About the CSS Filter Generator
What is a CSS filter generator?
The filter property runs graphics operations on an element as the browser paints it. Blur, brightness, contrast, saturation, hue rotation, grayscale, sepia, invert and drop shadow are all built in, and they work on anything, not just images. The catch is that they stack into one long value where order changes the result, so writing them by hand means guessing.
This tool gives every function a slider and applies them to a real element as you drag. You can load your own image, since a filter that looks right on a sample rarely looks the same on a photo. There's also a switch that turns the output into backdrop-filter, which applies the same effects to whatever sits behind the element rather than the element itself. That's the property behind every frosted glass panel you've seen.
How to Use This Tool
- Load your image. Click Use my own image. It's read in the browser and never uploaded.
- Start from a preset. Punchy, Noir, Vintage, Warm, Cool and Dreamy are ordinary photo treatments. Original clears everything.
- Adjust the sliders. Anything left at its default is dropped from the output, so the code stays short.
- Add a drop shadow. Unlike
box-shadow, this one follows the actual shape of a transparent PNG or SVG.
- Copy it. CSS, an SCSS mixin, a Tailwind class or a JS style object.
Common Use Cases
Filters replace a surprising amount of image editing, and they stay editable in code.
- Consistent photo treatment: Apply the same contrast and saturation to every image on a site so a mixed set of photos looks like one library.
- Hover effects: Grayscale at rest, full color on hover, which needs no second image and no JavaScript.
- Frosted glass panels: Turn on backdrop filtering, add a translucent background, and the content behind blurs.
- Recoloring icons: Hue rotation shifts a whole icon set to a new brand color without re-exporting anything.
- Shadows that follow the artwork: Drop shadow traces the outline of a cut-out PNG rather than boxing it.
- Dimming a background: Brightness under 100% behind a hero heading, instead of overlaying a dark panel.
Working with images? The CSS Glassmorphism Generator builds the whole frosted panel, and the CSS Box Shadow Generator covers rectangular shadows. Or browse all our free developer tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the order of filter functions matter?
Yes. Filters run left to right, each one receiving the output of the last, so grayscale(100%) saturate(200%) gives you a gray image, because saturating gray does nothing. Reverse them and you get a vivid image turned gray, which looks different. This tool emits a consistent, sensible order, so the preview always matches the code.
What is the difference between filter and backdrop-filter?
filter processes the element and its contents. backdrop-filter leaves the element alone and processes everything visible behind it. For frosted glass you want the second one, plus a semi-transparent background color on the same element, because a fully opaque background means there's nothing showing through to blur.
How is the drop-shadow filter different from box-shadow?
box-shadow always draws a rectangle, following the border radius. The drop-shadow() filter follows the element's actual alpha channel, so a transparent PNG of a leaf casts a leaf-shaped shadow rather than a square one. It also applies to the shape of an SVG icon. The tradeoff is that it has no spread value and it is more expensive to paint.
Are CSS filters bad for performance?
Static ones are usually fine. Blur is the expensive one, because the browser samples a wide area of pixels for every pixel it paints, and cost rises with the blur radius and the size of the element. A blurred full-screen background is noticeably heavy on low-end phones, and animating a blur is worse. Grayscale, sepia and hue rotation are cheap by comparison.
Do filters work on text and whole sections?
Yes, on any element. A filter applies to the element and everything inside it, so blurring a container blurs its text and children too. That is often what you want for a loading state or a modal backdrop, but it also means you cannot filter a background and leave the text sharp on the same element. Use a separate positioned layer for that.
Which browsers support this?
filter is supported everywhere and needs no prefix. backdrop-filter is also widely supported now, but Safari has needed the -webkit- prefix for a long time, so this tool emits both lines when you switch to backdrop mode. If a browser does not support it the panel simply shows its background color with no blur, which is a reasonable fallback if you pick a color that stands on its own.
