Remove Grain and Noise from Photos
Reduce grain and noise in photos online with bilateral, non-local means, wavelet and median filters. Before/after preview, private in your browser.
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About this tool
Photos taken in low light, with a high ISO or on a small phone sensor often look grainy: fine speckles of color and brightness over smooth areas like skin and sky. This noise reducer smooths that grain while keeping edges and details as sharp as possible. You choose the type of noise and the filter, check the result on a before and after preview, and download the cleaned photo. Processing runs in your browser, so your images are not uploaded.
How to remove grain from a photo
- Upload a JPG, PNG or WebP image (up to 20 MB).
- Choose the noise type, or start with the default.
- Pick a filter and a strength. Increase detail preservation if textures start to look waxy.
- Compare the original and the denoised image with the live preview.
- Download the result.
Noise types
- Gaussian: the even, fine grain typical of high ISO photos.
- Salt and pepper: scattered black and white dots, common in old scans.
- Speckle: grain that grows with brightness.
- Poisson (shot noise): grain from very little light.
- Periodic: regular patterns such as lines or moire.
Filters
- Bilateral: smooths flat areas while keeping edges crisp. A good first choice.
- Non-local means: compares similar patches across the image; best quality, slower.
- Wavelet: separates fine noise from larger structures.
- Median: the classic fix for salt and pepper dots.
- Smart and adaptive: adjust the strength to each area of the photo.
You can treat luminance noise (brightness grain) and color noise (red, green and blue blotches) separately. Color noise can usually be removed strongly; luminance noise looks more natural with a light touch.
Tips
- Less is more: a little grain looks like film, too much smoothing looks like plastic.
- Denoise before sharpening, otherwise you sharpen the noise as well. Then use the image sharpener.
- Avoid saving many times as JPG, which adds blocky artifacts.
No filter can recover detail that was never captured, so very dark or tiny images will improve but not become perfect.
Frequently asked questions
How do I remove grain from a photo for free?
Upload the photo, choose a noise type and a filter such as bilateral or non-local means, compare before and after, and download the result. There is no sign-up or watermark.
Which filter should I use?
Start with bilateral for general grain. Use non-local means for the best quality when you have time, and median for scattered black and white dots.
Will denoising make my photo blurry?
Strong settings can soften fine detail. Raise detail preservation, lower the strength, or treat only color noise to keep the photo sharp.
Does this tool use AI?
No. It uses established image filters such as bilateral, non-local means, wavelet and median filtering, running in your browser.
Are my photos uploaded?
No. The image is processed in your browser and never sent to a server.
What causes noise in photos?
Mostly low light: the camera raises the ISO to brighten the image, which amplifies random variation in the sensor. Small phone sensors are especially affected.