Tools / VHS Effect

VHS Effect

Add a VHS effect with our free online tool. Upload an image, apply the retro VHS look, and download it in just a few clicks.

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VHS Effect

Upload a photo and give it a retro VHS look — chromatic aberration, scan lines, static noise, and a vignette.

Or drag your photo here

★★★★★
4.5 (24 reviews)

Looking to add a VHS effect at scale?

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Free Online VHS Effect

Give any image a retro VHS look in seconds.

Why use our VHS Effect?

Add nostalgic VHS scan lines, noise, and color shifts to any image, right in the browser, free, with no watermarks.

Built for the browser

Work right in your browser, free, with no software to install and no watermarks.

Retro VHS look

Add scan lines, noise, and color-shift artifacts.

Adjustable intensity

Dial the effect from lightly worn to full glitch.

Quality preserved

Cloudinary keeps your output crisp and true to the original.

Do it at scale

Process one file or thousands with our free API and add a VHS effect automatically, with no manual steps.

Format versatility

Works with all major formats, so your result fits right into your workflow.

How to add a VHS effect in 3 steps

Add a VHS effect in 3 simple steps. Upload your image, apply the effect, and download.

Upload your image

Drag and drop your image into the browser, or upload it from your device.

Apply the VHS effect

Add the retro VHS look and adjust the intensity.

Download

Save your result, with no watermarks.

Go beyond a clean image

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()));

Frequently Asked Questions

It adds a retro VHS glitch effect, with scan lines and color shifts, to any image in your browser.

Upload an image and the tool applies the VHS look, which you can dial up or down.

Yes, it’s free to use online. Just upload your image and download the result.

Yes. Developers can use Cloudinary’s API to add a VHS effect automatically.

A retro look that mimics old VHS tape, with scan lines, noise, and color distortion.

Related tools: Base64 to Image, Face Blur, Image to Base64

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