The short answer
Why use Lighten?
Color corrections are easier to judge when one control changes at a time. The live preview helps you spot clipped highlights, gray shadows, or an unwanted cast before export.
Lighten focuses on adjusting lighten while watching the pixels change in the preview. These tools work in an 8-bit browser canvas. They are well suited to screen graphics and quick corrections, but they are not a replacement for a color-managed print workflow.
The selected file stays in this browser tab and is released when you leave the page. Keep an eye on skin tones, neutral grays, and smooth skies. Extreme corrections can clip channels or show visible steps.
What Lighten does
Open the source photo
Drop, choose, or paste a supported file into Lighten. Adjusting lighten while watching the pixels change in the preview. The source stays on your device; we work on a copy.
Judge the color shift
Lighten is for adjusting lighten while watching the pixels change in the preview. The preview is the place to decide if the setting went too far. The original file is not overwritten.
Useful controls
Main controls: Amount, target color, tolerance, or channel controls depending on the job. Working limit: 50 MB and 50 megapixels per image. Watch the preview at full size before you save. A current desktop browser usually has more memory than a phone.
Download a copy
Export is a flattened png or browser-supported raster image. The download is a new file. Keep the original until you have opened the copy once.
Where Lighten fits
These are ordinary jobs where the focused controls save time. They also show where a full editor or a manual review may still be the better choice.
Color correction
Fix a cast or uneven tone before an image is published.
Brand matching
Use Lighten to move a graphic closer to an existing palette.
Channel inspection
Isolate or compare color information when diagnosing an image problem.
Start to finish
How to use Lighten
- 01Choose, drop, or paste a supported file.
- 02Adjust the lighten controls and check the preview at full size.
- 03Download the finished copy and open it once before using it elsewhere.
What to expect from Lighten
This table covers the parts that matter before you begin: what goes in, which controls do the work, what comes out, and where the browser draws a hard line.
| Check | What it means here |
|---|---|
| Supported input | JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP, SVG and browser-supported AVIF images |
| Main controls | Amount, target color, tolerance, or channel controls depending on the job |
| Output | A flattened PNG or browser-supported raster image |
| Working limit | 50 MB and 50 megapixels per image |
| Privacy | Files and entered values stay in this tab. Filenames, pixels, metadata, OCR text, QR contents, locations, and passwords are not sent to analytics. |
Before you export
- Make one correction at a time so you know which setting helped.
- Use a neutral gray or white object as a reference when one is present.
- Avoid judging color with a dim display or a strong night-mode tint.
- For print-critical work, confirm the result in an ICC-aware desktop app.
Frequently asked questions
If you cannot find what you are looking for, write us a message and we will get back to you.
What should I check before saving with Lighten?
Does my file get uploaded?
Can I use Lighten on a phone?
Will Lighten overwrite my original file?
Why might the Lighten result look different in another app?
Is Lighten free to use?
How does Lighten work?
What can I put into Lighten?
How do I save the result from Lighten?
Why did Lighten fail or look wrong?
Will Lighten keep a copy of my work?
Related tools
More in Color & Adjustments.
Continue the workflow
These tools handle common next steps after lighten.