CRT-ify
Give any image the authentic CRT monitor treatment — scanlines, RGB phosphor, chromatic aberration, vignette. All in your browser.
About CRT-ify
CRT-ify applies four composited effects that reproduce the visual character of cathode-ray tube monitors — the screens that defined gaming aesthetics from the 1970s through the late 1990s. The effects are applied entirely in your browser with HTML5 Canvas: no upload, no server, no account needed.
Works best on pixel-art screenshots, retro game captures, and low-resolution images where the scanlines and phosphor grid are large enough to read. Try it after the Demake tool for a complete retro pipeline: photo → pixelized → CRT-treated.
Effects explained
Scanlines — alternating dark horizontal lines every 2 pixels, mimicking the electron-beam raster structure of a CRT display. Real CRTs had a visible gap between each scan line at typical viewing distances.
Chromatic aberration — shifts the red channel right and the blue channel left by a set number of pixels, simulating the color fringing caused by lens dispersion and aperture-grille shadow masks (as seen on Trinitron-style monitors).
Phosphor mask — overlays a repeating pattern of transparent RGB columns every 3 pixels, evoking the phosphor dot or slot-mask sub-pixel layout of real CRT panels.
Vignette — a radial gradient that darkens image edges, replicating the natural brightness falloff of curved CRT glass and electron-gun geometry.
Use cases
Retro game screenshots — make modern emulator captures look like they were photographed on real hardware.
Streaming & video thumbnails — add instant retro-gaming atmosphere to any image.
Social media — CRT-treated before/after comparisons get shared heavily in gaming and nostalgia communities.
Fan art & cover art — add authenticity to pixel art by layering in the screen hardware that would have displayed it.
FAQ
Is my image uploaded anywhere? No. Canvas operations are 100% local in your browser.
Why does chromatic aberration look subtle on small images? The channel shift is measured in absolute pixels, so it's more visible on larger images. For a small sprite, try a 2–4px shift; for a full screenshot, 4–8px.
What export format? PNG, lossless, at the original image resolution.
Can I use this on a video? Not directly — this tool processes still images. For video, you'd need a video editor with a CRT shader (e.g. RetroArch or OBS shaders).
What settings look most realistic? Scanlines 30–40%, chroma 2–4px, phosphor 20–30%, vignette 40–60%. Heavy scanlines (70%+) look more stylized than realistic.