Pixel Art Converter

Pixel Art Converter

Turn a photo, avatar or logo into retro pixel art. Choose how many blocks wide it should be, keep the original colours or limit them to a few — including the Game Boy’s four greens and the PICO-8 palette — and download a crisp PNG. With grid lines and a colour count it also works as a pattern for fuse beads or cross-stitch.

Runs in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded

Choose an image

or drop a JPG, PNG or WebP image here

Images are processed in your browser and never uploaded.

How to use

Choose an image.
Drag Width in blocks — fewer blocks give a chunkier, more retro look.
Pick the colours, and turn on grid lines if you need a bead or cross-stitch pattern.
Set the block size for the download and click Download PNG.

Options explained

Width in blocks: How many blocks the image is across; the height follows the image’s proportions.
Limit the number of colours: Picks the best 4–64 colours from the image itself (median cut), for a flatter, poster-like result.
Blocks per colour: How many blocks use each colour — handy for buying beads or thread.

Grid size and palettes

The image is divided into Width in blocks columns, each block takes the average colour of the pixels it covers, and the number of rows follows from the image’s proportions: rows = height ÷ (width ÷ blocks), rounded. A 640 × 480 photo at the starting value of 48 blocks gives 48 × 36 blocks, which downloads at 576 × 432 px with the default Block size in the download of 12 px. Blocks that are mostly transparent stay transparent. Grid lines are only drawn when the block size is 4 px or more.

Fixed palettes replace each block with the nearest palette colour, weighting green most because the eye is most sensitive to it.

Choice under Colours	Colours
Original colours	Average colour of each block, no limit
Limit the number of colours	4, 8, 16, 32 or 64 colours chosen from the image
Game Boy (4 greens)	`#0f380f` `#306230` `#8bac0f` `#9bbc0f`
PICO-8 (16 colours)	`#000000` `#1d2b53` `#7e2553` `#008751` `#ab5236` `#5f574f` `#c2c3c7` `#fff1e8` `#ff004d` `#ffa300` `#ffec27` `#00e436` `#29adff` `#83769c` `#ff77a8` `#ffccaa`
Black and white	`#000000` `#ffffff`
4 shades of grey	`#000000` `#555555` `#aaaaaa` `#ffffff`

Frequently asked questions

Which settings look most like classic game graphics?

Try 32–64 blocks wide with the PICO-8 or Game Boy palette, or limit to 8–16 colours. Simple images with a plain background work best.

Why is the downloaded image sharp and not blurry?

Each block is drawn as a solid square at the size you choose, so it stays sharp. If you enlarge it elsewhere, use “nearest neighbour” scaling to keep the edges crisp.

Are my images uploaded?

No. Everything happens in your browser.

Privacy

This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your files and text are processed on your device and are never uploaded to our servers.