Image to Dither, Free Dithering Generator

/SEE IT

From photo to dither in one click

Drop any photo into the editor and pick the Dither style. The engine quantises your image to a small palette and arranges the available colours in a dither pattern, recreating the look of old computers, Game Boys and 1-bit printers, from your image's own tones.

/MORE EXAMPLES

11 algorithms, 16 retro palettes

Same photo, six different dither settings, error-diffusion vs ordered patterns, across classic palettes. Switch algorithm, palette, contrast, threshold and pixel scale in one click. Every image below is a real ASCII Magic export, no AI, no upscaling, just real dithering.

Same source photo, six different dither setups. The editor lets you tune algorithm, palette, contrast, threshold and scale in real time, and the dither matrix can be animated to flow across the frame.

/HOW IT WORKS

Dither an image in four steps

1. Drop your image

   Drag any JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF or MP4 into the editor. No upload, your file stays in the browser.

2. Pick the Dither style

   Choose an algorithm, Floyd–Steinberg, Atkinson, ordered/Bayer, halftone or lines, and a palette.

3. Tune the look

   Adjust contrast, threshold, pixel scale and chroma mode in real time. Animate the matrix if you want motion.

4. Export

   Save as PNG, JPG, animated GIF or MP4, at up to 4× source resolution. No watermark.

/WHY ASCII MAGIC

Built for dithering specifically

/ALGORITHM

Floyd-Steinberg dithering, the most influential algorithm in 1-bit history

Invented in 1976 by Robert W. Floyd and Louis Steinberg, Floyd-Steinberg is an error-diffusion dithering algorithm. For each pixel, it picks the closest available colour (e.g. pure black or pure white in 1-bit), then takes the difference between the original and the chosen colour (the error) and spreads it across the 4 surrounding pixels in fixed proportions: 7/16 to the right, 3/16 to the bottom-left, 5/16 below, 1/16 to the bottom-right. The result is the soft, organic-looking dither pattern most people picture when they hear "classic 1-bit", far more detail than threshold-only conversion. It is what the Game Boy Camera and early Mac apps used, and it is still the default for risograph mock-ups, lo-fi album covers, and 1-bit aesthetic posters. ASCII Magic's Dither style implements it natively alongside Bayer, Atkinson, and several other algorithms; switch between them from the algorithm dropdown.

/PRESET

Game Boy Camera filter, the 4-shade green look

The Game Boy Camera (Nintendo, 1998) shot 128×112 black-and-white photos and rendered them as 4 shades of pea-soup green: #9bbc0f (lightest), #8bac0f, #306230, #0f380f (darkest). The grainy, low-resolution, error-diffused output became one of the most beloved retro photographic aesthetics in design, lo-fi music, and indie photography. ASCII Magic recreates it with one preset: pick the Dither style, set the palette to Game Boy, the algorithm to Floyd-Steinberg, and optionally crop the source to 128×112 for period accuracy. The result is a faithful Game Boy Camera output, ready to copy into a Discord profile, an album cover, a YouTube thumbnail, or a lo-fi merch print.

Floyd-Steinberg vs Bayer vs Atkinson, when to use each

• Floyd-Steinberg diffuses error to 4 neighbours, the most balanced, smoothest result. The default for "classic 1-bit". Best for photographic content where you want soft detail.
• Bayer (ordered dither) uses a fixed threshold pattern, faster and more visibly patterned. Best for video where you want stable frames without per-frame shimmer.
• Atkinson (used in classic 1984 Mac apps) only diffuses 6/8ths of the error to 6 neighbours, brighter and more "crispy". Best for typographic posters and high-contrast scenes.
• Stucki, Burkes, Sierra, variations on error-diffusion with different kernels; experiment for slightly different organic grain.

/ALGORITHMS

All 15 dithering algorithms, what each one is for

ASCII Magic ships 15 dithering algorithms across three families. Switch between them in the Algorithm dropdown.

Ordered (stable in animation), 9 algorithms. These use a fixed threshold pattern, so every frame computes identically and there is no per-frame shimmer, ideal for video.

• Bayer 2x2 / 4x4 / 8x8 / 16x16, classic ordered dither at four resolutions. Smaller = more visible matrix; bigger = smoother apparent tone.
• Halftone (clustered dot), dots cluster into newspaper-style halftone clumps.
• Radial, the dither threshold radiates from the centre outward, giving a soft vignette feel.
• Horizontal Lines / Vertical Lines / Diagonal Lines, the threshold pattern is a line grid; result reads as printed scanline.

Noise, 2 algorithms. These thresholds are random, organic feel for stills.

• White Noise, uniformly random threshold per pixel, classic stippling effect.
• Blue Noise, statistically distributed noise that avoids low-frequency clumping; smoothest of the noise dithers.

Error-diffusion (organic, for stills), 4 algorithms. These compute a quantisation error per pixel and spread it to neighbours; produce the softest, most organic dither but show shimmer in video.

• Floyd-Steinberg, the 1976 classic (spreads to 4 neighbours). Default and safest choice.
• Atkinson, the 1984 Mac App dither (spreads to 6 neighbours, only 6/8 of the error), brighter and crispier.
• Stucki, spreads to 12 neighbours, smoother gradients than Floyd-Steinberg.
• Sierra Lite, the lightweight Sierra variant, fast and clean.

For a deeper walkthrough of when to pick which algorithm, plus the maths behind error-diffusion vs. ordered dithering, read our complete guide to dithering.

/PALETTES

16+ ready palettes plus a custom-colour editor

Dithering needs a target palette, the small set of colours every output pixel must snap to. ASCII Magic ships 16+ presets and a custom-colour editor.

• Mono / Grey: Mono 1-bit (pure black/white), Grey 2-bit (4 levels), Grey 3-bit (8 levels). Classic 1-bit print / poster output.
• Retro hardware: Game Boy (the 4-shade pea-soup green), CGA Palette 0 and CGA Palette 1 (IBM-PC era 4-colour modes), Pico-8 (16-colour fantasy console), C64-ish (16-colour Commodore feel), NES-ish (16-colour Nintendo Entertainment System feel).
• Print / artistic: 3-bit RGB (8 pure RGB primaries), Cyberpunk (neon pink/cyan), Pastel (soft 5-colour set), Risograph (matches actual riso ink colours), Sepia (vintage-photo tone), Original colours (preserves source palette, just dithered).
• Custom palette editor, build any palette you want. Click + to add a colour swatch, click an existing swatch to open the OS colour picker, click ✕ to remove (min 2 colours). The dither pattern recomputes live as you change colours. Pin your brand palette this way for consistent output across projects.

/DITHER TOOL · HALFTONE GENERATOR

Dither tool online plus a halftone generator, in the same browser tab

Two SERPs, one page: this is both a dither tool online (11 algorithms including Floyd-Steinberg, Atkinson, Stucki, Sierra Lite, plus every Bayer matrix from 2×2 to 16×16) and a halftone generator (the halftone dither algorithm renders your photo as a grid of dot-clusters, exactly like an offset-print photograph). Whichever phrase you searched, the tool handles it.

Every algorithm is served instantly, in your browser, at up to 4× source resolution. No signup, no watermark, no upload to a server. Use it as a Floyd-Steinberg dither generator, a Bayer dither converter, an Atkinson dither online, or a halftone image generator, depending on which algorithm you pick and which SERP led you here. Each is the same page, one dropdown selection apart.

/FAQS

Common questions about dithering

/RELATED STYLES

Or try a different art style

Each opens the editor with that style ready. Explore the full styles index.