How to make a logo scan black and white in Microsoft Paint

The short answer

Microsoft Paint converts a scan to black and white by changing the image's color mode. In versions that offer it, open File > Properties or Image properties, set Colors to Black and white, and confirm the warning. The other route is to save a copy with the save type set to Monochrome Bitmap. Both produce a 1-bit image in which every pixel is either black or white. Paint has no slider for controlling where gray becomes black or white, so check the result closely. The output is still a raster image, not a vector logo. It works well as a clean reference or as input for tracing in a vector editor.

Terms used in this guide

• Raster (bitmap) image: a picture made of a fixed grid of pixels. Scans and Paint files are raster images, and enlarging them makes edges blocky.
• 1-bit or monochrome image: a raster image in which each pixel can only be black or white, with no grays.
• Grayscale: an image made of shades of gray. A scanned black logo on paper is usually grayscale at its edges, even if the original artwork was solid black.
• Threshold: the brightness level that decides whether a gray pixel becomes black or white during conversion.
• Dithering: a pattern of scattered black and white dots used to imitate gray. It is unwanted in logo artwork because it breaks solid shapes into specks.
• Vector logo: artwork built from mathematically defined paths and fills, which can be scaled to any size without losing sharpness.
• Tracing: rebuilding the shapes of a raster image as vector paths, either automatically or by hand.

Before you start

• Confirm you have the right to reproduce the logo. Owning a printed copy or a file of it does not by itself grant permission to reuse it.
• Keep the original scan untouched and work on a copy. The black-and-white conversion permanently discards color and gray information.
• Scan the print as flat and straight as possible. Paint can only rotate in 90-degree steps and flip, so it cannot correct a slightly crooked scan.
• Scan at the highest optical resolution your scanner offers for the job. Thin strokes and small lettering need enough pixels to survive conversion.
• If your scanner software has a black-and-white, line art or text mode with an adjustable threshold, consider using it as well. That gives you threshold control that Paint lacks.
• Note which version of Paint you are using. Menu labels differ between Windows releases and Paint updates.

Convert the scan step by step

• 1. Open the copy of your scan in Paint with File > Open.
• 2. If the scan is sideways or upside down, use Rotate to turn it 90 or 180 degrees, or flip it.
• 3. Crop away the paper margins. Drag a rectangle with the Select tool around the logo, then choose Crop (Ctrl+Shift+X in versions that support the shortcut).
• 4. Remove dust, specks and stray marks outside the logo. The Eraser paints with the secondary color, which is white by default. A white brush also works.
• 5. Convert with method A: open File > Properties or Image properties (Ctrl+E in many versions). Under Colors, choose Black and white, click OK, and accept the warning that color information will be lost.
• 6. Or convert with method B: choose File > Save as, pick the option for other formats if needed, set the file type to Monochrome Bitmap, and save under a new name. Paint warns that color quality will be lost. Close the image and reopen the saved file to see the real 1-bit result.
• 7. Zoom in and touch up edges and gaps with the Pencil tool in pure black or pure white. The Pencil draws hard-edged pixels, which keeps the image strictly two-color.
• 8. Save the finished file in a lossless format, such as the monochrome BMP itself or PNG. Avoid JPEG, because its compression adds gray artifacts around edges.

Version differences to check

This guide could not confirm the exact menus for every Paint build, so verify them in your copy. Older classic Paint placed the black-and-white option under Image > Attributes. Later versions moved it to the Properties dialog in the File menu. Recent Windows 11 releases of Paint have been redesigned, and the Image properties dialog may not include a Colors setting. If you cannot find it, use the Monochrome Bitmap save route instead. It has also not been confirmed whether every version uses straight thresholding or dithering during conversion. Inspect the pixels rather than assuming either.

How to confirm the result

• Zoom in on curves and diagonal edges (View > Zoom in, or Ctrl+Page Up). You should see only solid black and solid white pixels, with no gray fringe.
• Sample suspicious pixels with the Color picker. Any color other than pure black or pure white means the conversion did not apply, or the file was saved in a format that reintroduced grays.
• Look for scattered dot patterns inside large black or white areas. These indicate dithering, which needs manual cleanup or a rescan with a different method.
• Check thin strokes, fine serifs and small text for breaks or gaps.
• Check counters, the enclosed spaces inside letters such as o, e and a, and make sure they have not filled in with black.
• Compare the result with the original scan at actual size. Light tints, gradients and screened colors may have disappeared or turned solid black. A 1-bit image cannot represent them, so record which areas need separate color or tint handling when you redraw.

When Paint's conversion is not good enough

Paint applies its own conversion rule and offers no threshold or contrast control. Pale parts of a logo can vanish, and dark parts can merge. In that case, rescan using the scanner's black-and-white or line art mode and adjust its threshold. Another option is to convert the image in an editor that has a threshold or levels control. Fix the problem at this stage. Errors in the bitmap carry straight through into any trace made from it.

Turning the black-and-white scan into a vector logo

A clean two-color bitmap is the ideal input for auto-tracing tools in vector editors, such as Image Trace in Adobe Illustrator or Trace Bitmap in Inkscape. It is also a good template for redrawing by hand. Expect auto-traced paths to need cleanup. Common problems are excess anchor points, wobbly curves where there should be smooth arcs, and corners that are rounded off. Redraw these with as few nodes as the shape allows.

Lettering usually comes out better rebuilt than traced. Identify the typeface if you can, confirm its license covers logo use, set the text, match spacing and size to the scan, and then convert the type to outlines for delivery. If the lettering is custom, redraw it as paths using the scan as a guide.

When exporting the finished artwork as SVG, EPS or PDF, open the file in a vector editor and confirm it contains paths rather than an embedded image. An outline or wireframe view will show this. A vector file extension alone does not prove the content is vector or editable.