IMG · Images tools

Dither Effect

This tool applies a classic dither effect to your photos directly in the browser. It restricts the image to a specific color palette and uses error diffusion to recreate missing colors as a deliberate pixel pattern.

The dither effect online runs entirely client-side. ## Retro palettes

Choose a palette to set the overall aesthetic of the dither image. You can select iconic hardware limitations like Game Boy, C64, or EGA, or use modern pixel-art standards like PICO-8 and DB16.

For specific brand requirements, click Edit to customize the colors. Adding colors preserves more detail, while removing colors creates a bolder, more stylized poster look.

Texture and diffusion

Adjust the Strength slider to blend the dither texture with the original photo. A value of 100% applies a full dithering effect, while lower values overlay a subtle retro pattern on the original image.

Use Diffusion to control how aggressively the color error spreads to nearby pixels. High diffusion creates a textured, noisy dither image online, while low diffusion results in a flatter, posterized style.

Color and transparency

Enable Linear color to process the image in a physically accurate light space. This produces smoother gradients and more natural transitions, preventing the harsh banding often associated with dithereffect conversions.

For images with alpha channels, keep Preserve transparency enabled to avoid spreading patterns into empty space. To create consistent thumbnails or print assets, disable it and flatten the image onto a solid background color before applying the dither online.

Frequently Asked Questions

JPEG, PNG, and WebP. The exported file keeps the original format and extension.

No.. No servers, no tracking, and

Dithering converts an image to a limited set of colors (a palette) and spreads the color difference as a pixel pattern. This simulates intermediate tones and creates a retro, pixel-textured look.

Strength blends between the original image and the dithered result. Lower strength keeps more of the original; 100% strength is fully dithered.

Diffusion controls how much the color difference is spread to nearby pixels. Lower diffusion looks flatter and more posterized; higher diffusion looks more textured and ‘dithered.’

Linear color does the matching and error spreading in linear-light space (instead of sRGB), which often produces smoother gradients and more natural transitions—especially in skies and soft shading.

If Preserve transparency is enabled, transparent pixels stay transparent. If disabled, the image is flattened onto a chosen background color before dithering.

Yes.

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