All nine filter functions
Blur, brightness, contrast, grayscale, hue-rotate, invert, opacity, saturate and sepia, plus a full drop-shadow sub-group.
CSS Filter Generator
Dial in blur, brightness, contrast, hue and more, upload your own photo to preview it live, and copy a ready-to-use CSS filter rule.
Ready-to-use CSS
Preview real filter effects before you ship them
Combine every CSS filter function visually and see exactly how it will render, then grab clean CSS with no guesswork.
Preview your own photo
Upload any image straight from your device — it never leaves your browser — or use the built-in demo scene.
One-click mood presets
Jump straight to Vintage, Cold, Warm or Noir looks, then fine-tune any slider from there.
How to use the CSS filter generator
- Pick a starting pointChoose a preset like Vintage or Cold, or start from scratch with the sliders.
- Fine-tune the lookAdjust blur, color and drop-shadow controls until the preview matches your design.
- Copy the CSSSelect Copy CSS to grab the finished filter rule for your stylesheet.
About the CSS filter property
The CSS filter property applies graphical effects — blurring, color shifting, contrast and shadow — directly to an element in the browser, without touching the source image or needing a canvas element. Each effect is written as a function, such as blur(4px) or saturate(150%), and multiple functions are simply space-separated in a single declaration; the browser applies them in the order they're written, so a hue-rotate before a sepia can look different from a sepia before a hue-rotate. Most filter functions accept a percentage relative to the element's normal, unfiltered state, where 100% means no change, except blur(), hue-rotate() and drop-shadow(), which take length or angle values instead. Filters are commonly GPU-accelerated in modern browsers, making them cheap for static use, though animating heavy blur or multiple stacked filters on large elements can still cost frame time on lower-powered devices. Unlike box-shadow, drop-shadow() respects the actual alpha channel of the element's rendered shape, including transparent PNGs and clipped or rounded corners, which makes it the better choice whenever an image isn't a plain rectangle.
Order matters
Filter functions are applied left to right, so try reordering them in your stylesheet if a combined effect looks different than expected.
drop-shadow vs box-shadow
drop-shadow follows the element's actual alpha shape, while box-shadow always follows the rectangular border box.
Performance tip
Prefer filter over repeated background-image swaps for hover effects — it's typically cheaper to animate.
Backdrop vs filter
filter affects the element itself; use backdrop-filter instead when you want to blur what's behind a translucent element.
CSS filter generator FAQ
What does the CSS filter property do?
The CSS filter property applies graphical effects like blur, color adjustment and shadows directly to an element, most commonly images, without needing an image editor or extra markup.
Can I combine multiple filter functions?
Yes. Filter functions such as blur(), brightness(), contrast() and saturate() are space separated and applied in the order they are written, and this generator writes them out for you automatically.
Does CSS filter affect page performance?
Filters, especially blur, are GPU-accelerated in most modern browsers but can still be costly on large elements or when animated, so test performance on lower-end devices for heavy use.
Can I upload my own photo to preview filters?
Yes. Use the Upload image control to preview filters on your own photo entirely in your browser; nothing is uploaded to a server.
Is this CSS filter generator free to use?
Yes. The generator is completely free, requires no account, and runs locally in your browser with no image ever leaving your device.
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