Add a sepia tone to a photo for an old-print look

How to use Image Sepia

1. Choose one or more photos.
2. Set Amount (0–100%). 100% gives full sepia; 30–50% gives a subtle warm cast.
3. Pick Save as and Quality if you need a different format.
4. Press Apply and download the files ending in -sepia.

What it does and when to use it

Sepia makes a picture feel old, calm and nostalgic. It suits family history projects, wedding albums, invitations with a vintage theme, period-style posters and social posts that need a consistent mood. Because every colour lands on the same brown ramp, it also hides colour clashes between photos taken under different lights.

For neutral grey instead of brown, use Image Grayscale. To finish the old-photo look, darken the corners with Image Vignette and add a cream frame with Image Border.

How it works

Inside a Web Worker on your device, each pixel’s red, green and blue values go through the 3 × 3 colour matrix that the CSS sepia() filter defines:

• new R = 0.393 R + 0.769 G + 0.189 B
• new G = 0.349 R + 0.686 G + 0.168 B
• new B = 0.272 R + 0.534 G + 0.131 B

Results above 255 are capped. At an Amount below 100%, the matrix is blended toward “no change” by the same rule CSS uses. Transparency is untouched, and nothing is sent to a server.

Worked examples

Computed with the tool’s own matrix.

A blue sky. At full strength the bright blue of a sky (like #2563eb) turns into a mid brown-tan, (135, 120, 94). Every colour ends up somewhere between black and cream, which is what makes the result look like one old print.

A light wash. At 40%, mid-grey only moves to (146, 138, 125): slightly warmer, with the original colours still visible.

Limits and tips

• Very bright photos can clip in the red channel; lower brightness first if highlights matter.
• The sepia copy does not include EXIF data such as the camera or location.
• Animated GIFs become a single frame.
• To shrink the toned photo for a website or form, use Compress Image to 100 KB.