CSS Filter Generator

Reference

What is the CSS filter property?

The filter CSS property applies graphical effects like blur, color shifting, and contrast adjustment to an element. Filters are applied before the element is composited, affecting the entire element including its borders and shadows. Multiple filter functions can be chained in a single declaration — they are applied in the order listed.

All CSS filter functions

blur(px): Applies a Gaussian blur. Higher values = more blur. Useful for background overlays and depth-of-field effects.
brightness(%): Adjusts brightness. 100% = original, 0% = completely black, values above 100% brighten the image.
contrast(%): Adjusts contrast. 100% = original, 0% = completely gray, values above 100% increase contrast.
grayscale(%): Converts to grayscale. 0% = original, 100% = fully grayscale. Often used for hover effects on image galleries.
hue-rotate(deg): Rotates colors around the color wheel. 0deg = original, 180deg = opposite hues.
invert(%): Inverts colors. 0% = original, 100% = fully inverted. Useful for dark mode implementations.
opacity(%): Adjusts transparency. 100% = fully opaque, 0% = fully transparent. Similar to the opacity property but filters can be hardware-accelerated.
saturate(%): Adjusts color saturation. 100% = original, 0% = desaturated, values above 100% super-saturate.
sepia(%): Applies a sepia tone. 0% = original, 100% = fully sepia. Creates a warm, vintage look.

Performance considerations

CSS filters are GPU-accelerated in modern browsers, making them performant for static elements. However, applying filters to large areas or animating filter values can cause repaints and jank. For best performance: use will-change: filter on elements that will animate, avoid applying blur to large containers (the blur algorithm scales with radius), and prefer backdrop-filter over filter when you only need to blur what is behind an element (e.g. frosted glass headers).

Common use cases

Image hover effects — grayscale on idle, color on hover for image galleries.
Disabled state — filter: grayscale(100%) opacity(50%) for disabled UI elements.
Dark mode — filter: invert(1) hue-rotate(180deg) as a quick dark mode trick (inverts colors then corrects hue).
Background blur — backdrop-filter: blur(10px) for frosted glass overlays.
Focus effect — blur background content to draw attention to a modal or dialog.
Vintage photo — combine sepia, contrast, and brightness for analog film looks.

Privacy

All filter generation runs 100% in your browser. No data is sent to any server. Uploaded images stay on your device.