Tools/Convert image to Black and White

Convert image to Black and White

Try our Black and White Image Converter to easily make your images, photos, and graphics black and white. Turn any image into black and white in seconds!

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Free Black and White Converter

Easily convert images to black and white online. No installation or plugins required.
Simply drop any image into our converter, and receive your stunning black and white photo in seconds.

Black and White Convertor

Why choose our Black and White Converter?

You can turn any image to black and white on the fly, securely, ad-free and inside your browser.
Developers can get an API to automatically turn all their web images to black and white!

AI-powered Transformations

More than turning your images to black and white. Generative Fill, Generative Object Removal and Generative Replace are just a few examples of how AI can enhance and customize images, providing flexibility in content creation.

Image Enhancement

Whether it’s 3D animations, interactive product displays, or real time filtering, Cloudinary’s API gives you tons of image enhancement features. Developers can easily apply dozens of transformations for image enhancement.

Performance Optimization

Automatic optimization guarantees your images are delivered in the highest quality and most suitable format for the user’s device, browser, or connection. Whether it’s PNG, GIF, or JPG, the most efficient next gen format is automatically selected for optimal performance.

Batch make image black and white

Use our converter to batch convert your web images to black and white easily, or sign up for our free API to automatically turn all your images to black and white!

Workflow Automation

Create automated workflows with preset configurations to save time and ensure that files are automatically transformed and ready for delivery right after upload.

Image Formats Versatility

Explore more image formats! Enjoy full support for cutting-edge formats like AVIF, JPEG-XL, and HEIC. These advanced formats ensure that your visual assets are delivered with the best combination of quality and efficiency.

How to make your image black and white

Use Black and White Converter in 3 simple steps, or sign up for Cloudinary to programmatically turn images to black and white thousands of your web images!

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Add your images

Upload or drag and drop your images into the browser

Start Converting

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Download converted images

Once the conversion is complete, download your converted file

Explore Beyond Converting Image to Black and White

A woman and a golden retriever in the mountains. They're sitting, facing away from the camera while the dog noses the woman. They're surrounded by natural splendor including majestic mountains, puffy clouds, and evergreen-studded hills.
An un-cropped image overlaid with a cropping window showing how it would be cropped by Cloudinary.
An arrow pointing from the original asset to the cropped asset
A woman and a golden retriever in the mountains. They're sitting, facing away from the camera while the dog noses the woman. They're surrounded by natural splendor including majestic mountains, puffy clouds, and evergreen-studded hills.
The same asset cropped using the following settings: Aspect Ratio: 1:2. Crop Mode: Content-Aware.
Images
Videos
Crop Mode
Aspect Ratio
Original
18 MB

We’re showing a resized version of the original asset to avoid slow loading speeds. View the original.

The original asset:
JPEG
135 KB
WebP
135 KB
AVIF
90 KB
JPEG XL
94 KB
The image after being optimized using the following settings: Quality: Auto. Width: 1000px.
Original
18 MB

We’re showing a resized version of the original asset to avoid slow loading speeds. View the original.

