOVERLAY_OLD. Use the new version (R2016a) in the Image Processing Toolbox.	Download
1.2.0.1	1 Sep 2016	Updated license	Download
1.2.0.0	17 Apr 2012	Based on a suggestion from Lasse, I added code to automatically convert the mask input to be logical.	Download
1.0.0.0	15 Aug 2007	Based on a suggestion by Matt Whitaker, I added documentation and an example explaining how to use mat2gray for double / single grayscale images outside the normal [0, 1] range.	Download