Image to Grayscale
Turn any image black and white with a choice of grayscale formulas and an adjustable strength slider.
Drag & drop an image here, or click to browse
No uploads. Your files stay on your device.
How it works
Drop an image and it turns black and white immediately. Every pixel is read from an HTML canvas inside your own browser and rewritten with the grayscale formula you pick, so the photo is never uploaded to a server, never stored, and the tool keeps working offline once the page has loaded.
Different formulas weigh the red, green and blue channels differently. Luminance (Rec. 709) matches how bright the human eye perceives each color and is the best default for photos. Luma (Rec. 601) is the classic television weighting and looks slightly warmer. Average and Lightness give flatter, more graphic results, and the single-channel options are handy for scans, astrophotography or separating ink from paper. The strength slider blends the grayscale result back with the original, so 0% leaves the colors untouched and 40% gives a subtle, faded look.
Download as PNG for a lossless copy, or JPG for a smaller file. The Copy CSS filter button
gives you the equivalent filter rule if you would rather desaturate the image in
your stylesheet instead of shipping a second file.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert an image to grayscale for free?
Drag your photo onto the drop zone above — it turns black and white instantly, with no sign-up, no watermark and no file-size limit upsell. Pick a grayscale formula, set the strength slider, then download the result as a PNG or JPG. Everything runs in your own browser, so the image is never uploaded to a server.
What is the difference between grayscale and black and white?
Grayscale keeps the full range of grey tones between pure black and pure white, so the photo still shows all of its shading and detail — that is what this tool produces. Strict black and white (also called 1-bit or bitonal) allows only two values per pixel, which looks like a high-contrast stencil. In everyday use people say black and white when they mean grayscale.
Which grayscale conversion method should I use?
Luminance (Rec. 709) is the best default for photographs because it weighs green most heavily, matching how bright the human eye perceives each colour. Luma (Rec. 601) is the older television weighting and looks slightly warmer. Average and Lightness give flatter, more graphic results, and the single-channel options are useful for scans, screenshots or separating coloured ink from paper.