Black and white, frame by frame
The world is made of colors.
Swaps light and shadow across the whole page.InkReel turns video, photos and GIFs into ink: light and shadow, halftone and strokes, grain and letters. Everything extra falls away; form remains.
- Windows 10/11
- 64-bit
- ~160 MB
- Free
Live example: black and white
drop your own photo or video here
It is the same “light or shadow” decision InkReel makes for every pixel. A demonstration of the principle, not a screenshot of the app. Move the cursor and the light follows; your own file is processed only in your browser.
Philosophy
The eye sees only light and shadow.
“Black is not the absence of light. It is a decision.”
Color is a gift of the brain. The eye catches only difference: lighter here, darker there. Take away everything extra and the essence remains: form, direction, rhythm.
White and black do not fight. They hold each other up: without shadow there is no form, without light there is no shadow.
Engravers knew this five centuries ago, and printers know it still. We only taught it to moving images, frame by frame.
InkReel does not paint or decorate. For every speck of the frame it decides — light or shadow? — and stands honestly behind that decision. Same settings, same ink: no randomness, no algorithm “mood”.
Features
What the ink can do
Video, photos, GIFs
Over fifty file types: MP4, GIF, JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC and more. Open with Ctrl+O, drag and drop, or “Open with”.
Five quality levels
From a fast threshold to “Ultra”, where halftone, strokes and grain work together and protect fine detail.
Side by side and “cinema”
See the result alone or next to the original. “Cinema” mode (the F key or a double click) leaves only the frame.
IRNM1
Our own neural network, a separate branch beside the algorithm. Several times faster on a graphics card, and it picks what to run on by itself.
Bake it all
A custom .ikr format: compute once, then play, zoom and export any frame or moment without recomputing.
Export and palettes
MP4 (with sound) and GIF, a frame-rate cap, palettes for every taste. Your settings stay with you.
Styles
One light, four hands.
The light is one. How to write it down is up to you.
Threshold
The simplest decision: lighter than the line is white, darker is black. Nothing extra.
Halftone
Tones are born from dots: the darker, the denser. This is how newspapers were printed.
Strokes
Tone is built from lines, as in an engraving: denser in shadow, sparser in light.
Symbols
A picture made of letters: each glyph is chosen by its tone.
Levels
Five circles and one diamond.
The quality scale runs from fast to detailed. The sixth level is not a higher step but a separate branch.
- 1fast
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5Ultra
- IRNM1neural
1–2 · Speed
Crisp black and white when speed matters: long videos, weak PCs, drafts.
3–4 · Balance
More detail and more ways to render tone — good for most videos.
5 · Ultra
Maximum detail: several tone methods work together and protect the small stuff.
IRNM1 · Neural
A neural network that learned from Ultra. Not a higher level but a fast branch with its own character.
White is a pause. Black is a word.
Download
Take the ink home.
Microsoft Store
- Signed by Microsoft: no Windows warnings
- Updates arrive on their own
- Clean uninstall
InkReel-Setup.exe
- About 160 MB, Windows 10/11, 64-bit
- Adds an InkReel entry to the Explorer context menu
- Windows SmartScreen may warn about an unknown publisher. That is expected: “More info” › “Run anyway”
Requirements: Windows 10 or newer, 64-bit · 4 GB of memory (8 or more recommended) · a graphics card is optional but speeds up IRNM1.
FAQ
The short version
Is it free?
Yes. No ads, no subscriptions, no trial periods.
Do I need a graphics card?
No. The algorithm runs on the CPU. A graphics card speeds up the neural level IRNM1: the app picks what to run on and falls back to the CPU if the card fails.
Why does Windows warn me when I install the .exe?
The installer outside the Store has no paid code-signing certificate, so SmartScreen sees an unknown publisher. The Store version is signed by Microsoft and raises no such warnings.
The first export “thinks” for a long time. Is that normal?
Yes. After installing or updating, the app compiles its compute kernels once: up to half a minute on a weak PC. After that it is fast.
What are .ikr files?
A custom format for a “baked” video: it holds the finished result. Open it in InkReel in player mode and export any moment without recomputing.
Why does the Store version have no Explorer right-click entry?
Store packages cannot add Explorer menu entries the way the installer does. Open files via “Open with”. The installer version has the entry.
Does InkReel send anything to the internet?
No. Everything is computed on your computer; there are no accounts and no telemetry. Details are in the privacy policy.
What about licenses?
The app bundles FFmpeg (GPL), ONNX Runtime and other components. Their licenses are in the app folder and mentioned in the “About” section.