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Posterize Effect

Posterize an Image

Smooth gradients collapse into a few flat bands of color — the bold look of screen prints, pop art and vintage posters.

Image to ASCII Turn any photo into ASCII art — copy it as text or save as PNG.
Image to Pixel Art Make 8-bit pixel art from a photo with retro palettes like PICO-8 and Game Boy.
Glitch Effect RGB split, slice shifts, scanlines and static — a GPU glitch effect for any image.
Halftone Effect Turn photos into print-style halftone dots, squares or diamonds in two colors.
Duotone Effect Map a photo onto two colors — the Spotify-style duotone look.
Pixel Sorting Glitch-art pixel sorting: melt bright or dark pixels into long streaks.
Fluted Glass Effect Reeded glass refraction: look at any photo through ribbed glass.
Shatter Effect Break a photo into flying blocks that scatter away from an intact center.
Photo to Pencil Sketch Turn a photo into a graphite pencil drawing with adjustable line weight.
Photo to Watercolor Soft watercolor washes with ink edges and paper texture from any photo.
Tilt-Shift Effect Miniature-world tilt-shift blur with a movable focus band.
Motion Blur Effect Directional motion blur for speed, panning and dynamic shots.
Film Grain Effect Analog film grain and a soft vignette for a 35mm look.
Chromatic Aberration Split red, green and blue channels for a lens-fringe or 3D-glasses look.
Light Leak Effect Warm analog light leaks and flares in any two colors.
Neon Glow Effect Trace the edges of a photo with glowing neon lines on a dark background.
Paper Cut Effect Layered paper-craft look with cut-out shapes and soft shadows.
Colored Pencil Drawing Turn a photo into a colored pencil drawing that keeps its colors.
Glow Effect Bloom glow: bright areas softly radiate light.
Lens Blur (Bokeh) Dreamy lens blur where bright spots bloom into bokeh.
Zoom Blur Effect Radial zoom or spin blur that rushes toward a point.
Glass Tiles Effect See a photo through hexagonal or square glass blocks with refraction.
Torn Paper Effect Rip a photo into torn paper pieces with white edges and shadows.
Hexagon Mosaic Pixelate a photo into a honeycomb of flat-colored hexagons.
Swirl Effect Twist a photo into a whirlpool around its center.
Water Ripple Effect Concentric water ripples spreading across a photo.
Bulge & Pinch Effect Magnify the center of a photo like a fisheye — or pinch it in.
Vignette Effect Darken — or tint — the corners to focus attention on the center.
Emboss Effect Raised relief look: turn a photo into an embossed grey surface.
Blur Image Blur a whole image smoothly — clean edges, any strength.
Sharpen Image Make soft photos crisper with an adjustable sharpening filter.
Demo image — drop, paste or upload yours

More image effects

All effects
Duotone Effect example Duotone Effect Map a photo onto two colors — the Spotify-style duotone look. Halftone Effect example Halftone Effect Turn photos into print-style halftone dots, squares or diamonds in two colors. Paper Cut Effect example Paper Cut Effect Layered paper-craft look with cut-out shapes and soft shadows.

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Background Remover
One-click background removal with pixel-perfect edges.

Posterize Effect — how it works

Reduce a photo to a few flat tones for a bold poster look.

What posterization does

Each of the red, green and blue channels is limited to a small number of levels. Instead of millions of smooth shades, the image uses only a handful of flat colors, so gradients turn into hard-edged bands — the look of posters printed with a few inks.

How many levels

Two or three levels give a loud pop-art result with bright primary colors; four to six keep the subject recognizable with a graphic, illustrated feel; ten and more only slightly flatten the image — useful for a subtle retro touch.

Combine it

Posterize pairs well with Duotone for two-color screen prints and with Halftone for comic-book panels. In Image Flow you can stack them in one document.

Frequently Asked Questions

Similar, but posterize cuts each channel into equal steps, while palette reduction picks the closest colors from a palette. For palette-based looks see Image to Pixel Art.

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PNG, JPG or WebP in full resolution.