Creative tutorial
How to give a photo a pixel art look
Turn a photograph into a blocky, retro-inspired image with a few deliberate choices about your subject and pixel size.
1. Choose a photo with a clear subject
A strong outline and a simple background make a better starting point than a busy scene. Try a close-up portrait, a flower, or a colorful object. Tiny background details often become visual clutter when they turn into blocks.
If your photo needs cropping or exposure adjustments, do that in your usual photo editor first. Pixelate Photo focuses on applying pixelation, so a well-prepared source gives you more control over the result.
2. Open the image and choose Entire Image
Open the editor and choose a JPG, PNG, or WebP image. Switch to Entire Image to apply the effect across the entire picture. Your photo is processed locally in your browser.
Move the Pixel Size slider to see how the subject changes. Smaller blocks keep more texture; larger blocks simplify the picture into broad color areas. There is no universal best setting because the result depends on the image dimensions and the size of the subject.
3. Find the balance between shape and detail
Increase the pixel size until some details disappear, then back off a little if the subject becomes hard to recognize. Look at the eyes in a portrait, the edge of a building, or the outline of a flower. Those features tell you whether the effect is helping the image.
Use the comparison control to check the original beside the pixelated image. Zoom in to inspect the block edges and use Fit to screen to judge the overall composition.
4. Download and review the result
Choose PNG to preserve crisp block edges without lossy compression. JPG and WebP are also available, with a quality control to balance file size and appearance. Click Download Pixelated Image, then open the saved file to review it.
If you want a more traditional pixel art finish, take the result into a pixel drawing editor. Simplify the palette, clean up outlines, and redraw small features by hand. The photo effect gives you a starting point; those intentional edits give it a more authored character.