About 30 seconds a photo
Colorize black and white photos automatically: upload, pick a look and press the button. Most runs finish in about half a minute, so a whole box of prints fits into one evening.
AI photo colorizer
Colorize Photo with AI: Black and White to Natural Color
Image2Layer's colorize photo tool turns black and white or sepia photos into natural color, free to try. AI adds realistic colors in about 30 seconds, keeps every face and can fix scratches too.
- Free to try
- PNG in about 30 seconds
- Natural, Vivid or Film
- Repairs scratches too
1. Upload a black and white photo
Sexual or explicit content isn't allowed. Images and results that contain it are blocked automatically.
No image handy? See a sample
2. Pick the look
Faces, lettering and details stay as they are.
3. Colorize Photo
10 credits per photo · Failed runs never use credits
Real result of this tool
Upload your own image to get a PNG.
What it does
Colorize Black and White Photos with Natural Color
This AI photo colorizer adds the color a black and white picture never recorded. Upload a scan or a phone photo of the print, and skin, hair, clothes, sky, plants and buildings each get a believable color of their time, with no brush, no masks and no prompt to write.
Faces, poses and details stay as they were, and sepia prints work just like black and white ones. The colors are a realistic guess, so name any you know in the note. To restore and colorize old photos with tears or missing corners, use old photo restoration, and to split the result into editable layers, use image to layers.
- Black and white to color
- Sepia prints too
- Natural, Vivid or Film
- Faces kept as they were
- Scratches and spots removed
- Name colors you know
BeforeColorizedWhy Use This AI Photo Colorizer
Six reasons to colorize photos here instead of painting them by hand.
Faces stay the people you knew
The AI is told to keep every face, expression and hairstyle as it is and only add color, so a grandparent still looks like themselves.
Natural, Vivid or Film
Natural gives true to life colors of the era, Vivid looks like a modern color photo, and Film has the soft, warm tones of an old color print.
Name the colors you know
Type a short note such as "the car was red" or "her eyes were green", and the colorizer is told to use those colors instead of guessing them.
Light repair in the same run
Repair scratches and spots too is on by default, so dust, spots, scratches and creases go while the color comes in. Turn it off to change only the colors.
10 credits, failed runs free
Each photo costs 10 credits, and every account gets one free try across our AI tools. No subscription is needed, and a run that fails never uses credits.
How to Colorize Photos in 3 Steps
How to colorize black and white photos with no editing skills: three steps from a gray print to a color PNG.
JPGPNGWebPup to 24 MB
Add Color to Black and White Photos Your Way
Three things this colorizer does on vintage style photos made for this page. Drag, watch or move the lens on each example.
BeforeColorizedThree Looks: Natural, Vivid or Film
One photo, three moods. Natural keeps the colors of the era with real skin tones, Vivid makes an old street look photographed today, and Film gives the warm tones of a color print from the past. This 1950s style market photo was colored with Vivid. Drag the divider to compare.
Pick a look
AfterName the Colors You Know, AI Fills In the Rest
Every colorized photo is a realistic guess until you add what you remember. On this portrait the note read "her coat was red and her scarf was cream", and the rest of the colors stayed natural. Watch the zoom switch between before and after. To clear a date stamp or a caption from the corner afterwards, use remove text from image.
Add your colors
Move to see the sepia originalColorize Old Photos in Sepia and Clean Up Small Marks
Sepia prints take color just like black and white ones. With Repair scratches and spots too switched on, dust, spots, scratches and creases go in the same run, as on this 1910s style farm photo. Move the lens to see the sepia original. To print it larger, enlarge the result with the image upscaler.
Colorize a sepia photoColorize Photo Before and After
Six vintage style photos made for this page show how the tool adds color to black and white photos and sepia prints in one run. Hover a card to wipe between them, or open it to compare closely.
Graduation portrait
Natural gave a 1960s style graduation portrait warm skin tones and a deep gown color, with her face unchanged.
Family day at the beach
Vivid turned a gray 1950s style beach photo into blue water, bright swimsuits and sunlit sand.
Kitchen, with a note
The note "the kitchen walls were mint green" set the walls, and Film added the soft, warm tones of an old color print.
Sepia village lane, color only
Repair was turned off, so this sepia lane of stone houses kept its grain and small marks and only gained color.
Jazz trio on stage
A 1940s style trio under stage lights, given warm skin tones, dark suits and gleaming brass in Film color.
Couple on a park bench
A creased 1960s style photo of an older couple, cleaned up and colored, with the mustard cardigan from the note.
Tips to Colorize Old Photos for the Best Result
The best way to colorize old photos: a clean scan, a tight crop and the colors you know.
Scan or photograph the print well
A flatbed scan at 600 DPI is best. With a phone, lay the print flat in soft daylight, hold the phone straight above it and avoid glare. Upload the largest file you have; it is scaled to 2048 pixels on the longest side before the run.
One photo at a time, cropped tight
Crop away the album page, the frame and the table around the print. The colorized photo keeps the shape of what you upload, so a tight crop gives the cleanest result.
