# brighten.video > Brighten a dark or underexposed video in your browser: Auto brighten, night and backlit fixes, exposure, shadows and noise reduction. Free, no upload. brighten.video is a single-purpose web app for footage that came out too dark. The visitor opens a file, the page measures its tones from a few frames, and a WebGL2 shader (or the same maths on the CPU) applies exposure in linear light, shadow and highlight curves, black and white points, colour and noise smoothing to every frame. The result is re-encoded in the browser with WebCodecs and saved on the device. Nothing is uploaded; there is no API, account or server-side processing. ## Brightening tool and situations - [Brighten a video online](https://brighten.video/): The tool with Auto brighten, four quick fixes, a full grading panel and an explanation of exposure, gamma, noise and clipping. - [Fix a video that is too dark](https://brighten.video/video-too-dark): Why clips come out dark, and the quickest way to rescue one. - [Fix underexposed footage with exposure in stops](https://brighten.video/fix-underexposed-video): Exposure, shadows and scopes for footage shot a stop or two under. - [Enhance a night or low-light video](https://brighten.video/night-video-enhancer): Brighten after-dark footage while keeping it looking like night. - [Brighten a backlit subject in a video](https://brighten.video/brighten-backlit-video): Rescue a person filmed in front of a window, sunset or bright sky. - [Brighten a video without losing quality](https://brighten.video/brighten-video-without-losing-quality): Bitrate, bit depth, banding and noise: keeping a brightened clip clean. ## Guides for other apps - [How to brighten a video on iPhone](https://brighten.video/brighten-video-iphone): Use Exposure, Brilliance and Shadows in the Photos app, and revert to the original at any time. - [How to brighten a video on Android](https://brighten.video/brighten-video-android): Lift a dark clip with Google Photos’ Adjust tools or the Tone panel in Samsung Gallery. - [How to brighten a video on Windows](https://brighten.video/brighten-video-windows): Use Clipchamp’s Adjust colors tab on Windows 11, or a browser tool that keeps the file on your PC. - [How to brighten a video on a Mac](https://brighten.video/brighten-video-mac): Use the Light slider in Photos or Color Correction in iMovie, and export a brighter copy. - [How to brighten a video in Premiere Pro](https://brighten.video/brighten-video-premiere-pro): Lumetri Basic Correction, the Luma waveform and export settings for dark footage. - [How to brighten a video in CapCut](https://brighten.video/brighten-video-capcut): Use Adjust in the CapCut app or desktop editor to lift Brightness, Exposure and Shadows. - [How to brighten a video in DaVinci Resolve](https://brighten.video/brighten-video-davinci-resolve): Primaries wheels, HDR palette Exposure, scopes and Deliver settings for dark clips. - [How to brighten a video in VLC](https://brighten.video/brighten-video-vlc): Brighten playback with Image adjust, then save a copy with the Image properties filter. ## About and privacy - [About brighten.video](https://brighten.video/about): Why the site exists, how the grading works and its honest limits. - [Privacy](https://brighten.video/privacy): Footage never leaves the device; Google Analytics can be switched off from Cookie settings. ## Why the results look natural - **Light, not grey**: Exposure works in linear light, like opening up a lens, so colours stay rich and lamps roll off softly instead of turning into white blobs. - **Grain under control**: Lifting shadows reveals noise. Noise reduction smooths the speckles in the dark areas you brighten and leaves detail elsewhere alone. - **Private and free**: The video is graded on your own device and never uploaded. No account, no watermark and no length limit. ## Brightening a clip in three steps 1. **Open the dark video**: Drop it on the page or choose Select video. MP4, MOV, WebM and MKV all open, including footage from iPhone and Android phones. 2. **Press Auto brighten or pick a quick fix**: Auto brighten measures the light in your clip and lifts it to a natural level. Night video, Dim room, Backlit and Slightly dark suit common problems, and Strength sets how far to go. Turn on Before and after to compare. 3. **Export and download**: Choose Export video, wait for the progress bar, then Download video. On a phone, Share sends it to Photos or another app. ## Common questions about dark footage ### How do I make a dark video brighter? Open the video above and press Auto brighten. It measures how dark the footage is and lifts exposure and shadows to a natural level. If the result is too strong or too weak, drag Strength, then select Export video and download the file. ### Is my video uploaded anywhere? No. brighten.video decodes, grades and re-encodes the file inside your browser using WebCodecs and your device’s graphics chip. Nothing about the picture or the sound is sent to a server. ### What is the difference between exposure, brightness and gamma? Exposure multiplies the light in every pixel, the way a wider aperture or slower shutter would, so it keeps the ratios between dark and bright areas. Brightness shifts the picture up or down evenly. Gamma (Midtones) bends the middle of the tonal range while pure black and pure white stay where they are. For underexposed footage, exposure usually looks the most natural. ### Why does my video look grainy after brightening it? Dark footage already contains sensor noise and compression blocks; they were just too dark to see. Lifting the shadows makes them visible. Open More options and raise Noise reduction, or lower Strength, and move Blacks a little to the left so the darkest areas go cleanly black. ### Can I brighten a night video without it looking fake? Yes. The Night video fix aims for a lifted but still night-time look: it brightens the street and faces, holds back street lights with Highlights, keeps the sky dark with Blacks and adds Noise reduction. Use the Before and after split to judge it. ### My subject is a dark silhouette in front of a window. Can that be fixed? Choose Backlit. It lifts the shadows hard and pulls the bright background down so the person and the window both keep detail. Truly black areas carry no information, so a full silhouette can only be lightened so far. ### Will brightening reduce the quality? Every frame has to be redrawn, so the video is re-encoded rather than copied. It is encoded at a generous bitrate, and you can choose High under Export settings for the closest match. What really limits quality is the original: an 8-bit phone clip only has so much information in its shadows. ### Does it keep the sound? Yes. The audio track is kept and stays in sync. Turn off Keep sound under Export settings if you want a silent file. ### Can I fine-tune the result myself? Open More options for Exposure, Brightness, Midtones (gamma), Contrast, Shadows, Highlights, Blacks, Whites, Saturation, Vibrance and Noise reduction. Each has an exact number field and its own reset, and the Histogram and Waveform show where the tones sit. ### How do I compare the original with the brightened version? Turn on Before and after, or press B. The preview splits: the original on the left, the result on the right. Drag the divider, or focus it and use the arrow keys. ### Can I brighten only part of the video? You can trim the clip with the scissors button under the preview, or with I and O at the playhead, and only the part you keep is exported. The same settings apply to the whole kept section. ### Which formats and sizes work? MP4, MOV, WebM and MKV open in modern browsers, including HEVC files where the browser can decode them; unusual codecs fall back to a converter that runs on your device. You can save as MP4 or, where supported, WebM, at the original size or smaller. ### Does it work on a phone? Yes. It runs in up-to-date Safari, Chrome, Edge and Firefox, on phones and tablets as well as computers. Long 4K clips take longer on a phone because every frame is processed on the device.