Black and White Image
Color out, gray shades in its place.
FREE - NO SIGN-UP - RUNS ON YOUR DEVICE
Your files stay on your device
- Colorto gray
- 1picture per run
- Alphatransparency kept
- 0uploads
Black and White Image at a glance
- Input formats
- JPG, PNG, WebP, BMP and GIF
- Output formats
- Same as input
- How it converts
- Luminance formula, per pixel
- What it is not
- Gray shades, not two flat tones
- Transparency
- Transparent areas stay clear
- Price
- Free
- Account required
- No
- Where it runs
- On your device
How to use Black and White Image
- 1
Add a picture
Open a color picture.
- 2
Look at the result
Check the gray version.
- 3
Download
Save the gray version.
Frequently asked questions
Is this pure black and white, or gray?
Gray. Each pixel becomes the shade that matches its brightness, so the picture keeps its mid-tones. A two-tone threshold conversion is not offered here.
Can I set the contrast or mix the channels?
No. The conversion runs one way, with a fixed luminance formula. Darkroom-style channel mixing needs a photo editor.
Will the file end up smaller?
Sometimes. Dropping the color information can shrink a PNG noticeably, while a JPG may barely move. It depends on the picture and the format.
What happens to a transparent PNG?
Transparency survives. Clear pixels stay clear and only the colored ones are converted, so a logo keeps its cut-out background.
How brightness becomes gray
Every pixel is measured for brightness and redrawn as the gray that matches it, so the picture keeps its full range of tones. It is not a two-tone conversion to pure black and pure white.
- The eye does not read all colors as equally bright. Green looks brighter than blue at the same intensity, and red sits between them.
- A luminance formula weighs the red, green and blue in each pixel to work out how bright it looks, then uses that as the gray.
- Averaging the three channels instead would flatten the picture, turning strong reds and blues into the same dull middle gray.
- Because the mid-tones are kept, the result is what film photographers mean by black and white: a full range of grays.
Full specification
| Input formats | JPG, PNG, WebP, BMP and GIF |
|---|---|
| Output formats | The same format as the picture you put in. |
| How it converts | Each decoded pixel is weighed by a luminance formula and redrawn as the gray of matching brightness. |
| What it is not | Not a two-tone threshold. The grays in between are kept, and there is no contrast, brightness or channel control. |
| Transparency | Kept. Clear areas of a PNG stay clear; only colored pixels are changed. |
| Price | Free |
| Account required | No |
| Where it runs | In your browser tab. Nothing is sent anywhere. |
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