Thermal Printer Video Effect

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MP4, MOV, WebM, or MKV

Tip: paste a video file from clipboard (Ctrl/⌘+V).

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Settings are written to the URL as you change them. Nothing differs from the defaults yet.

Print a clip on a till receipt. Every frame is reduced to pure black dots on paper-colored stock, with the rough stray dots of cheap thermal paper.

Dithering

Atkinson and Floyd–Steinberg represent gray as patterns of dots; Threshold cuts each pixel to black or white. Brightness and Contrast run before the dither and decide which midtones survive. If faces vanish into black, raise Brightness; if the frame washes out, raise Contrast.

Paper

Paper Tint picks the look of the stock: faded receipt paper, blue carbon, or stark black and white. Paper Noise adds stray ink before the dither, which turns into speckle across the frame.

1-bit video

A 1-bit frame is almost all edges, which is the hardest content for a video encoder. Expect more compression smearing at a given bitrate than on the source, and export at source size rather than scaling down.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which dithering mode should I use?

Atkinson for punchy, high-contrast frames; it spreads only part of the error and lets light areas clip to white, as on early Macintosh graphics. Floyd–Steinberg keeps smoother shading on faces. Threshold gives hard black and white with no dots.

Why does the dot pattern crawl?

Error diffusion carries each pixel's rounding error to its neighbours, so a small change anywhere alters the pattern after it. Noise in the source changes every frame and the dots rearrange with it.

Does the paper noise move?

Yes. It is seeded from each frame's timestamp, so stray ink dots change 30 times per second of source time. Set Paper Noise to 0 for a steadier pattern.

What happens to the audio?

It is copied into the export unchanged when the container can hold its codec, and re-encoded when it cannot. A note under the export button says which happened.

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Thermal Printer Effect

Apply a thermal printer aesthetic with 1-bit dithering and paper noise. Adjust the dither algorithm, ink color, and pre-processing contrast.

Dither Video Effect

Reduce every frame of a video to a retro palette such as Game Boy, PICO-8, or Commodore 64, with Floyd–Steinberg error diffusion filling in the missing colors. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

Engraving Video Effect

Turn every frame of a video into an antique engraving: hatch lines that follow the form, crosshatching in the shadows, and etched edges that move slightly on every frame. Set ink and paper colors, exposure, and line density. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

Newspaper Print Video Effect

Print every frame of a video as a newspaper halftone: black dots on aged newsprint, ink spread, and paper texture that changes on every frame. Set dot size, contrast, ink spread, and paper texture. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

Ink Bleed Video Effect

Print every frame of a video as ink that creeps into paper fibre past its edges, with the fibre redrawn on every frame. Set ink threshold, bleed distance, fibre scale, and fibre resistance. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

Linocut Video Effect

Carve every frame of a video into a linocut print: solid ink shapes, gouged midtone lines, and ragged cut edges that shift on every frame. Set simplify, ink threshold, gouge spacing, and edge carve. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

Risograph Video Effect

Print every frame of a video as a two-ink risograph: halftone dots, misregistered layers, and print roughness that changes on every frame. Set dark ink, light ink, intensity, and misregistration. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

Sketch Video Effect

Turn a video into a moving pencil drawing: graphite shading, traced contours, and paper texture that is redrawn on every frame. Set paper color and each layer's strength. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

Stained Glass Video Effect

Turn every frame of a video into a stained glass window: Voronoi glass cells with lead lines and texture, on a layout that stays fixed while the colors move. Set glass scale, cell variance, lead thickness, and lead color. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.