Add grain to a JPG.

Texture from the chemistry: silver halide crystals make grain, the emulsion varies a little from point to point, and the physical medium adds small irregularities. The tool simulates that with specks whose color and density you set.

When it draws the eye away from the subject. Texture should add depth and mood, not become the picture. For most photos 10 to 20 percent adds noticeable character without taking over.

Color-matched grain at 8 to 15 percent: it textures skin without colored specks. For a dramatic black-and-white portrait, monochrome grain at 15 to 25 with black and white on gives the editorial look.

Sampled grain. It builds the specks from the sky, foliage and earth already in the frame, so a smooth sky gets texture without random colors breaking its gradient.

Yes. A low-quality JPEG's blocks, sharpening halos and banding are regular patterns; random grain breaks that regularity up and they stop catching the eye.

Use one style and one amount for the whole series and note them. Each photo gets its own random pattern, but the same settings read as one look across a gallery or an essay.

Film grain scatters random colored specks, like expired color film. Monochrome grain is gray only, the silver halide look. Color-matched grain nudges each speck a little away from the pixel's own color, so it blends. Sampled grain reuses colors found elsewhere in the photo, and tinted grain uses one color you pick.

The amount is the share of pixels that get a speck. 8 to 15 percent adds texture you feel more than see; 20 to 40 is visible film character; above 50 it reads as damaged or experimental film.

Each pattern is random, and no two frames of real film share one either. Click New pattern until the specks fall where they suit the photo; the same amount and style keep a series consistent even though every pattern differs.

No. The file is decoded, drawn and re-encoded by your browser's canvas, and the page makes no request with it. You can load the page, go offline and keep working; nothing is stored either.

No. The "Add grain to a JPG" tool is free and opens without a sign-in, an account or an install.

Up to 100 MB per file, the limit the tool states under its drop area. A larger file is refused with a plain message instead of being decoded.

No, it takes one file at a time. If you drop or choose several, only the first is used; run the tool again for the next one.

The edit is written as a PNG because PNG stores every pixel exactly, with a full alpha channel, so the result can be edited again without a second round of loss.

No. The browser decodes the image and the tool writes a new file from its pixels, so camera EXIF, GPS position and text chunks in the original are not copied into the result. Keep the original file if you need them.

No. The result has the same width and height in pixels as the source.

Closest to the "Add grain to a JPG" tool: Photo grain generator, JPG film grain effect, Vintage photo effect, JPG color tone changer. Each opens on its own page, free and in the browser.

The "Add grain to a JPG" tool is one of 44 in its group. The group's page, /tools/jpg, lists them all.

The tool is free. Its interface is built from shadcn.io's own components (Button, Input, Slider and the rest of the registry under /ui), which come in React, Vue, Svelte and Solid. Pro adds the blocks and templates for the product around it.