Blur the Background of a Photo
This adds the background blur that a portrait lens would give you, to a photo that was taken without one. It works by estimating the depth of every pixel and blurring by distance, which is why it looks more natural than tools that cut the subject out and blur everything else flat. It is free, runs in your browser, and your photo is never uploaded.
The first run loads the AI model into your browser and stashes it away like an acorn. One-time setup: every later visit starts instantly, even offline.
How to use it
Drop in your photo
Portraits are the obvious use, but this works on anything with real depth in it: a product on a table, a pet, a street scene.
We build a depth map
The model estimates how far away every pixel is. You can view the depth map itself, which is worth doing once because it makes the next step make sense.
Dial in focus and strength
The focus slider picks the depth that stays sharp. The strength slider sets how hard everything else is blurred. Because the blur follows real depth, things further away blur more, the way a lens does it.
How this runs without a server
Every other tool in this category works the same way: you upload your image, a GPU in a data centre somewhere runs the model, and the result comes back. That architecture is why they all have credits, watermarks and sign-up walls. Someone has to pay for that GPU, and it is metered by the second.
This page does it differently. When you drop in an image, your browser loads the AI model itself and runs it locally. If your browser supports WebGPU, the model runs on your own graphics hardware, which is typically five to sixty times faster than the CPU fallback. If it does not, we fall back to WebAssembly, which is slower but works everywhere.
Two things follow from that, and they are the entire reason this site exists. First, your photo never goes anywhere: it is read into a canvas in your tab and stays in your device's memory until you close it. There is no upload endpoint on this domain to send it to. Second, our cost per image is zero, so the free tier is not a loss-leader with a trapdoor in it. It is just what the thing costs to run, which is nothing.
The model file is cached by your browser after the first download. That is the one wait you have to sit through, and it only happens once per browser. After that the tool works with your network disconnected, which is a decent way to prove to yourself that nothing is being sent.
Checking that for yourself
You do not have to take our word for it, and you should not. Open your browser's developer tools, go to the Network tab, and use the tool. You will see the model coming down. You will not see your image going up, because it never does. Then turn your wifi off: once the model is loaded, the tool keeps working with no network at all, which is not something we could fake. We walk you through both checks here.
Your photo stays on your device.
Not "deleted after 24 hours". Not "encrypted in transit". Never sent. Here is how we prove it.
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from just blurring around the subject?
Most free tools segment the subject, blur everything else by one fixed amount, and call it portrait mode. That produces the flat, cut-out look you can spot instantly. We estimate depth per pixel and scale the blur with distance, so a wall two metres back blurs less than a tree fifty metres back. That gradient is what your eye reads as real.
Why is the edge around my subject wrong?
Depth estimation is fuzzy exactly where the subject meets the background, which is unfortunately where you notice it. Hair is the usual culprit. If you need a hard, accurate subject edge more than a natural falloff, run the background remover instead and composite onto a blurred copy.
How accurate is the depth?
Good enough to look right, and not a measurement. The model estimates relative depth, meaning it knows what is nearer and further but not how far in metres. For blurring that is all you need, since the blur only has to follow the ordering. It is least reliable exactly at the boundary between subject and background, which is unfortunately where your eye looks first.
Is my photo uploaded?
No. The depth model runs in your browser and the photo stays there.