Name only the colors you are sure of
Write what you know, such as "his suit was gray" or "the door was blue", and let the AI choose the rest. Everything you leave out gets a realistic guess of the era.
Match the look, then check faces
Natural suits family history, Vivid suits streets and landscapes, and Film suits photos that should feel of their time. Check faces with the slider after each run. For comics and line art, colorize manga is the better tool.
AI Photo Colorizer vs Photoshop and Colorization Services
Image2Layer next to coloring by hand in Photoshop and paid colorization services.
- Time per photoImage2Layer:About 30 secondsPhotoshop by hand:Often an hour or moreColorization service:Usually days, plus sending the photo
- CostImage2Layer:10 credits a photoPhotoshop by hand:A Photoshop subscriptionColorization service:A fee per photo, more for large groups
- Skill neededImage2Layer:None: upload and pick a lookPhotoshop by hand:Masks, color layers and practiceColorization service:None, an artist does the work
- Colors you knowImage2Layer:Named in a short notePhotoshop by hand:Painted exactly where you want themColorization service:Told to the artist
- Scratches and spotsImage2Layer:Removed in the same runPhotoshop by hand:Healing brush, spot by spotColorization service:Often an extra charge
- Where it runsImage2Layer:In your browser, also on a phonePhotoshop by hand:A desktop appColorization service:You send the print or a scan
Photoshop is a trademark of Adobe. Image2Layer is not affiliated with Adobe or with any colorization service.
Who Uses This Colorize Photo Tool
Families, family historians, teachers and anyone with a box of black and white prints.
Family albums
See grandparents, weddings and first homes in color, and colorize old black and white photos for a frame or a gift.
Family history
Add color to old black and white photos for a family tree, a reunion slideshow or a memorial card.
Classrooms
Show students the past in color for a history lesson, a school project or a class display.
Local history
Turn a black and white photo to color for a town archive, a museum label or a history post.
Prints and gifts
Download the color PNG for a photo print, or make a matching poster from a short description with the AI poster generator.
Design projects
Use colorized pictures in collages and invitations, and turn them into editable layers with image to PSD.
Colorize Photo FAQ
Answers about colors, faces, sepia prints, price and privacy.
Upload a black and white photo above, pick Natural, Vivid or Film, and press Colorize Photo. About 30 seconds later the color version is ready: compare it with the original, then press Download PNG.
Yes, once. Each account gets one free run across Image2Layer's AI tools: sign in, press Try it free, and you get a watermarked result with no credits needed. After that, each photo costs 10 credits.
It gets close, but the colors are a realistic guess, not a record. A black and white photo stores no color, so the AI picks the colors that skin, fabric, sky and leaves most likely had at the time. When you know a color, name it in the note, such as "her dress was navy blue".
The AI recognizes what is in the picture and gives each part a believable color: skin tones for faces, blue for the sky, green for trees and colors of the era for clothes, cars and buildings. It is also told to use any color you name in the note.
Usually, yes. The colorizer is told to keep every face, expression, hairstyle and pose exactly as it is and only add color. AI can still change a small detail now and then, so check faces with the slider before you print.
Yes. Sepia and brown-toned prints take color just like black and white ones, and the brown tone gives way to natural colors. The farm photo in the examples above started out sepia.
Yes, light damage. With Repair scratches and spots too switched on, which is the default, scratches, dust, spots and creases are removed in the same run. For tears, missing corners or water stains, use old photo restoration, which rebuilds lost areas.
No. The tool already tells the AI how to color the picture and what to keep. You only pick the look, and you can add a short note with colors you know.
It works best on photographs. For manga pages, comics and line drawings, use colorize manga instead, which keeps every line and speech bubble as drawn.
Each photo costs 10 credits. Credit packs need no subscription, and a run that fails never uses credits. The pricing page lists the current plans and packs.
Yes: every run paid with credits downloads without a watermark. Only the free trial result carries one, and it disappears as soon as you buy any plan or credit pack.
It comes back at about 1,200 pixels on the longest side, in the same shape as your upload, which prints well up to about 6 by 4 inches. For a bigger print, enlarge it 2x or 4x with the image upscaler.
Yes. It is an AI photo colorizer online, so it runs in your phone browser with no app to install. Photograph the print flat in daylight, upload it, and download the color version. Android phones work the same way.
Photoshop gives you full control, but coloring a photo by hand means masking and painting skin, clothes and sky area by area, often for an hour or more. Here a colorized photo takes about 30 seconds, and you can still fine-tune it in any editor afterwards.
Your uploads and results are visible only to your account, and every upload passes our content checks. Only upload photos you own or have permission to use.
More Tools to Use After You Colorize Photos
More image tools for the next step with your color picture.
Next Steps After You Colorize Old Photos
Four tools for what usually comes next.
Photo colorizer
Colorize Photos from Your Family Album
Upload a black and white or sepia photo and get it back in natural color in about 30 seconds. Your first try is free with an account.
Colorize a photo