Four black and white styles
A black and white conversion decides how bright each color becomes in gray. Different choices give very different photos, so the tool offers four styles.
| Style | How the gray is computed | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Natural | Perceived brightness (21% red, 72% green, 7% blue) | Most photos, faithful tones |
| High contrast | Same as Natural, plus a strong contrast boost | Street, architecture, dramatic portraits |
| Red filter | 80% red, 20% green, no blue | Landscapes with blue sky, skin tones |
| Pure black & white | Every pixel becomes black or white | Graphic looks, stencils, scanned documents |
Natural uses the standard luminance weights of the Rec. 709 color space, the ones used for HD video. Green counts the most because the eye is most sensitive to it, so the gray image keeps the brightness you see in the color one — unlike a simple average of red, green and blue, which makes greens look too dark and blues too light.
Red filter imitates the red glass filter that film photographers screw onto the lens. Blue light is blocked, so skies turn deep gray to almost black and white clouds pop. Red and orange tones, including skin, become lighter.
Pure black and white applies a threshold in the middle of the range: everything lighter becomes white, everything darker becomes black. Use the contrast slider to move detail into or out of the black areas.
The contrast slider
Contrast goes from −50 to +50 and works with every style. Negative values flatten the image toward mid-gray for a soft, faded film look; positive values push darks darker and lights lighter for punch. The High contrast style already adds a boost, and the slider adds to it. The preview updates as you drag, so you can compare quickly.
Tips for strong black and white photos
- Look for contrast and texture. Without color, shapes, light and texture carry the photo. Backlit scenes, wrinkled skin, wood and stone convert beautifully.
- Try the red filter on landscapes. A pale blue sky turns into a dark, dramatic backdrop.
- Use pure black and white for line art. Scanned drawings, signatures and text become clean two-tone images.
- Add a mood afterwards. Give the gray photo warm, vintage tones with the Sepia Filter, darken the edges with the Vignette Effect, or turn it into a print-style dot pattern with the Halftone Effect.
To create a negative instead, use Invert Image Colors.
Formats and privacy
You can open JPG, PNG, WebP, AVIF, GIF (first frame), BMP and SVG files, and iPhone HEIC photos. JPG, PNG and WebP are saved in the same format (JPG and WebP at 92% quality, transparency kept in PNG and WebP); HEIC and AVIF are saved as JPG, and SVG, GIF and BMP as PNG. Browsers that can’t save WebP, such as Safari, save a WebP photo as PNG instead.
Every pixel is processed by your browser’s canvas on your own device. There is no upload, the page works offline once it has loaded, and the new file does not carry the original’s EXIF metadata, such as GPS location.