Adjust Brightness and Contrast

Move two sliders to brighten, darken, or add or reduce contrast, compare with the original, and save the result in the same format you uploaded.

Upload Image to Adjust Brightness

Drag and drop files here, or click to browse

Your images are processed in your browser and are not uploaded to Image York.

You retain full ownership of your images. Image York does not store or claim rights. View License

What the two sliders do

Brightness multiplies every colour value. 100% leaves the image unchanged, 150% makes every channel half as bright again, and values below 100% darken. Because it is a multiplication, black stays black and highlights clip to white first, so pushing brightness too far flattens skies and white clothing into blank areas.

Contrast pushes tones away from (above 100%) or towards (below 100%) middle grey. More contrast makes shadows darker and highlights brighter, which can rescue a hazy or washed-out photo. Less contrast gives a softer, faded look.

Both run from 0% to 200%. Small moves, often between 90% and 130%, usually look the most natural.

Fixing common problems

Underexposed indoor photo: raise brightness a little, then add a touch of contrast so it does not look grey.
Flat, hazy landscape: raise contrast first; brightness may not need to change.
Harsh midday photo: lower contrast slightly to bring shadows and highlights closer.
Screenshot or scan that looks grey: raise contrast so the background turns whiter and text darker. For text recognition afterwards, see Image to Text.

These are global adjustments: they change the whole image equally. They cannot brighten just a face or recover detail in areas that are pure black or pure white in the original.

Output

The result is saved in the same format as your upload (JPG, PNG or WebP). JPG and WebP are saved at quality 0.98, so very little extra compression is added; PNG is lossless.
The file name gets adjusted- at the front.
Dimensions do not change. EXIF data and colour profiles are not copied to the new file.

Browser support

The adjustment uses the canvas filter feature. Some browser versions, older Safari in particular, do not support canvas filters; in those the saved file comes out unchanged even though the preview may look adjusted. If that happens, try a current version of Chrome, Edge or Firefox.

Where the processing happens

The image is adjusted on a canvas in your browser and never uploaded. For colour changes beyond brightness and contrast (saturation, hue), try the Advanced Image Editor or the Image Enhancer.

Questions about this tool

My indoor photo is too dark. How do I brighten it?

Raise brightness a little, for example to 115% or 125%, then add a touch of contrast so the photo does not look grey. Compare with the original before you download.

My landscape looks hazy and flat. Which slider should I use?

Raise contrast first. Shadows get darker and highlights brighter, which removes much of the haze. Brightness may not need to change at all.

After brightening, the sky turned completely white. Can I get the detail back?

Lower the brightness. Bright areas reach pure white first and lose their detail, so very high brightness flattens skies and white clothes. Detail that is already pure white in the original cannot be brought back.

My scanned document looks grey. Can this make it clearer?

Yes. Raise contrast so the paper turns whiter and the text darker. If you want to copy the text afterwards, use Image to Text.

The download looks unchanged even though the preview changed. Why?

Your browser probably does not support canvas filters, which happens in older Safari versions. Try a current version of Chrome, Edge or Firefox.

Image Enhancer

Enhance and Restore

One slider for brightness, contrast and saturation together.

Sharpen Image