# darken.video

> Make a video darker in your browser: one-click Auto fix for overexposed, washed-out clips, highlight recovery and pro controls. Free, no upload, no watermark.

darken.video is a static web app: the visitor's browser decodes the clip, grades every frame on the device (exposure in linear light, highlight recovery, black point, contrast, gamma, saturation) and encodes a new file locally. Footage is never uploaded, and there is no API or account. Fully clipped (pure white) areas cannot be recovered by any tool, and the site says so.

## The tool and its guides

- [Darken a video](https://darken.video/): The tool: Auto fix, four looks with a Strength slider, pro tone controls and a Levels histogram.
- [Fix an overexposed video](https://darken.video/fix-overexposed-video): Recover a clip shot too bright, and see exactly what can be saved.
- [Make a too-bright video darker](https://darken.video/video-too-bright): Reduce the brightness of a clip without crushing the shadows.
- [Recover blown-out highlights](https://darken.video/recover-highlights-video): Bring detail back to bright skies and windows, honestly.
- [Dim a video for a darker mood](https://darken.video/dim-video): Turn a whole clip down for evening scenes, backgrounds and overlays.
- [Overexposure, clipping and dynamic range explained](https://darken.video/overexposed-video-explained): The science behind washed-out video, for beginners and editors.
- [Darken a video on iPhone](https://darken.video/darken-video-iphone): Photos app sliders, or Safari for a measured fix.
- [Darken a video on Android](https://darken.video/darken-video-android): Google Photos’ Adjust tools, or Chrome for a measured fix.
- [Darken a video on Windows 11](https://darken.video/darken-video-windows): Clipchamp’s Exposure slider, or a browser fix with more control.
- [Darken a video on Mac with Photos or iMovie](https://darken.video/darken-video-mac): Photos’ Light sliders, iMovie’s Color Correction, or Safari.
- [Darken a video in Premiere Pro](https://darken.video/darken-video-premiere-pro): Lumetri Exposure, Highlights, Whites and Blacks, in the right order.
- [Darken a video in CapCut](https://darken.video/darken-video-capcut): The Adjust panel on desktop and mobile.
- [Darken a video in DaVinci Resolve](https://darken.video/darken-video-davinci-resolve): Lift, Gamma and Gain wheels, Highlights and the HDR palette.
- [Darken a video in VLC](https://darken.video/darken-video-vlc): Image adjust for playback, Convert / Save for a copy.
- [About](https://darken.video/about): Why the site exists, how the darkening works and what it cannot do.
- [Privacy notice](https://darken.video/privacy): Footage stays on the device; Google Analytics can be switched off in Cookie settings.

## What the darkening tool offers

- **Footage stays with you**: The picture is reworked by your own browser, frame by frame. Nothing is sent to a server, so private clips stay private.
- **Fixes the light, not just the level**: Auto fix pulls highlights back first, then sets exposure, contrast and blacks, so the clip gets darker without turning murky.
- **Free, with no watermark**: No account, no trial and no logo burned into your video. Export as often as you like.

## Darkening a clip, step by step

1. **Open the bright clip**: Drop the video onto the page or click to choose it. MP4, MOV, WebM and MKV from phones, cameras and screen recorders all open.
2. **Press Auto fix, or pick a look**: Auto fix reads the clip and sets a correction for you. Overexposed, Bright sunlight, Blown-out sky and Dim it down are ready-made looks, and Strength sets how far each one goes.
3. **Compare, then export**: Choose Split under Compare to see before and after side by side. When it looks right, select Export video, then Download video.

## Common questions about bright and overexposed video

### How do I make a video darker?

Open the video in the tool at the top of this page and press Auto fix. If it still looks too bright, raise Strength or try Overexposed. Select Export video, then Download video. The darkening happens in your browser, so the file is not uploaded anywhere.

### Can an overexposed video really be fixed?

Partly, and it depends on how far the camera went. Areas that are bright but still show some texture can be pulled back down and look natural again. Areas the camera recorded as pure white hold no detail at all, so darkening only turns them a flat light grey. The Levels graph under More options shows how much of the frame is clipped like that.

### What does Auto fix actually change?

It samples frames from across the clip, measures where the brightest and darkest tones sit, and then sets Exposure, Highlights, Whites, Contrast, Blacks and Gamma to spread the tones out again. You can see every value it chose under More options and change any of them.

### Why does lowering brightness make my video look grey?

A plain brightness slider moves every tone down by the same amount, including the blacks, which lifts nothing and flattens the picture. Washed-out footage usually needs its highlights brought down and its blacks deepened, with the midtones adjusted separately. That is what the presets do, and why Exposure and Gamma are separate controls here.

### Is my video uploaded?

No. The page decodes the video, adjusts each frame and writes the new file inside your browser, using WebCodecs and the open-source mediabunny library. Your footage never leaves your device.

### Will the sound be kept?

Yes. The audio track is copied across unchanged. If you want a silent copy, switch off Keep sound under Export settings.

### Does darkening lose quality?

Any change to the picture means the video is encoded again, and this tool uses a high bitrate so the loss is hard to see. Choose High under Quality in Export settings for the largest, cleanest file. Very strong settings can reveal banding in smooth skies, which is a limit of 8-bit video rather than of the tool.

### Can I darken just one part of the video?

You can trim the clip to the part you want and darken that. The correction applies evenly to the frames you keep; it does not darken one region of the frame or change over time.

### What is the difference between Exposure and Gamma?

Exposure works like closing the lens aperture: it scales every tone by the same ratio, measured in stops, so bright areas fall most. Gamma bends the middle of the tone curve and leaves pure black and pure white where they are, so it darkens skin and walls without touching the extremes.

### Does it work with iPhone HDR videos?

Yes, if your browser can decode them, which most modern browsers can. The result is saved as standard dynamic range (SDR) video, which is how most players and social apps show it anyway. If an HDR clip looked blinding on a phone, that conversion alone often helps.

### Which formats can I open and save?

MP4, MOV, WebM and MKV open in most browsers, and unusual codecs are converted on your device first. You can save the darkened copy as MP4, or as WebM where your browser can encode it.

### Is there a file size or length limit?

There is no fixed cap. Long or 4K clips take longer and need more memory, so if your browser struggles, choose a smaller size such as 1080p under Export settings.

### Does it work on a phone?

Yes, in current versions of Safari, Chrome, Edge and Firefox on iPhone, iPad, Android and desktop. On a phone, Share in the finished panel lets you save the video to your photos.