The original asset:
JPEG
135 KB
WebP
135 KB
AVIF
90 KB
JPEG XL
94 KB
The image after being optimized using the following settings: Quality: Auto. Width: 1000px.
Images
Videos
Quality
Width
An un-cropped image overlaid with a croppingai window showing how it would be cropped by Cloudinary.
An arrow pointing from the original asset to the cropped asset
The same asset cropped using the following settings: Aspect Ratio: 1:1. Crop Mode: Content-Aware.
Images
Videos
Crop Mode
Aspect Ratio
The original image:
An arrow pointing from the original asset to the transformed asset.
The personalized image:
The original image:
The personalized image:
Product Photos
Backgrounds
Overlays
Duration
Full length video: Surfing Trip
An arrow pointing from the original video to the AI-generated preview.
Duration
A shorter video preview generated by Cloudinary's AI using the following settings: Duration: 15 seconds. Max Clips: 9. Min Clip Length: 1 second.
Videos
Duration
Max Clips
Min Clip Length
URL:
/ar_0.5,c_fill,g_auto,w_433/q_auto/f_auto/hiking_dog_mountain.jpg
cloudinary.image("hiking_dog_mountain.jpg", {transformation: [
  {aspect_ratio: "0.5", gravity: "auto", width: 433, crop: "fill"},
  {quality: "auto"},
  {fetch_format: "auto"}
  ]})
new CloudinaryImage("hiking_dog_mountain.jpg")
  .resize(
    fill()
      .width(433)
      .aspectRatio(0.5)
      .gravity(autoGravity())
  )
  .delivery(quality(auto()))
  .delivery(format(auto()));
new CloudinaryImage("hiking_dog_mountain.jpg")
  .resize(
    fill()
      .width(433)
      .aspectRatio(0.5)
      .gravity(autoGravity())
  )
  .delivery(quality(auto()))
  .delivery(format(auto()));
new CloudinaryImage("hiking_dog_mountain.jpg")
  .resize(
    fill()
      .width(433)
      .aspectRatio(0.5)
      .gravity(autoGravity())
  )
  .delivery(quality(auto()))
  .delivery(format(auto()));
new CloudinaryImage("hiking_dog_mountain.jpg")
  .resize(
    fill()
      .width(433)
      .aspectRatio(0.5)
      .gravity(autoGravity())
  )
  .delivery(quality(auto()))
  .delivery(format(auto()));
CloudinaryImage("hiking_dog_mountain.jpg").image(transformation=[
  {'aspect_ratio': "0.5", 'gravity': "auto", 'width': 433, 'crop': "fill"},
  {'quality': "auto"},
  {'fetch_format': "auto"}
  ])
(new ImageTag('hiking_dog_mountain.jpg'))
	->resize(Resize::fill()->width(433)
->aspectRatio(0.5)
	->gravity(
	Gravity::autoGravity())
	)
	->delivery(Delivery::quality(
	Quality::auto()))
	->delivery(Delivery::format(
	Format::auto()));
cloudinary.url().transformation(new Transformation()
  .aspectRatio("0.5").gravity("auto").width(433).crop("fill").chain()
  .quality("auto").chain()
  .fetchFormat("auto")).imageTag("hiking_dog_mountain.jpg");
cl_image_tag("hiking_dog_mountain.jpg", transformation: [
  {aspect_ratio: "0.5", gravity: "auto", width: 433, crop: "fill"},
  {quality: "auto"},
  {fetch_format: "auto"}
  ])
cloudinary.Api.UrlImgUp.Transform(new Transformation()
  .AspectRatio("0.5").Gravity("auto").Width(433).Crop("fill").Chain()
  .Quality("auto").Chain()
  .FetchFormat("auto")).BuildImageTag("hiking_dog_mountain.jpg")
cloudinary.image('hiking_dog_mountain.jpg').transformation(Transformation()
	.resize(Resize.fill().width(433)
.aspectRatio(0.5)
	.gravity(
	Gravity.autoGravity())
	)
	.delivery(Delivery.quality(
	Quality.auto()))
	.delivery(Delivery.format(
	Format.auto())));
imageView.cldSetImage(cloudinary.createUrl().setTransformation(CLDTransformation()
  .setAspectRatio("0.5").setGravity("auto").setWidth(433).setCrop("fill").chain()
  .setQuality("auto").chain()
  .setFetchFormat("auto")).generate("hiking_dog_mountain.jpg")!, cloudinary: cloudinary)
MediaManager.get().url().transformation(new Transformation()
  .aspectRatio("0.5").gravity("auto").width(433).crop("fill").chain()
  .quality("auto").chain()
  .fetchFormat("auto")).generate("hiking_dog_mountain.jpg");
cloudinary.image('hiking_dog_mountain.jpg').transformation(Transformation()
	.resize(Resize.fill().width(433)
.aspectRatio(0.5)
	.gravity(
	Gravity.autoGravity())
	)
	.delivery(Delivery.quality(
	Quality.auto()))
	.delivery(Delivery.format(
	Format.auto())));
cloudinary.image {
	publicId("hiking_dog_mountain.jpg")
	 resize(Resize.fill() { width(433)
 aspectRatio(0.5F)
	 gravity(
	Gravity.autoGravity())
	 })
	 delivery(Delivery.quality(
	Quality.auto()))
	 delivery(Delivery.format(
	Format.auto())) 
}.generate()
new CloudinaryImage("hiking_dog_mountain.jpg")
  .resize(
    fill()
      .width(433)
      .aspectRatio(0.5)
      .gravity(autoGravity())
  )
  .delivery(quality(auto()))
  .delivery(format(auto()));
GET STARTED
GET STARTED
GET STARTED
GET STARTED

Frequently Asked Questions

Get Answers to Your Questions About Our Chat Software and Features

A grayscale image contains multiple shades of gray, allowing for a smooth transition between light and dark areas. A black-and-white image (also called a binary image) contains only pure black and pure white pixels, with no intermediate shades. This results in a high-contrast look, often used for artistic or document-scanning purposes.

Our converter analyzes the brightness (luminance) of each pixel and applies a threshold to determine whether it should be black or white.

Not necessarily. While black-and-white conversion increases contrast, it may also remove important details found in midtones. However, for text-heavy images or high-contrast photos, it can enhance readability and visual impact.

No, once an image is converted to pure black and white, all color information is lost permanently. Unlike grayscale images (which still retain brightness variations), black-and-white images reduce everything to just two tones, making color restoration nearly impossible without advanced AI-based recoloring.