--- title: "Convert an Image to Black and White – Grayscale, Free" description: "Turn a colour photo into black and white (grayscale) in one step, then adjust brightness and contrast if you like. JPG, PNG, WebP and more, several at once." url: "https://imagecompressor.si/black-and-white-image" lang: "en" --- # Convert an image to black and white Drop a colour photo in, and get it back in shades of grey, with contrast and brightness to fine-tune. ## How it works 1. **Add your images** Drag and drop, paste, or pick files. They upload over an encrypted connection. 2. **Pick a quality or a target size** Use the quality slider, or tell it exactly how many KB or MB you need. 3. **Download** Save each file, or grab them all at once as a ZIP. Black and white strips a picture down to light and shape. It hides a messy mix of colours, makes portraits look timeless, gives old photos a uniform look, and is what many documents, newsletters and print jobs need. This page opens with greyscale already on, so the picture you add comes back in shades of grey straight away. The conversion weighs the three colour channels the way the eye does, so a red jumper and a green lawn of the same brightness stay distinct shades rather than one flat grey. Below it, the brightness, contrast and exposure sliders let you add punch: a little more contrast is the classic move for black and white photos. Add several pictures to convert them all, then download them as a ZIP. Pictures are processed on our server and deleted straight after. ## Getting a strong black and white photo Pictures with clear light and shadow convert best: side light on a face, a building against the sky, texture in sand or bark. If the result looks flat, raise the contrast by 15 to 30 and nudge the exposure until the brightest part is nearly white. Too much contrast loses detail in hair and clouds, so watch those areas. ## Black and white for documents For a photographed page, the document scanner gives a cleaner result: it straightens the sheet and turns the paper pure white, with text in solid black. This page keeps every shade of grey, which suits photographs and illustrations rather than text. For a scanned photograph rather than a page of text, this page is the better choice, since it keeps the soft tones of skin and sky. ## Smaller files as a bonus A greyscale picture holds less information than a colour one, so the file often shrinks, especially as JPG. Switch on compression in the advanced settings to make the most of it. Try one photo first. ## Choosing photos that work in grey Not every photo improves in black and white. Pictures that depend on colour, a sunset or a field of flowers, often turn into flat grey. Pictures that depend on shape, light and expression usually gain. Try several from the same set: converting a whole album at once shows quickly which ones hold up. Black and white also hides problems that colour makes obvious, such as mixed indoor lighting with yellow and blue casts, or skin that photographed red. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is grayscale the same as black and white? In everyday use, yes. A grayscale picture uses every shade from black to white; a pure two-tone image is what the document scanner's black and white look gives. ### Can I get the colour back later? Not from the converted file. Keep your original if you might want colour again. ### Can I make a sepia photo? Not on this page; it gives neutral greys. ### Does it work on PNGs with transparency? Yes, and the transparency is kept. ### Is my picture kept? No. The grey version is made on our server and the photo you sent is erased there straight away. ### Can I convert many photos at once? Yes. Add them together; each is converted with the same settings, and they download as a ZIP. ### Does it work with RAW or HEIC photos? HEIC photos work for everyone; camera RAW files need the Pro plan. ## Related tools - [Sharpen an image](https://imagecompressor.si/sharpen-image): Bring out edges and fine detail in a photo that looks a little soft, with one slider. - [Turn a photo of a document into a scan](https://imagecompressor.si/document-scanner): The page is found, straightened and evened out, so a quick phone photo looks like it came from a scanner. - [Blur an image](https://imagecompressor.si/blur-image): Soften a whole picture with one slider, for backgrounds, wallpapers and quiet visuals behind text.