Convert Photo to Black and White
Make a monochrome version of a portrait, a street shot or a landscape without opening an editor. This page converts to black and white and saves a high-quality JPG, ready for a print lab or a feed.
Image Effects
or drop JPG, JPEG, JFIF … files here ·
Max 95 MB per file· Up to 20 files· Deleted after 30 minutes
Files are processed on our servers and deleted after 30 minutes.
Solid covers each face with a black block, which cannot be reversed. Use it for documents and privacy-sensitive photos.
Ellipse follows the shape of the head; rectangle also covers hair and ears.
Same as input keeps the original format; PNG keeps transparency.
Applies to JPG and WebP. 85 keeps photos visually identical.
How to use this tool
- 1
Upload your photos
Add up to 20 photos at once, up to 95 MB each: JPG, HEIC from an iPhone, PNG, WebP, AVIF or TIFF.
- 2
Keep Black & white and JPG
Effect is set to Black & white and Output format to JPG at Quality 92, which keeps smooth skies free of banding. Change the format under Advanced settings if you need PNG.
- 3
Apply, then refine
Press Apply and download. For more punch, upload the result again and run More contrast or Sharpen at a low Strength.
Black and white takes away the color and leaves light, shape and texture. The conversion is one click; choosing what each color turns into is the photographer's part.
Desaturate, luminosity or channel mixer: three ways to drop color
Desaturate is the bluntest method: saturation goes to zero and each pixel keeps a lightness value that ignores how bright its color looks. Saturated reds, greens and blues of very different brightness can end up as the same flat gray, which is why a desaturated landscape often looks muddy.
Luminosity conversion weights the channels by how bright each color appears to the eye, so a yellow flower stays light and a deep blue stays dark. That is what Black & white does here, the same method explained on image to black and white, and it gives a natural, neutral result for most portraits and street photos.
A channel mixer lets you set the weights yourself. Photoshop's Black & White adjustment, added in CS3, has a slider per color and presets named after camera filters, and Lightroom's B&W mix does the same. That is how photographers darken a sky or lighten skin without touching the rest of the frame.
Red, yellow and green filter effects in black and white photos
| Filter | Kodak Wratten | Blue sky | Skin | Foliage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yellow | #8 | A little darker, clouds stand out | Natural | Slightly lighter |
| Orange | #21 | Clearly darker | Smoother, lighter | Slightly darker |
| Red | #25 | Very dark, dramatic | Pale, blemishes fade | Dark |
| Yellow-green | #11 | Slightly darker | Darker, more tan | Lighter, more separation |
| None (luminosity) | — | Mid gray | Natural | Mid gray |
A black and white photo edit in three passes
Black & white
Convert the color original to a neutral luminosity monochrome.
More contrast
Upload the result again and add contrast at 15–30% Strength for deeper blacks.
Sharpen
A last pass at about 20% brings back texture in hair, bark and stone.
Black and white photos for print and Instagram
Prints
Photo labs commonly ask for about 300 pixels per inch, so an 8 × 10 in print wants 2400 × 3000 px.
Feed photos show at up to 1080 px wide; a 4:5 portrait at 1080 × 1350 px fills the most screen.
Archive
Keep the color original. You can always make another monochrome version from it, never the reverse.
TipiPhone photos open as HEIC; this page saves them as JPG, so they print and post without a separate HEIC to JPG step.
Black and white photo questions
Can I get the red filter look without an editor?
Not from a single conversion here: Black & white uses one fixed mix of the color channels. Many cameras can do it at capture time; Canon's Monochrome Picture Style has a Filter effect setting with yellow, orange, red and green, and Fujifilm's ACROS simulation comes in +Ye, +R and +G versions.
Should I shoot in black and white mode or convert later?
Shoot RAW, or RAW plus JPEG, if your camera allows it. A monochrome JPEG has its color thrown away for good, while a RAW file keeps all of it, so the black and white mode becomes only a preview and you can choose the conversion afterwards.
Why does my black and white print have a green or magenta tint?
A color inkjet builds grays from several inks, and a slight imbalance shows as a cast that changes under different lights. Use the printer's black and white photo mode if it has one, such as Epson's Advanced B&W Photo, or ask the lab to print on a monochrome setting.
Is Instagram's Inkwell filter the same as converting first?
Inkwell also removes the color, but you get one look with only a strength slider. Converting first lets you control contrast and sharpening and keep the same version for prints. Post the converted JPG with the Normal filter so Instagram does not change it again.
How do I add film grain to a black and white photo?
This tool has no grain effect. Lightroom has a Grain panel under Effects and Snapseed has a Grainy Film tool. Add grain last, after resizing, because scaling down smooths it out, and expect Instagram's compression to soften very fine grain.
