How to add effects to a photo
- Drop a photo. Large images are scaled to 1600 px on the long side for fast previews.
- Pick an effect: Glitch, Halftone, Dither, Duotone or Pixel art, and adjust its sliders. Glitch has a Randomize button for a new variation.
- Hold "Hold to compare" to see the original, then download a PNG (best for pixel art and dithering) or a JPG.
The effects
Glitch imitates corrupted digital video: the red and blue channels are pulled apart, random horizontal slices are shifted, and scanlines and noise complete the vaporwave look. Halftone recreates newspaper and comic printing with a grid of dots whose size follows brightness; CMYK mode overlays cyan, magenta, yellow and black screens at the classic print angles. Dither reduces the image to a tiny palette, such as 1-bit black and white, Game Boy green or PICO-8, using error diffusion (Floyd–Steinberg or Atkinson, as used on early Macs) or ordered Bayer patterns. Duotone maps brightness to a gradient between two colours, popularised by Spotify's campaigns. Pixel art turns the photo into large blocks, optionally snapped to a retro palette.
All processing runs on a canvas in your browser; your photos are never uploaded. Dithered and pixel-art images are best saved as PNG so the hard edges stay crisp; scale them up with "nearest neighbour" if you resize them elsewhere.
Can I use these effects for profile pictures?
Yes. Crop to a square first with the image cropper, then apply an effect.
Why is my download smaller than the original?
Images are processed at up to 1600 px on the long side to keep the effects fast.
Which dithering algorithm looks best?
Floyd–Steinberg gives smooth gradients, Atkinson a crisper, high-contrast look, and Bayer a regular retro pattern.