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Turn any photo into pixel art with retro palettes, dithering, and a grid.
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An image to pixel art converter turns a normal photo or drawing into pixel art: it shrinks the image down to a small grid of blocks, reduces the colors to a compact palette, and scales the result back up with hard, sharp edges. What was a smooth photograph becomes a retro, game-style graphic.
Two ideas do the heavy lifting. *Downscaling* averages each region of the photo into a single pixel - you choose the width, from 8 to 128 pixels. *Color quantization* then maps every pixel to the nearest color of a palette: keep the original colors, let the tool pick the best N automatically, or force a retro look with 16-color, 32-color, green-LCD, or monochrome palettes. Optional dithering blends neighboring colors in a checkerboard pattern, the same trick old consoles used for gradients.
Everything runs locally in your browser - the image is never uploaded. Use it for avatars and profile pictures, game asset drafts, 8-bit style posters, or turn on the pixel grid and use the output as a pattern for beads, cross-stitch, or block-building games. One click sends the result to the Pixel Art Maker for pixel-level editing.
Click the drop zone or drag a PNG, JPG, WebP, or SVG onto it. The image stays on your device - conversion happens entirely in the browser.
Slide between 8 and 128 pixels. Fewer pixels = chunkier, more abstract; more pixels = more detail. Portraits usually work best between 48 and 96.
Original keeps the photo's colors. Auto picks the best N colors for this image. The retro palettes force a classic game look - try Green LCD for the handheld vibe. Toggle dithering to smooth gradients.
Download a PNG at up to 32x scale, turn on the pixel grid first if you want a pattern to rebuild from, or send the result to the Pixel Art Maker for pixel-level cleanup.
Good starting points for common conversions.
| Goal | Pixels wide | Palette |
|---|---|---|
| Profile picture / avatar | 48-64 | Auto, 16-32 colors, dithering on |
| Game asset draft | 16-32 | Retro 16 or Retro 32, dithering off |
| Retro handheld look | 64-96 | Green LCD, dithering on |
| Poster / wallpaper base | 96-128 | Auto, 32-64 colors, dithering on |
| Bead / cross-stitch pattern | 24-48 | Auto with few colors, pixel grid on |
| Minimal / brutalist art | 16-32 | Mono, dithering on |
Pixels wide: 56 Palette: Auto (16 colors) Dithering: on Export: 16x PNG
A face needs just enough resolution for the eyes to read. Auto palettes keep skin tones plausible while the low color count gives the classic pixel-portrait feel.
Pixels wide: 80 Palette: Green LCD (4) Dithering: on Export: 8x PNG
Four shades of green plus dithering is instantly recognizable as the original handheld aesthetic. High-contrast photos convert best - the palette only has four brightness levels to work with.
Pixels wide: 32 Palette: Auto (8-12 colors) Dithering: off Pixel grid: on Export: 16x PNG
Turn off dithering so each region is one solid color you can match to a bead or thread, and export with the grid overlay - each cell becomes one bead or stitch to place.
