About RetroPolaroid
A free, in-browser Polaroid photo filter. No login, no upload, no app to install — just open the page, allow camera access, and shoot.
What it is
RetroPolaroid recreates the look of a Polaroid 600 instant photo: a square crop on cream paper, soft vignetting, fine film grain, and a hand-written caption in script font. The whole pipeline — camera, crop, frame composition, grain, caption, and download — runs inside your browser on a 2D canvas. Nothing is sent to a server. The first time you press the shutter, the image is composed locally and your browser saves it to your downloads folder.
How it works
- Allow camera access. The browser will prompt the first time you load the page on a device. Permission is per-site and you can revoke it any time from your browser settings.
- Frame and shoot. Optionally type a short caption in the input above the shutter, then tap the “shoot” button. The screen flashes, the camera slides away, and your Polaroid appears.
- Save or share. The image downloads automatically. If your device supports the Web Share API, a “Share” button also appears so you can pass the photo straight to Messages, Mail, or any installed app.
Why we built it
The aesthetic of instant film — the slightly warm colors, the bright square frame, the imperfection of grain — feels honest in a way that a high-resolution digital photo often does not. There are plenty of phone apps that simulate the look, but they want your camera roll, your email, and a subscription. We wanted something you could open in a browser and use in fifteen seconds. The whole site is open source if you want to see how it works under the hood.
What makes the look authentic
The cream frame, off-square photo area, and bottom margin proportions are drawn from the actual dimensions of a Polaroid 600 (88×107 mm overall, 79×77 mm image area). A subtle drop shadow under the photo and a radial vignette match what you see on a freshly developed print. The film grain is generated per-pixel on the canvas using a controlled-range RNG rather than a single texture overlay, so every shot is slightly different. The caption uses Caveat, a hand-script web font, to mimic ballpoint pen on the white border. Read more in elements of the vintage photo aesthetic and the science of film grain in photography.
Frequently asked
- Are my photos uploaded anywhere?
- No. Your camera feed is processed entirely inside your browser using the Canvas 2D API. No frames, video, or finished photos are uploaded to any server. The image is composed locally and saved straight to your device. See our privacy policy for details on the (very small amount of) analytics data we collect.
- Which browsers and devices work?
- Any modern browser that supports getUserMedia — Chrome, Safari, Edge, and Firefox on desktop, and Chrome and Safari on iOS and Android. The page must be loaded over HTTPS (or localhost during development) because browsers will not grant camera access on insecure origins.
- Why does the site need camera access?
- The whole point of the app is to capture a live shot from your webcam or phone camera, apply the Polaroid look on the canvas, and let you download the result. Without camera permission there is nothing to photograph. We never record video — only the single frame you take when you press the shutter.
- What file format do I get?
- A JPEG at 92% quality. JPEG produces files roughly five times smaller than PNG for this kind of photographic content with no visible loss, which makes downloads fast and easy to share. The filename is timestamped so consecutive shots will not overwrite each other.
- Can I use this offline?
- Not yet. The app requires the page to be loaded so the JavaScript that runs the camera and canvas pipeline is available. We do not run a service worker today. That said, once the page is loaded, everything happens locally — you can disconnect from the internet and the camera, canvas, and download will all still work.
- Can I customise the caption?
- Yes. There is a single-line caption field above the shutter button. Anything you type, up to 40 characters, gets rendered in a hand-script font along the lower edge of the Polaroid. Leave it blank and the frame uses today is date instead.
- Does this cost anything?
- No. RetroPolaroid is free with no account, no signup, no paywall, no subscription, and no ads inside the camera experience. We run optional Vercel analytics for traffic understanding and that is it.
- Where can I learn more about Polaroid photography?
- Our blog covers the history of instant photography, the science of film grain, how to compose for a Polaroid frame, and project ideas for retro photography. The history-of-polaroid-instant-photography post is the best starting point.