The emergence of inorganic–organic hybrid perovskites, a unique class of solution-processable crystalline semiconductors, provides new opportunities for large-area, low-cost and colour-saturated light-emitting diodes (LEDs) ideal for display and solid-state lighting applications1. However, the performance of blue perovskite LEDs (PeLEDs)2–11 is far inferior to that of their near-infrared, red and green counterparts12–19, strongly limiting the practicality of the PeLED technology. Here, we demonstrate blue PeLEDs emitting at 483 nm with colour coordinates of (0.094, 0.184) and operating with a peak external quantum efficiency of up to 9.5% at a luminance of 54 cd m–2. The devices have a T50 lifetime of 250 s for an initial brightness of 100 cd m–2. The efficient blue electroluminescence originates from a structure of quantum-confined perovskite nanoparticles embedded within quasi-two-dimensional phases with higher bandgaps, prepared by an antisolvent processing scheme. Our work paves the way towards high-performance PeLEDs in the blue region. Blue light-emitting diodes based on perovskite nanostructures embedded within quasi-two-dimensional phases show highly effective charge injection and suppressed non-radiative recombination.