A mosaic effect or retro pixel art?

Pixelating a photo replaces small groups of pixels with flat squares. It is useful for a blocky background, a low-resolution texture, or obscuring an area in a screenshot. This tool averages colors inside each square. It does not redraw faces, add a console palette, or invent missing detail.

For a game-style portrait or a small sprite, use the picture to pixel art converter. That tool offers limited palettes such as Game Boy and PICO-8, plus a one-pixel-per-block export. Here, the rest of a photo stays unchanged when you select just one area.

Cover details with care

A mosaic is a visual effect. A coarse face or short word can still be recognizable, especially when someone knows the source. Use Solid cover for private text and check the saved PNG at its normal viewing size. Drag a box that extends beyond the detail, rather than leaving its edges visible. Downloading a flattened image also keeps the editing outline out of your result.

Image size and transparency

PNG export keeps transparent pixels and avoids adding another round of JPEG compression. It may produce a larger file than your original. Very large images are reduced to at most 4096 pixels per edge and 12 megapixels to keep the editor usable; the output dimensions appear beside the download. This is an image editor, not a file-size compressor. If you need a smaller file afterward, try the image compressor.