Dithering Tool
Dither any image with Floyd-Steinberg, Atkinson, Bayer and more, in 1-bit black and white, grayscale or color, with live preview and PNG download.
Drag & drop an image here, or click to browse
No uploads. Your files stay on your device.
How it works
Dithering fakes shades that a limited palette cannot show by scattering a pattern of the colors it does have. Drop an image and this tool redraws it with the Canvas API in your browser — no upload, no server. Error-diffusion algorithms (Floyd–Steinberg, Atkinson, Jarvis-Judice-Ninke, Sierra Lite) push each pixel's rounding error onto its neighbours for a soft, photographic grain; ordered Bayer matrices lay down a crisp, repeating crosshatch that looks like a classic newspaper or Game Boy screen.
Pick Black & white for true 1-bit art, or switch to grayscale or color levels to posterise while keeping the dither texture. Pixel size blocks the image down first for a chunky retro look, and the brightness and contrast sliders are worth nudging — dithering is very sensitive to how much midtone a photo has. Every change re-renders instantly, then Download PNG saves the result at full size.
Frequently asked questions
What is dithering in images?
Dithering fakes shades a limited palette cannot show by scattering a pattern of the colors it does have, the way a newspaper photo makes gray out of black dots on white paper. Error-diffusion algorithms such as Floyd-Steinberg push each pixel's rounding error onto its neighbours for a soft, photographic grain, while ordered Bayer matrices lay down a crisp, repeating crosshatch.
Which dithering algorithm should I use?
Floyd-Steinberg is the safe default and looks the most photographic. Atkinson keeps only part of the error, so it drops detail in the extremes and gives the high-contrast classic Macintosh look. Jarvis-Judice-Ninke spreads error over twelve neighbours for the smoothest gradients but the softest edges. The ordered Bayer matrices give a regular, printable pattern that scales well and suits pixel art and Game Boy style output.
Is my image uploaded anywhere?
No. The image is decoded and dithered entirely in your browser with the Canvas API, so nothing is sent to a server, there is no account and there are no ads. You can even load the page once and keep dithering with your connection switched off.