From photo to pixel art.

This image to pixel art converter makes two changes: it reduces the picture to a grid of color samples, then replaces each sample with its nearest palette color. Larger blocks mean a smaller grid and a more abstract image. Fewer colors simplify shading and can make separate shapes easier to see.

The Original colors options build a palette from your own image, with up to 8 or 16 colors. PICO-8, Game Boy, NES and black and white use fixed palettes. A console palette gives the image a familiar color style; it does not enforce that console's sprite, tile or hardware restrictions.

Block size and the actual PNG size

The image is first fitted within a 1600-pixel longest edge. Block size is measured against that working image, so it is a starting point rather than a fixed grid width. For an 800 × 600 photo at block size 8, the result is a 100 × 75 grid. The result label shows both the grid and exported PNG dimensions so you can check before downloading.

Leave Export at 1 pixel per block off for a larger PNG with sharp squares, useful for sharing a retro portrait. Switch it on for the actual small grid — 100 × 75 pixels in that example — to open in a sprite editor or scale up by a whole-number factor without blurring.

A starting point for artwork

Try avatars, pet portraits, small game backgrounds or a draft sprite reference. Automatic conversion cannot decide which outline or highlight matters most. For a game-ready sprite, expect to clean up stray pixels, shape the silhouette and check the result at its native size. This tool does not generate new details or animate a sprite.

Need a mosaic instead?

For a face, number plate or selected part of a screenshot, open Pixelate Photo. That tool keeps the photo's colors and lets you apply a mosaic to the whole image or a chosen area. This page is for the whole-image pixel art effect. If a detail must be completely hidden, cover or remove it; a mosaic may still be recognizable.