Pixel Art Converter: Turn Any Image into Pixel Art

Upload an image, pick how many pixels wide it should be and which colors it may use, and get a pixel art PNG at true size plus enlarged copies. It runs entirely in your browser, so your image is never uploaded.

Step 1 of 3: Image

How to use it

  1. Press Choose an image, or drop an image on the box, and press Next.
  2. Pick a width from 32 px to 128 px and press Next.
  3. Choose Original colors, reduced and a number of colors, or a fixed PICO-8, Game Boy or NES palette. Tick the outline box if the image has a transparent background.
  4. Press Convert to pixel art and compare the result with the original.
  5. Press Download PNG for the true-size sprite, or Download x4 PNG or Download x8 PNG for an enlarged copy.

How the image to pixel art conversion works

The converter shrinks the image to the width you pick by averaging each block of source pixels into one pixel. Semi-transparent pixels become fully opaque or fully transparent, because pixel art sprites need hard edges.

With Original colors, reduced, it builds a palette from the image itself with median cut: it splits the image's colors into groups along the color channel with the widest spread until it has 4, 8, 16 or 32 groups, then uses each group's average. With a fixed palette, every pixel snaps to the nearest color in that palette: the 16 PICO-8 colors, 4 Game Boy greens or 54 NES colors, copied from the Lospec palette list.

Simple images with clear shapes and strong contrast convert best. Treat the result as a first draft: a few minutes of cleanup in a pixel editor, such as fixing eyes and single stray pixels, makes a big difference.

Keep pixel art sharp in Godot 4

Godot 4 filters 2D textures with Linear filtering by default, which blurs pixel art when it is scaled. Since Godot 4.0 the filter is not an import option: set Project Settings > Rendering > Textures > Canvas Textures > Default Texture Filter to Nearest for the whole project, or set Texture > Filter to Nearest on a single Sprite2D or other CanvasItem.

Import the true-size PNG, not the x4 or x8 copy, and scale it in the game. Godot's docs recommend Lossless compression for pixel art, which is the default for 2D textures.

For a whole pixel art game, Godot's multiple resolutions guide suggests a base window size between 256 x 224 and 640 x 480, Stretch Mode set to viewport and, from Godot 4.2, Stretch Scale Mode set to integer. A 640 x 360 base size scales evenly to 1280 x 720, 1920 x 1080, 2560 x 1440 and 3840 x 2160.

Frequently asked questions

Is the pixel art converter free?
Yes. It runs in your browser with no account, and your image never leaves your computer.
What size should my pixel art sprite be?
Match it to your game's base resolution rather than your screen. In a 640 x 360 game, a 32 px tall character is about a tenth of the screen height, and 64 px is about a fifth.
Why does my pixel art look blurry in Godot?
Godot 4 uses Linear texture filtering by default. Set Project Settings > Rendering > Textures > Canvas Textures > Default Texture Filter to Nearest, or set the sprite's Texture > Filter to Nearest.
Can I convert an image to the PICO-8 or Game Boy palette?
Yes. Choose PICO-8 for its 16 colors or Game Boy for 4 shades of green on the Palette step, and every pixel snaps to the nearest color in that palette.
Does the outline option work on photos?
The outline only fills transparent pixels next to the sprite, so it needs an image with a transparent background, such as a PNG character cut out from its background.

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