Convert Image to Black and White

Q: Does a transparent PNG logo stay transparent?

Yes, when the output is PNG or WebP, or **Same as input** on a PNG. JPG cannot carry transparency, so avoid it for cut-out logos.

Remove the color from photos, scans and screenshots so they print cleanly and read well in documents. Drop the files, keep the Black & white effect selected and download grayscale copies.

or drop JPG, JPEG, JFIF … files here ·

Max 95 MB per file· Up to 20 files· Deleted after 30 minutes

Effect

Files are processed on our servers and deleted after 30 minutes.

How to use this tool

1
Add the images
Drop up to 20 files of up to 95 MB each: JPG, PNG, WebP, AVIF, HEIC, GIF, BMP or TIFF.
2
Keep Black & white selected
This page opens with Effect set to Black & white. Under Output format keep Same as input, or switch to JPG, PNG or WebP.
3
Apply and download
Press Apply. Each file comes back as a grayscale copy, or as one ZIP for a batch.

Press Apply and every pixel is reduced to its brightness: the same picture in shades of gray, ready for a printer, a report or a moody portrait.

Convert an image to black and white in one pass

The Black & white effect removes color from every pixel and keeps only how light or dark it is. It covers the whole picture, has no strength slider, and leaves pixel dimensions, orientation and sharpness exactly as they were.

Brightness is not a plain average of red, green and blue. Eyes are most sensitive to green and least to blue, so luma formulas such as ITU-R BT.601 weight the channels at roughly 0.299 red, 0.587 green and 0.114 blue. Saturated blue therefore darkens sharply, and two different colors of equal brightness merge into one gray, which matters for charts that rely on color coding alone.

The file type follows Output format: Same as input keeps a JPG as JPG and a PNG as PNG. iPhone HEIC photos are easier to share once switched to JPG there. For a scanned contract or a multi-page handout, use PDF to black and white, which converts every page of a PDF instead of single images.

Where black and white photos are refused

Identity photos that must stay in color
Organisation	Requirement	Source
U.S. Department of State, passport	Photo must be in color; grayscale and black and white prints are rejected.	travel.state.gov
U.S. visa application (DS-160)	Color JPEG, square, 600 × 600 to 1200 × 1200 px, uploaded with the online form.	travel.state.gov
HM Passport Office, UK passport	Photo must be in colour and must not be altered by software.	gov.uk

Grayscale vs true 1-bit black and white

This tool

Grayscale

Every pixel becomes one of 256 shades from black to white.

Smooth tones in skin, sky and shadow
Saved as JPG, PNG or WebP
Prints well on laser and inkjet printers

1-bit

Pure black and white

Each pixel is black or white; gray is faked with dot patterns called dithering.

What fax machines and Lineart scanner modes produce
Tiny files for text pages
Photos turn into coarse dots

Desaturated

Gray-looking color file

Saturation pulled to zero in an editor while the file keeps three color channels.

Stores as much data as the color original
Can be tinted again in an editor
Looks identical to grayscale on screen

Black and white for printing and scanners

Printing is the most common reason to drop color. A monochrome laser printer has only black toner and simulates grays with a halftone screen whatever you send; converting first lets you preview the page instead of letting the driver map each color to gray. A color inkjet may still mix cyan, magenta and yellow into a neutral gray, so tick the grayscale or black-ink option in the print dialog too.

Scanner software usually offers Color, Grayscale and Black & White (sometimes called Lineart). A page scanned in Black & White mode cannot be turned back into grays, because the in-between tones were discarded at scan time, so scan in color or grayscale and convert afterwards. Our guide to scanning documents to PDF covers those settings.

If the result looks flat, run the grayscale copy through More contrast in image effects before printing.

Black and white image questions

Is a grayscale image the same as a black and white one?

Not strictly. Grayscale keeps 256 shades between black and white, while true black and white (1-bit) allows only two values per pixel. This tool produces grayscale, which is what photos and most print jobs need.

Can I make a 1-bit image for a fax, a stencil or a laser engraver?

This effect stops at grayscale. A 1-bit file needs a threshold or dithering step, which a scanner's Lineart mode, GIMP (Image > Mode > Indexed, 1-bit palette) or Photoshop (Image > Mode > Bitmap, which only accepts grayscale input) can do.

Can a black and white photo be used for a passport or visa?

Not for a U.S. passport, a U.S. visa or a UK passport: all three ask for color photos and refuse grayscale ones. Keep the color original and use the passport photo maker to get the size and background right instead.

Why did my blue sky turn almost black?

Blue contributes only about 11% of perceived brightness in the usual luma formula, so deep blue becomes dark gray while yellow stays light. Run the Brighten effect on the color photo first if the sky should read lighter.

Does a transparent PNG logo stay transparent?

Yes, when the output is PNG or WebP, or Same as input on a PNG. JPG cannot carry transparency, so avoid it for cut-out logos.

Can I bring the colors back later?

No. Once the hue is removed it cannot be reconstructed; colorizing tools only guess. The tool works on a copy and never changes the file on your device.