Photo editor. Layers, brushes, blend modes, in your browser.

How to use the Photo Editor

This is a layer based image editor that runs in your browser. Photos, paint strokes, text, shapes and color fills each sit on their own layer with a blend mode and opacity, and you work on them with selection, painting, retouching, crop and color tools. Use it for social graphics, quick photo fixes, mockups or any edit that needs layers without installing software.

Step by step

1. 1
   Start a document

   Under New canvas, pick a Size preset such as 1920×1080 or type a Width (px) and Height (px) up to 8000. Choose a Background of Transparent, White, Black or Custom, then press Create canvas. Or drop a JPG, PNG or WebP on Drop a photo here, or click it, to open the photo at its own size.

2. 2
   Find your way around

   Tools sit in the left rail as icons; hover one to see its name and key, such as Brush (B). The canvas is in the middle, with the Layers and Properties panels on the right; on narrow screens a Layers and Properties switch toggles them. Use Fit, 1:1 and the zoom buttons in the top bar, and hold Space and drag to pan.

3. 3
   Build with layers

   Add layers with + Image, + Text, + Shape, + Paint and + Fill, or drop or paste an image onto the canvas. Click a layer to make it active, then set its Blend mode and Opacity. Drag rows to reorder, and use Duplicate, Merge, Flatten or Delete below. Double-click a layer name to rename it.

4. 4
   Paint and retouch

   Brush and Eraser work on paint and image layers, so press + Paint first for a blank one. Size runs from 1 to 400 px, and the [ and ] keys change it. For the Clone stamp, Alt+click to set the source, then paint. Dodge / Burn lightens or darkens with a Strength slider, and the Fill bucket and Gradient use the foreground color.

5. 5
   Select an area

   Use Marquee select (M) for a rectangle or ellipse, Lasso select (L) for a freehand shape, or Magic wand (W) to pick similar colors, with Tolerance from 0 to 100 (default 30). Painting, fills and gradients stay inside the selection. Properties then offers All, Deselect, Invert, Fill and Clear px, plus a button that copies the area to a new layer.

6. 6
   Adjust color and detail

   With a layer active, Adjustments (non-destructive) offers Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Hue rotate, Blur, Grayscale, Sepia and Invert, with Reset to undo them all. On image and paint layers, Levels (Ctrl+L) sets the black point, white point and gamma over a live histogram and is also kept apart from the pixels. Sharpen, Noise, Pixelate and Vignette change the pixels themselves, so step back with Undo or the History list if you need to.

7. 7
   Crop and resize

   Pick the Crop tool, drag a rectangle, then press Apply crop or Enter; Cancel or Esc drops it. Canvas size changes the canvas around your content from an anchor point you choose. Scale image resizes the canvas and every layer together, by percent or to a new width, up to 8000 px.

8. 8
   Export or save the project

   Press Export, choose PNG, JPG or WebP, a Scale of 0.5×, 1×, 2× or 4×, and for JPG and WebP a Quality from 40 to 100 (default 92). JPG background fills transparent areas, white by default. Press Download, or Copy PNG to copy it at 1×. Save project keeps every layer in a .json file that Open project reopens.

Reading the screen

• The status bar under the canvas shows the zoom percent, the canvas size in pixels and the cursor's x and y position on the canvas.
• The Layers list shows the top layer first. Under each name you see its type, plus its blend mode and opacity when they are not Normal and 100%. The eye icon hides a layer and the lock icon protects it from edits.
• The History list keeps your last 40 steps. Click any row to jump back to it; faded rows after the current one are steps you can still redo.
• Short messages at the bottom of the screen confirm actions, such as Clone source set, or explain why something did not work, such as Select a paint or image layer first.

Tips and common mistakes

• Press Save project before you close or reload the tab. The editor keeps nothing between visits, and it does not warn you before the page closes.
• With no selection, the Delete and Backspace keys delete the whole active layer, not just pixels. Press Ctrl+Z to bring it back.
• Prefer the adjustment sliders and Levels over the pixel filters while you experiment. Those can be changed or reset any time; Sharpen, Noise, Pixelate and Vignette are baked into the layer.
• Export at 2× or 4× for sharp results on high density screens. An export over 16000 px on either side is refused, so 4× only works on canvases up to 4000 px a side.
• Photos larger than 8000 px on their long side are scaled down to 8000 px when they open.

Privacy and limits

Every layer, stroke, filter and export is drawn by your own browser, and no image is uploaded or stored by the page. Project files and exports are downloaded straight to your device, and Copy PNG only writes to your clipboard. Copy PNG needs a browser that allows images on the clipboard. Canvases are capped at 8000 px a side.

Back to the tool

Everything a real editor should do.

• Edit in layers, images, paint, text, shapes and solid fills, each with its own blend mode, opacity, drag-to-reorder and non-destructive adjustments.
• Select precisely with a rectangle or ellipse marquee, a freehand lasso, or a magic wand with adjustable tolerance, complete with animated marching-ants outlines.
• Paint and retouch using a soft brush, eraser, clone stamp (Alt+click to set the source) and dodge / burn, all clipped to the active selection.
• Fill, gradient and flood with a tolerance-aware fill bucket and linear or radial gradients that respect your selection.
• Adjust and filter with brightness, contrast, saturation and more, plus Levels (with a live histogram), Sharpen, Noise, Pixelate and Vignette.
• Export or save a flattened PNG, JPG or WebP at up to 4× scale, copy straight to the clipboard, or save the whole layered project as JSON and reopen it later.

Frequently asked questions.

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