Image Pixel Art Generator
Turn any picture into retro pixel art. Choose how many pixels wide the artwork should be, pick a palette – the best 8, 16 or 32 colours from the image, or classic palettes like PICO-8, Game Boy, Commodore 64 and CGA – and decide whether to dither. Export the art scaled up with crisp, square pixels, at eight times its size, or as the tiny original for use as a game sprite.
- Files stay on your device
- No sign-up
- Free to use
Pixel art
Output
How to use Image Pixel Art Generator
- Drop one or more images onto the page.
- Set the number of pixels across.
- Choose a palette and dithering.
- Pick the output size and download.
Image Pixel Art Generator features
Pixel grid
16 to 256 pixels across.
Palettes
Auto 8/16/32, PICO-8, Game Boy, C64, CGA, greys, sepia.
Dithering
Floyd–Steinberg for smooth gradients.
Crisp scaling
Nearest-neighbour upscaling, optional grid.
Batch
Apply the same settings to up to 50 images.
Private
Processed in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
When to use Image Pixel Art Generator
- Game sprites and tiles from photos and sketches.
- Retro avatars and profile pictures.
- Cross-stitch, bead and LEGO mosaic templates.
- 8-bit style posters and stickers.
Image Pixel Art Generator FAQ
How are the pixels calculated?
The image is reduced in halving steps so that every art pixel is the average of the area it covers, then each pixel is mapped to the nearest palette colour.
What does “best 16 colours” mean?
A median-cut algorithm analyses the image and chooses 16 colours that represent it well. Fixed palettes instead use the colours of historic systems.
Should I dither?
Dithering mixes palette colours in patterns to suggest shades the palette does not have. It suits photos and gradients; leave it off for flat artwork and logos.
Which output size should I choose?
Same as original for viewing and printing, 8× for social media, and actual pixels for game engines, which scale sprites themselves.
Why save as PNG?
PNG is lossless and keeps every pixel exact. JPG would blur the sharp pixel edges.
Are my images uploaded?
No. The images are processed in your browser and never leave your device.
Making pixel art from images
Pixel art is a style defined by its limits: a small grid of visible pixels and a restricted palette. It grew out of the hardware of early computers and consoles and remains popular in indie games, illustrations and crafts. Converting a photo involves two reductions – of resolution and of colour – and both matter for the result.
Resolution comes first. The image is reduced to the chosen number of pixels across, keeping its proportions. Doing this in several halving steps ensures that each art pixel represents the true average of its area instead of one random sample, which gives calmer, more readable pixel art.
Colour comes second. With an automatic palette, a median-cut algorithm repeatedly splits the image’s colours along their widest range until the requested number of groups remains, and uses each group’s average as a palette entry. Historic palettes reproduce the look of specific systems: the four greens of the original Game Boy, the 16 colours of the PICO-8 fantasy console or the Commodore 64.
Dithering distributes the rounding error to neighbouring pixels so that gradients are suggested with patterns. Upscaling uses nearest-neighbour sampling, which keeps every pixel square and sharp; the optional grid makes the result easy to follow for cross-stitch or bead patterns.
All processing happens locally in your browser.