Free Pixel Art Maker

1. Upload a photo. Drag a picture onto the uploader above, or tap it to pick a file. Works with portraits, pets, landscapes, food, and logos.
2. Pick a grid size. A smaller grid (32×32) gives a chunky, retro look. A larger grid (64 or 96) preserves more detail. Balanced 48×48 is a good default.
3. Pick a color depth. Fewer colors read like classic 16-bit pixel art. More colors hold onto shading and skin tones.
4. Download or color it in. Save the PNG to use anywhere — or tap “Open in Repixel” to color it pixel-by-pixel on your phone.

The whole process runs on our servers using the same pixel-art engine that powers the Repixel app, so what you see in your browser is exactly what you would see on the color-by-number board.

Photos convert into great pixel art when the subject is clear and the color palette is not too busy. A few rules of thumb:

• High contrast beats high resolution. A 1-megapixel photo with a strong silhouette will pixelate better than a 20-megapixel photo shot into the sun.
• Fill the frame with the subject. The maker center-crops your image to a square. If your dog is tiny in the corner, it will get even tinier after pixelation. Zoom in first.
• Flat colors and graphic shapes shine. Cartoon stills, logos, food, and toys tend to look incredible. Low-light photos with heavy noise tend to look muddy — try boosting contrast before uploading.
• Transparent PNGs keep their background. Upload a transparent PNG and the output will be transparent too, perfect for stickers and overlays.

If your first result looks off, try a bigger grid or a higher color depth. Pixel art is a conversation between resolution and palette — play with both.

The grid is how many pixels wide (and tall) your final image will be. On Repixel, the grid doubles as the color-by-number board — each square is a cell you can tap.

• 32 × 32 — 1,024 cells. Chunky, game-sprite energy. Perfect for avatars, icons, and anything meant to look like a retro console.
• 48 × 48 — 2,304 cells. The sweet spot for recognizable portraits without hours of tapping. Default for a reason.
• 64 × 64 — 4,096 cells. Detail lives here. Faces keep their features, food looks appetizing, scenery holds up.
• 96 × 96 — 9,216 cells. Near-photographic. Best for when you want pixel art that quietly wows instead of shouts.
• 128 × 128 — 16,384 cells. Ultra mode. The lines between "pixel art" and "downsampled photo" get blurry. Pair with Ultra (36 colors) for portraits that still look like the person.

Larger grids are more detailed but take more time to color by number. Think of 32 as a 20-minute project, 96 as a weekend, 128 as a slow-burn display piece.

Pixel art traditionally means placing every pixel by hand at a small resolution — a craft tied to 8-bit and 16-bit video games, where memory limits forced artists to work one pixel at a time. Pixel drawing is a broader term people search for when they want to draw with pixels, whether they are making game sprites, icons, or digital posters — if that is what you are after, our free pixel drawing tool is a better starting point than a photo converter.

Modern pixel art almost always goes through three steps: reference, rough, and cleanup. A tool like this one handles the reference-to-rough jump in seconds. You can stop there and use the output, or treat it as a starting point for hand-tuning in an editor like Aseprite or Piskel.

If you are new to pixel art, the fastest way to build an eye for it is to color other people's pixel art first. Repixel lets you do exactly that — tap, color, and study how great pixel artists compose with 8–24 colors.

The web maker is the fast route. The Repixel app is the fun route. Once your photo is pixelated, tap Open in Repixel and the same grid loads as a color-by-number board on your phone:

• Every cell gets a number that matches a color in a legend at the bottom of the screen.
• Tap a color, tap a cell, and the pixel fills in with a satisfying little pop.
• When you finish a color, the whole palette celebrates — Repixel ties the ambient experience together.
• Save progress, re-share the finished piece, and keep a library of every pixel art you have ever colored.

Get Repixel free on the App Store