Colorize black and white photos in your browser
OpenPixels is a free photo colorizer that runs in your browser. It can colorize black and white photos on your own device: only the color comes from the model, and the photo keeps its own light and shade. Nothing is uploaded.
Free, no account, no watermark, and no limit on how many photos you process.
How the photo colorizer works.
Color from the model, light from your photo
The model, DDColor, predicts color only. The brightness of every pixel stays as it was, so faces and textures keep their original shading.
How vivid
Once Add colour is on, a slider called How vivid runs from 0% to 160%. Turn it down for a soft, faded tint, or up for stronger color.
It notices black and white
Open a black and white photo and the app says so and suggests Add colour. If a photo already has color, it warns you first, because a guess usually looks worse than real color.
Colorize black and white photos in five steps.
- Open the web app and press Choose a photo, or drop the photo anywhere on the page.
- Turn on Add colour.
- Set How vivid, or leave it where it starts.
- Under Size, choose Same size, just cleaner, or 2× for a small scan. For a grainy print, set Noise and grain to Reduce.
- Press Enhance, compare Original with Result, then press Save the photo.
For an old family photo, turn on Rebuild faces as well. Old photo restoration covers that combination.
Add color to black and white photos you would rather not upload.
A grandparent’s portrait, a wedding print, a scan from a family album: the pictures people want to color are often private. Here the model runs inside your browser through WebAssembly and WebGPU, so you can colorize black and white photos without any of them leaving your device.
Colorizing runs in the web app at openpixels.app and in the Chrome and Firefox extension. The Mac, Windows and Android apps do not do it yet. The first time, the color model downloads once, about 228 MB and the largest in the app, with a progress bar. After that it works with no network connection.
What it will not do.
The colors are the model’s guess, not a record. A dress can come out blue when it was red. Skin, sky and foliage are usually believable; a particular object can be wrong.
It does not repair scratches, creases or tears, and it cannot invent detail that was never captured. On a photo that already has color, it replaces that color with a guess, which usually looks worse, and the app warns you before it does.
There is no server to pay for.
Tools that charge for this upload your photo and pay for the GPU that handles it. That server bill is what a subscription or a per-photo credit covers.
OpenPixels has no such bill. The AI models run inside your browser through WebAssembly and WebGPU, on your own processor, so there is nothing to charge you for.
Before you open it.
Is this photo colorizer free?
Yes, entirely. There is no paid tier, no account, no trial, no watermark, no credits and no limit on how many photos you colorize. Your photo is processed by your own device, so there is no per-photo cost to pass on.
Can I colorize a black and white photo online without uploading it?
Yes. The page opens in your browser like any website, but the photo is colorized inside your browser tab and never leaves your device. There is no server in OpenPixels that accepts an image.
How accurate are the colors?
They are the model’s best guess, not a record. Skin, sky and foliage usually look believable; the color of a particular dress, car or wall can be wrong.
Can I colorize several photos at once?
Yes. Use Several at once, turn on Add colour once, and every photo is colorized with the same settings. The results download as a single ZIP, with no limit on how many.
Does it work in the desktop apps?
Not yet. Adding color runs in the web app and the Chrome and Firefox extension. The Mac, Windows and Android apps enlarge photos and clear noise only.
Do I need an account?
No. Every feature works with no account and no sign-in.
Colorize black and white photos now.
The same app also enlarges a photo up to 8×, clears noise and JPEG artifacts and makes a background white, all on your own device. See what else it does.
Open OpenPixels →