Turn a photo into pixel art
Chunky pixels in a retro palette: PICO-8, Game Boy, CGA or the photo's own colours.
Drop an image here, or .
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Image to Pixel Art: how to use it
- Drop in a photo or drawing.
- Set Pixels across (32 to 64 gives a classic sprite look) and choose the colours: the photo's own or a retro palette.
- Pick a dithering style and the download size, then download the PNG.
Tips
- Crop tight around the subject first: fewer pixels across means every block counts.
- Download at true size for game engines, and at 8 or 16 times for posting online.
Image to Pixel Art: what it does and when to use it
Image to Pixel Art turns a photo, a drawing or a logo into chunky retro pixels. It shrinks the picture to a small grid, from 16 to 256 blocks across, reduces it to a small set of colours, and scales it back up with hard square edges, so every block stays crisp in the download. The result looks like an 8-bit or 16-bit game sprite rather than a blurry thumbnail.
The colours can come from the photo itself (the tool picks the best set of 2 to 32 with k-means clustering) or from a classic palette: PICO-8, Sweetie 16, the four greens of the original Game Boy, the CGA computer palette, greyscale or black and white. Dithering mixes two colours in a pattern to suggest a third, the way old games faked gradients; Floyd-Steinberg is smooth, ordered dithering gives the classic checkerboard.
Simple subjects with strong shapes work best: a face, a pet, a car, a logo. Busy scenes turn into noise at small sizes, so crop tight first with the Image Cropper. Download at true size for a game engine or an editor such as Aseprite, or at 8 or 16 times for sharing. To blur out part of a picture instead, use Pixelate & Censor.
Image to Pixel Art: frequently asked questions
How do I turn a picture into pixel art?
Drop it in, set Pixels across (32 to 64 is the classic sprite size), choose the colours and download. The pixels are kept as hard squares at any download size. Related guide: JPG vs PNG vs WebP vs AVIF: which should you use?.
Which palette should I pick?
Best colours from the photo keeps it recognisable. PICO-8 and Sweetie 16 give a modern indie-game look, Game Boy gives four shades of green, and CGA gives the cyan and magenta of 1980s PCs. Related tool: Pixelate & Censor.
What does dithering do?
It mixes two palette colours in a fine pattern so the eye sees a shade in between, the way old games drew gradients. None gives flat blocks of colour, Ordered gives a regular checker pattern, and Floyd-Steinberg gives a smoother, grainier look. Related tool: Image to ASCII Art.
Can I use the result in a game?
Yes. Download at true size (1 pixel each) as PNG and import it into your engine with filtering set to nearest or point, so it stays crisp when scaled. Use pictures you own or have the rights to.