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Choose imageAbout the Image Dithering
Recreate the textured, newspaper-print look of early computer graphics: this tool applies Floyd–Steinberg error diffusion to any image, reducing it to a handful of tones while scattering the quantisation error into neighbouring pixels so gradients survive as fine speckle patterns. Choose monochrome for the classic 1-bit Macintosh aesthetic, or colour mode to posterise each RGB channel with dithering between the steps.
A levels slider from 2 to 6 controls how many shades remain — two gives pure black-and-white, higher values keep more tonal detail while retaining the characteristic grain. Dithered images suit zines, e-ink displays, retro game art, laser engraving and lo-fi web design. Processing is done pixel-by-pixel in your browser, so nothing is uploaded, and the result saves as a crisp PNG.
Features
- Genuine Floyd–Steinberg error diffusion, not a cheap filter
- Monochrome mode for the classic 1-bit look
- Colour mode dithers each RGB channel independently
- Adjustable tone levels from 2 to 6
- Perfect for e-ink, zines, engraving and retro art
- Runs fully in-browser and exports lossless PNG
How to dither an image online
- Upload the photo or graphic you want to dither.
- Choose Mono for black-and-white or Colour to keep hues.
- Set the levels slider — 2 for hard 1-bit, higher for softer.
- Review the speckle pattern in the preview.
- Download the dithered image as a PNG.
Frequently asked questions
What is dithering, in plain terms?
Dithering fakes shades that a limited palette can't show by mixing the available tones in carefully placed dots — like newspaper halftones. Where a plain reduction to black-and-white would crush a sky into flat blobs, dithering renders it as a graded speckle that your eye blends back into a gradient.
What makes Floyd–Steinberg dithering special?
It's an error-diffusion method: each pixel is snapped to the nearest available tone, and the rounding error is pushed onto its right and lower neighbours in fixed proportions. The result is an organic, non-repeating grain that preserves detail far better than simple threshold or ordered-pattern dithering.
What does the levels setting change?
Levels is the number of allowed values per channel. At 2 you get pure 1-bit output — only black and white in mono mode — for the strongest retro effect. Raising it towards 6 keeps more genuine shades and uses dithering only for the transitions, giving a subtler, more photographic result.
What are dithered images actually used for today?
Beyond nostalgia, plenty: e-ink screens and thermal printers render 1-bit art natively; laser engravers and risograph or screen printing need images reduced to few tones; and lo-fi dithered photos have become a deliberate aesthetic in web design, album covers and indie games.
Should I save the dithered result as PNG or JPG?
Always PNG, which this tool produces. JPEG compression smears the single-pixel dot pattern that dithering depends on, muddying the effect and often making the file larger too. PNG stores the speckle losslessly — and dithered images with few colours compress remarkably well.