Indoor shots, evening photos and pictures taken against a bright window often come out darker than the moment felt. The detail is usually still there, hidden in the shadows. Lifting the brightness brings it back, so you can fix a dark photo in a few seconds.
This page opens Adjust image colour with Brightness at +15 and Contrast at 105 %, a gentle lift that is often enough to make a photo brighter. To brighten an image further, or less, move the sliders while the stage shows the real result. It is free, it runs in your browser and the picture is never uploaded. Below: how far to increase the brightness of an image, why the contrast comes along, and when the other sliders help.
How to brighten a dark photo in your browser
- Press Select images, or drop one or more pictures on the page. JPG, PNG, WebP, AVIF, GIF, BMP, TIFF, ICO and iPhone HEIC photos all open.
- The stage shows the picture brightened already: Brightness starts at +15 and Contrast at 105 %.
- Drag Brightness up for a darker photo, or down if +15 is too much. The value shows beside the label.
- Press and hold Hold to compare to see the original, or turn on Split view to see before and after side by side.
- Leave Save as on Original or pick JPG, PNG or WebP, then press Apply colour and save. The new file's name ends in _colour.
Brightness goes from -50 to +50. For most dark photos, somewhere between +10 and +30 is enough to brighten the photo; much higher, and the pale parts turn into flat white. Click the slider and use the arrow keys to move one point at a time, which is the easiest way to find the spot where it looks right.
Why the contrast goes up too
When you brighten an image, Brightness lifts every tone by the same step, the darkest and the lightest alike. Blacks turn into dark grey, and a photo that was only dark can end up looking misty and flat. A touch more contrast pulls the darks back down while the middle tones stay brighter, so the picture keeps its depth.
That is why this page starts at Contrast 105 %. If the photo still looks washed out, try 110 % or 120 %. If it looks harsh, take it back to 100 %. The Brighter chip in Quick looks is close to this page's start, with Saturation at 105 % as well, for photos whose colours look tired.
| Photo | Try |
|---|---|
| A little dark, taken indoors | Brightness +10 to +15, Contrast 105 % |
| Very dark, taken at night | Brightness +25 to +35, Contrast 110 % to 120 % |
| Bright sky, dark faces in front | Brightness +15 to +20, then check the sky with Split view |
| Dark and a little orange | Brightness +15, Warmth towards Cooler |
| Dark and dull | The Brighter look, then adjust |
These are starting points, not rules. Every camera and every room is different, so trust what you see on the stage.
It helps to know why photos come out dark. A camera sets its exposure from the whole scene, so a window, a lamp or a bright sky behind your subject makes it darken everything else. The result is an underexposed photo of the person, with a well-exposed background. Brightening lifts both, which is why the sky needs watching.
Lighten a photo without losing detail
Every pixel has a ceiling. When you lighten an image and a part of it reaches pure white, more brightness cannot add anything there, and its detail is gone from the saved file. Clouds, white walls, faces near a lamp and screens are the first to go when you brighten a dark photo too far.
- As you brighten the photo, use Split view. Drag the divider over the brightest part of the picture and compare Before with After.
- Zoom in with + to check skin and texture, and press 0 to fit again. Zoom never changes the result.
- Add Saturation if the colours look pale after brightening. A few points, such as 105 % to 115 %, is usually enough.
- Fix the colour too. A photo under warm bulbs looks orange, so move Warmth towards Cooler. A photo in shade looks blue, so move it towards Warmer.
- Need it darker instead? Drag Brightness below 0, down to -50. The same page works for photos that came out too bright.
Brighten a whole set, then save
Select up to 100 pictures to brighten them all by the same amount. That suits a set taken in the same light, such as photos from one room or one evening. Click any picture in the strip under the stage to check the settings on it, the button counts them (Apply to 8 pictures), and Save all as ZIP keeps the results together.
Save as Original keeps a JPG as a JPG and a PNG as a PNG, while an iPhone HEIC photo becomes a JPG and a GIF, BMP or TIFF becomes a PNG. JPG and WebP are saved again at high quality and PNG keeps every pixel. The saved picture is drawn fresh, so it carries no location, camera or date details.
- It runs in your browser. The picture is never uploaded, and our server does no picture work.
- It is free, with no account and no watermark. Image tools are not counted in the free daily limit, which applies to document conversions only.
- It works in current Chrome, Edge and Firefox. Very large pictures may be too big for your browser.
Once the light is right, other tools can finish the picture. A selfie that came out mirrored turns the right way round with flip photo. For a profile picture, make image square adds space to reach 1:1 without cutting anything off, or you can circle crop the image for a round avatar. Before you share a brightened photo of a crowd, pixelate image covers the faces you would rather not show with square blocks.
If the brighter photo also needs to be smaller for email or the web, Compress image shrinks it afterwards. For a dark clip rather than a still, Adjust video colour has the same Brightness and Contrast sliders.
Lighten your dark photo now
To brighten an image, open it above: it gets a gentle lift from the start. Move Brightness and Contrast until it looks right, compare it with the original, and press Apply colour to save the brighter photo.
It is free, private and works in current Chrome, Edge and Firefox. If the colour needs more than light, try black and white for a different mood.
