A vignette that fits your frame, not a stamped circle: ellipse to rounded rectangle, any color, live on images and video.
How to use it
- Open the editor from this page — it loads demo media with the effect already set up — then drop in your own photo or video.
- Set the strength, then shape the falloff: size, softness, and roundness, from a soft ellipse to a frame-hugging rectangle.
- Pick the edge color, classic black, matte white, or a tint, then export a PNG, JPG, or MP4.
A vignette that fits the frame
A vignette is only as good as its shape, and this one is computed in your frame’s own geometry rather than pasted on top. The falloff runs from the center out to the edges, and the roundness control sets its character: at full roundness it is an ellipse that stretches to match your aspect ratio, and dialing it down squares the shape off until it hugs the frame itself. Size sets where the shading begins and softness sets the width of the fade, from a gradient too gradual to notice up to a hard edge that reads as a spotlight.
Color turns one tool into three looks: black for the classic lens falloff, white for the matte, faded-print treatment, or any tint to push a grade in from the edges. On video the shading is anchored to the frame, not the content, so it holds rock steady while the footage moves through it. The same Vignette effect ships in the Modulate editor, where the center can be moved off the middle to sit on your subject, every control can be keyframed, and it stacks with grain, gradient map, and lens blur for a full filmic grade.
Common questions
Is the vignette tool free?
Yes. This page opens the full Modulate editor, free with no signup, with the effect already set up. Anonymous exports run up to 5 seconds at 1080px with a small watermark; a free account exports watermark-free at higher caps, and Pro raises them further.
Does it work on video or just images?
Both. On video the vignette holds the same screen position on every frame while the footage plays through it, and exports as an MP4. On a photo it exports as a PNG or JPG with the falloff baked in.
How do I get the white, faded look?
Set the color to white or a warm paper tone and raise the softness: the edges lift instead of darken, the matte fade of old prints and lookbook pages. Any other color does the same with a mood attached.
Can I move the vignette off-center?
Yes: the Vignette effect has a center control that shifts the falloff onto your subject, and like every parameter it can be keyframed, so the bright region can follow the action. It opens centered — drag the center control in the editor to move it.
Are my files uploaded anywhere?
No. The effect runs in your browser on your GPU. Your media never leaves your computer.
Go deeper
Vignette effect
The vignette effect fades the edges and corners of the frame toward a color, classically black, so the image sits in a pool of light and the eye is pulled to the center. It began as a flaw: lenses pass less light at the edges of their image circle than through the middle. Photographers and colorists then adopted the flaw on purpose, because attention follows brightness, and a gentle edge falloff frames a subject without adding a single visible element.
Film grain effect
Film grain is the visible texture of the particles that formed a photographic image: silver crystals in black-and-white stock, the dye clouds they leave behind in color film. Every frame carries a fresh random arrangement of them, which is why grain flickers alive on a projector instead of sitting still. A film grain effect puts that texture on digital footage, and the honest way to do it is to synthesize the grain in the image itself rather than paste a scanned loop on top.
Gradient map
A gradient map recolors an image by its brightness: every pixel is replaced with the color at the matching position along a gradient you design, darkest tones taking the gradient’s start and brightest taking its end. It is the fastest route to duotones, cinematic two-tone grades, and poster-style color reduction, because you are painting with the image’s own tonal structure.
Lens blur
Lens blur reproduces what a camera lens does to the out-of-focus parts of a photograph. Instead of smearing detail evenly the way a gaussian blur does, it spreads every point of light into the shape of the lens aperture, so highlights bloom into the bright discs and polygons known as bokeh balls. The result reads as depth and optics rather than image processing, which is why it is the blur to reach for when the goal is a photographic look instead of simple softness.
There's more where this came from
The full editor lets you use every effect together, over video, text, 3D, and shapes. Free, no signup, nothing to install — it opens with this effect already set up.
Open the editor