The result keeps the original photo's full sharpness: the model predicts only the colors, and they are blended back into your photo at its native resolution.
Colorize Black and White Photos - AI, On-Device
This page adds color to a black-and-white photo using an AI model that runs on your own device - the picture never leaves your browser. Choose a photo, click the colorize button, and in roughly 15 to 60 seconds you get a full-color version you can compare against the original and download as a PNG.
What actually happens to your photo
The model looks at the brightness detail of your photo and predicts a color layer for it. Your photo's original full-resolution sharpness is kept: only the colors are new, blended back into the picture at its native size. Nothing is uploaded at any point - the one network request this tool ever makes is downloading the colorization model itself, about 130 MB, once, after you click the button. Your browser caches the model, so the next photo and the next visit skip the download entirely.
What to expect from the colors
Predicted colors are a plausible guess, not a historical record. The model has seen enough photos to make skin tones, skies, grass, and wood look believable, but it cannot know that a jacket was green or a car was red - it picks the most likely option. The "Show original" toggle flips between the two versions so you can judge the result before saving. If a photo comes out muted, running it again will not change the answer; the model is deterministic for a given picture.
If you do not want a 130 MB download
The "Warm tint" button gives an instant result with zero download and zero network: a fixed sepia-style tone mapped over the photo. It is honestly a tint - every picture gets the same warm palette - while the AI button predicts colors specific to the content of your photo. The tint path is there so a quick job, a metered connection, or an older machine still gets something useful.
Old photo workflow: repair first, then colorize
Colorization works best on a clean scan. If your original is faded, low-resolution, or damaged, run it through the photo restoration tool first - it sharpens and upscales on-device the same private way - and then colorize the restored version here. Doing it in that order keeps the color prediction from amplifying scratches and grain.
Practical limits
This tool processes photos, not video. Very large photos are scaled to 4000 pixels on the long side before processing, and the color layer itself is predicted at one fixed working resolution - on very large images, fine color boundaries can bleed slightly at edges even though the detail stays sharp. Processing time depends on your device; a typical laptop lands in the 15 to 60 second range per photo.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is my photo uploaded anywhere?
No. The photo colorizer runs entirely on your device; the picture never leaves your browser. The only network request is the one-time download of the colorization model itself, and that happens only after you click the AI button.
Are the colors it adds historically accurate?
No - they are the model's best guess from what it learned, not a record of the real scene. Skin, sky, and foliage usually come out believable; the exact color of clothing, cars, or walls can be wrong. Use the "Show original" toggle to compare before saving.
Why is the model download about 130 MB?
Color prediction needs a full neural network, and this page runs it on your own device instead of a server. The download happens once, with a progress percentage, and is cached by your browser - the next visit skips it. After that, a photo typically takes 15 to 60 seconds.
Does colorizing reduce my photo's sharpness?
No. The model predicts only the color layer; your photo's original full-resolution detail is kept and the colors are blended into it. The result downloads as a PNG re-encoded from the canvas, so the original file's hidden metadata is not carried over.
Can I get a result without downloading the model?
Yes - the "Warm tint" button applies an instant sepia-style tone with no download and no network at all. It is a simple fixed tint, not real color prediction; the AI button is the one that guesses actual colors.