Brighten Image
Fix dark and underexposed photos in your browser — automatic, private, and free
Drop a photo here
or click to browse (JPG, PNG, WebP, AVIF — one image at a time)
Why your photo looks darker on other screens
Phone screens auto-brighten and often display HDR versions of a photo, while the exported file is plain SDR. The same image can look vivid on the phone that shot it and flat on a laptop. Cameras also protect highlights: they expose for the sky, not the subject, which is why the foreground comes out crushed.
Lifting the shadows fixes the common case without blowing out the bright parts. Raising the whole frame with a brightness layer does the opposite — the sky clips before the subject becomes readable.
Auto shadow lift vs. manual brightness
Auto measures the image's luminance median and lifts only the dark range, keeping black at black. It is a no-op when the photo is already well exposed, so it cannot wash out a correctly exposed image.
Brightness is a manual gamma curve that works on any photo — useful when the whole frame is underlit or when Auto has little to lift. Contrast pivots around the photo's own median, saturation is gamut-aware, and sharpening runs last so the tone changes are not amplified.
What brightening can't fix
Lifting shadows also lifts sensor noise and JPEG artifacts. If a photo is blurry, out of focus, or already clipped to black, no amount of brightness will recover detail. For those, a re-shot or a better-lit original is the honest answer.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I brighten an image?
Open your photo with the button above. Auto shadow lift is already on; if the photo is still too dark, open Advanced adjustments and move the Brightness slider. Check the preview, then click Save Brightened Image — the download keeps your original format.
What does Auto do?
Auto applies an order-preserving shadow lift: it raises the darkest tones while keeping black at black, and it does nothing when the photo is already well exposed. It is tuned for underexposed photos, not for washing the whole frame out.
What's the difference between Auto and the Brightness slider?
Auto is a histogram-based shadow lift that only fires on dark images. Brightness is a manual gamma curve that works on any photo. Use Auto when the shadows are crushed, and Brightness when the whole frame is underlit.
Will brightening reduce image quality?
Tone changes are applied in 8-bit RGB and the file is re-encoded once, so a JPG loses a little quality like any edit-and-save. Heavy lifting also amplifies noise and JPEG artifacts. The tool never resizes your image, and PNG output stays lossless.
What formats does it support?
JPG, PNG, WebP and AVIF. The output keeps the input format — a JPG stays JPG (0.92 quality), PNG keeps transparency, and AVIF is encoded with the same quality target. GIF and HEIC are not supported here.
Can I brighten a HEIC photo?
Not directly — this tool decodes JPG, PNG, WebP and AVIF only. Convert the HEIC photo to JPG with our HEIC to JPG converter first, then brighten the result.
Can I brighten several photos at once?
No. This tool is deliberately single-image so every adjustment is checked against the preview — brightness is a per-photo judgement call. Save one photo, then open the next.
Does it work on my phone?
Yes. Open the page in Safari or Chrome, pick a photo, and drag the sliders. Processing runs on the device, so a very large photo may take a moment on older phones.
Is my photo uploaded anywhere?
No. The image is decoded and adjusted in your browser with the Canvas API, and nothing is sent to a server. You can disconnect from the internet after the page loads and keep editing.
Why does my photo look darker than it did on my phone?
Phone screens auto-brighten and often show HDR versions, while the exported file is standard SDR — so it can look duller on a laptop or after uploading. Cameras also protect highlights, which leaves shadows dark. Lifting shadows (Auto) fixes that without blowing out the sky.