Free Pixel Art Converter
Image to pixel art in seconds — this free online pixel art converter locks colors to classic retro palettes or extracts a palette from your own image, previews the grid with per-color counts, and exports crisp PNGs. Everything runs in your browser.
Drop an image here
or click to browse · PNG / JPG / WebP up to 8MB
Converted in your browser — your image never leaves your device
Need a starting point? Try a template
Click any template to load it into the converter
Three steps to pixel art
No account, no upload, no waiting — this photo to pixel art converter updates results live as you tweak.
Drop your image
Drag in a photo, sprite, or screenshot. PNG, JPG, and WebP up to 8 MB.
Pick pixel size & palette
Choose the grid resolution, a retro palette (or auto-extract one), and optionally dithering for smoother gradients.
Export or build by grid
Download crisp PNG at 1×/4×/8×, or turn on the pixel art grid with color counts to recreate it by hand — beads, stitches, or blocks.
Everything a pixel art converter should do
Built from real pixel artists' workflows — not a blur filter pretending to be pixel art.
True pixel output
Every result from this image to pixel art converter is a clean integer pixel grid — no blurry half-pixels. Export at 1× for game engines or 4×/8× nearest-neighbor upscales that stay crisp.
Classic retro palettes
Lock your colors to PICO-8, Game Boy, CGA, NES, Sweetie 16, or Endesga 32 — the palettes real pixel artists and game jams use.
Auto palette extraction
Let the converter pull a harmonious palette (2–64 colors) straight from your image with median-cut quantization. Great for photos.
Import any custom palette
Paste Lospec .hex, GIMP, paint.net, or pixilart.com palette text to match your project's exact colors.
Grid view & color counts
Toggle the pixel art grid overlay and get an exact per-color count — perfect for perler beads, cross-stitch patterns, r/place templates, and LED matrix walls.
Private & free
Conversion runs 100% in your browser. Your images never leave your device, there's no sign-up, and there's no watermark.
Made for every pixel art scene
From game sprites to craft patterns — one online pixel art converter, different grids.
Game sprites & avatars
Convert concept art or photos into 16×16 / 32×32 / 64×64 sprites with locked palettes, ready for Godot, Unity, or Aseprite.
Perler beads & cross-stitch
The grid overlay plus per-color bead/stitch counts turns any image into a workable hand-craft pattern.
Retro photos & avatars
Convert a picture to pixel art to give avatars a clean 8-bit or 16-bit look with dithered retro palettes — no watermarks.
r/place templates
Plan canvas art with exact grid coordinates and color counts before the event starts.
LED matrices & WLED walls
Map images to low-resolution LED panels with a small fixed palette and see exactly which color each pixel should be.
Why use this pixel art converter?
Most online "pixel art" tools just blur and posterize an image. A real pixel art converter is a decision about color and grid — so this one is built around palettes, integer scaling, and hand-workable grids.
True pixels, not a filter
Output is quantized to a fixed palette on an exact integer grid, then upscaled with nearest-neighbor only. No anti-aliased edges, no muddy gradients — the hallmarks of fake pixel art.
Palette-first workflow
Working pixel artists think in palettes. Lock to a classic console palette, extract one from your image, or paste your project's .hex file — then every pixel snaps to those exact colors.
From screen to real world
The pixel art grid overlay and per-color counts make the result workable beyond the screen: bead art, embroidery, LEGO mosaics, r/place canvases, and LED walls all start from the same pattern.
Pixel Art Converter FAQ
Everything about converting images to pixel art.