For years, production companies have used costly techniques to colorize old black and white movies. But now artificial intelligence is placing that capability in the hands of everyday users, allowing you to add color to old family photos, historical images, or black and white video frames in seconds.

It works like this: A developer feeds a large number of color images into a neural network, which is AI-speak for software modeled after brain functions. Over time, the software learns to recognize different objects and determine their likely colors.

These algorithms are incorporated into online services as well as software that you can download and run on a computer. At their best, they produce results that seem to add color to old photos as if by magic.

In this article, we look at some easy-to-use colorization tools, all of which you can try for free if you want to add color to black and white photos.

1. DeOldify

DeOldify Screen

This free, open-source software uses an AI technique known as Generative Adversarial Networks, in which a second neural network, dubbed a "critic" or "discriminator," helps teach the first one to produce better images. The results are impressive: Portraits, interiors, and outdoor scenes all appear with realistic colors.

It's among the best colorization tools we tested, but getting full access to its capabilities will be a challenge for everyday users. It runs on Ubuntu, a popular Linux distribution, and requires a fair amount of technical know-how if you want to install it on your own computer. (Learn more about Ubuntu in our guide pitting Debian vs. Ubuntu vs. Linux Mint.)

For the rest of us, lead developer Jason Antic has set up a website where you can upload black-and-white images and then download the colorized result. The main drawback is that photos are scaled down to a maximum of 800 pixels in either direction.

If you want to remove the size restrictions, another option is Google Colab, an online service that lets you run code written in the Python language. Antic’s Github page has links to Colab notebooks for three flavors of DeOldify, including the default "artistic" version.

You hit a series of buttons to run the code, enter a URL that links to the black-and-white image, and wait for a while as the software generates a colorized version.

If you want to colorize an image on your computer, you’ll have to upload it to an image-hosting site such as Flickr or Imgur. The whole process might look daunting at first, but it’s not all that difficult. And the Github page links to a video tutorial with step-by-step instructions.

If you’d rather not deal with the hassle of that, several other developers have incorporated DeOldify into their own apps with friendlier user interfaces. A couple of these are outlined below.

Visit: DeOldify

2. MyHeritage In Color

Big Sur McWay Falls

MyHeritage, an online genealogy service, offers an enhanced version of DeOldify as part of its max-level $199/year subscription plan. The company licensed the technology from Antic, who describes it as the best version of his software. Our testing bears that out.

Related: The Best Free Genealogy Websites to Use

For example, a photo from California’s Big Sur had a slight blue cast when colorized in the older version, but it looks much better in this one. After colorizing the image, you can run a second operation that sharpens it.

Colorization alone does not justify a $199/year subscription, but the app is a small part of MyHeritage, which allows you to set up private websites where you can trace your family tree. You can try the colorization software for free on up to 10 photos.

Visit: MyHeritage In Color

3. Image Colorizer

Image Colorizer Screen

This might be your best option if you want the quality of DeOldify in a simple user interface without a big price tag. It’s available as a free cloud-based service and as free apps for Android and iOS devices.

The developer also offers Picture Colorizer, a Windows app that combines colorization with scratch removal and other image-processing functions. A Mac version is currently in beta.

The cloud-based service has a simple drag-and-drop interface and lets you colorize photos up to a maximum resolution of 3000x3000 pixels.

It’s not 100 percent clear that the software is based on DeOldify, but it sure appears to be. Across all of our test images, the programs generated identical results.

Download: Image Colorizer for Android | iOS (Free)

Download: Picture Colorizer ($29.95, with free trial available)

4. ColorSurprise AI Pixbim

Pixbim Screen Shot

This easy-to-use desktop software combines AI-based colorization with image-processing functions that allow you to adjust the color temperature, intensity, contrast, and gamma. The software also provides a brush tool in case you want to fix areas that have been incorrectly colorized. You can colorize images individually or in batches.

The results are impressive, stacking up favorably to DeOldify.

ColorSurprise is available in on macOS and Windows. It’s a bit pricey at $79.99, but you can download a free trial version that places watermarks on saved images.

Download: ColorSurprise ($79.99, with free trial available)

5. Algorithmia Image Colorization

Algorithmia Color-It Images

This online microservice, hosted by AI vendor Algorithmia, is based on the Colorful Image Colorization project from researchers Richard Zhang, Phillip Isola, and Alexei Efros.

Compared with DeOldify, the software is a mixed bag, performing well on some images but not on others.

For example, in our Big Sur image, portions of the beach appeared in red, and in another, portions of green foliage were colored brown. The developers freely acknowledge these issues on the project’s Github page.

Visit: Algorithmia Image Colorization

6. Movavi Photo Editor

Movavi screen shot

This entry-level photo-editing program includes an AI-based colorization tool. In our testing, it did not perform as well as other software in this roundup. Colors in some photos were muted, and in the portraits we tested, some areas of the subjects’ skin appeared to be discolored.

Related: Lesser-Known Free Online Image Editing Tools

On the other hand, Movavi Photo Editor offers a host of other image-editing features, including noise reduction, background removal, skin smoothing, and lots of special effects filters. It’s worth considering if you want an inexpensive all-around photo-editing tool. But if you just need colorization, you should look elsewhere.

Download: Movavi Photo Editor for Windows | macOS ($44.95, with free trial available)

Add a Splash of Color to Your Photos

None of these AI colorization tools is perfect, but the best ones generate images realistic enough that you’d never believe the photos were shot in black and white.

And even if the colors are slightly off, you can use image-editing software such as Adobe Photoshop to tweak the results or even replace one color with another.

Do we have a preference? The MyHeritage app, based on an advanced version of DeOldify, produces the best results, but it’s not worth the $199/year price tag unless you want to make use of the service’s other genealogy features.

So, taking everything into account, we would give the nod to Image Colorizer, which offers the colorization quality of DeOldify in multiple easy-to-use packages, including the free cloud-based version.

Whichever tool you choose, you now have a great opportunity to rummage through old family albums or historical archives and bring the past to life.