USA Company Seal Examples
What a US corporate or LLC seal actually contains — real layout examples, the conventions behind them, and a free editor to build yours.
Delaware CorporationThe classic US corporate seal: company name around the rim, state of incorporation on the bottom arc, "CORPORATE SEAL" and the incorporation year in the center.
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Texas LLCLLC seals follow the corporate layout but spell out "LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY" in the center instead of "CORPORATE SEAL".
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Incorporated + YearA variant that leads with the founding: "INCORPORATED" and the year in the center, the state on the bottom arc.
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Signature-Block StampThe inked, rectangular cousin: a company stamp for signature blocks on contracts and bank forms rather than an embossed seal.
Customize this layout →All company names shown are fictional examples.
The Anatomy of a US Company Seal
US company seals follow a remarkably stable convention: a circular design with the company's exact registered name around the outer rim, the state of incorporation or formation along the bottom arc, and a short center block — “CORPORATE SEAL” for a corporation, “LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY” for an LLC — frequently joined by the year the entity was formed. That structure comes from the embosser era: the seal's job is to identify the legal entity unambiguously, so the registered name and jurisdiction do the work while decoration stays minimal.
Legally, the seal is optional almost everywhere in the United States. State statutes give corporations and LLCs the power to adopt and alter a seal — Delaware's corporation law, for example, lists making and altering a corporate seal among a corporation's general powers (8 Del. C. § 122) rather than its obligations — but an authorized officer's signature is what binds the company on ordinary contracts. Where a seal still earns its keep is formality: banks opening business accounts, share certificates, deeds in some states, and international counterparties who expect sealed documents. If a form asks for your corporate seal and you never adopted one, most banks accept a stamped or written “no seal” notation — but a small embosser or seal stamp is inexpensive enough that many companies simply keep one.
The examples above show the two common physical forms. The circular layouts are drawn the way embossed seals are cut — they also work as inked stamps or as a transparent PNG placed on a digital PDF. (Cornell's legal encyclopedia has a concise definition of what a seal is and who uses one.) The rectangular variant is the signature-block company stamp used on contracts and bank forms, closer to the general corporate stamp family than to a formal seal.
Make Your Own Company Seal
Every example on this page was produced with the StampZen editor, and each “Customize” link loads that exact layout with editable text. Replace the sample name with your registered company name, set the bottom arc to your state, pick the center wording, and export. Designing is free — you pay once ($2.50–$3.50) only for the high-resolution files: a transparent PNG for stamping PDFs, an outlined SVG an embosser or stamp manufacturer can cut from, and a print-ready PDF at true physical size.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are company seals required in the USA?
Generally no. Modern state corporation and LLC statutes grant companies the power to adopt a seal but do not require one for day-to-day contracts — an authorized signature binds the company. Seals persist in practice because banks, share certificate workflows, and some foreign counterparties still expect to see one on formal paperwork.
What goes on a US corporate seal?
The standard layout is circular: the exact registered company name around the outer rim, the state of incorporation on the bottom arc, and "CORPORATE SEAL" — often with the year of incorporation — in the center. Using the exact registered name matters more than any decorative choice, because the seal is meant to identify the legal entity.
How is an LLC seal different from a corporation's seal?
Only in wording. An LLC seal typically reads "LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY" in the center where a corporation's seal says "CORPORATE SEAL", and the rim carries the LLC's registered name including its "LLC" or "L.L.C." suffix. The circular name-state-year structure is the same.
Should the seal be embossed or inked?
Tradition says embossed — a raised, inkless impression from a metal die, commonly around 41 mm (1 5/8") for pocket embossers. In practice many US companies now use an inked stamp or a digital seal graphic placed on PDFs instead. If you need a physical embosser, design the artwork first and send the vector file to an embosser manufacturer.