Demake
Drop a photo — get pixel art. Lock it to a classic console palette. Runs entirely in your browser.
About the Demake tool
A demake is the art of recreating something in a lower-fidelity retro style — as if it existed on an older console. This tool automates the visual side: it downscales your image to a low-resolution grid, maps every pixel to the closest color in a classic hardware palette using Euclidean RGB distance, then scales back up with nearest-neighbor interpolation. The result looks like it came off actual hardware. Everything runs in your browser; your image never leaves your device.
Pair this with CRT-ify to add scanlines and phosphor glow on top, or use Dithering Studio for a different take on palette reduction with Floyd-Steinberg error diffusion.
Palettes
PICO-8 — 16 colors. The indie fantasy console palette designed by Lexaloffle. Punchy and instantly recognizable.
Game Boy — 4 shades of green. The original DMG-01 LCD palette. Perfect for monochrome pixel art.
NES — 64 colors. The full hardware palette of the Nintendo Entertainment System, as output by the 2C02 PPU.
C64 — 16 colors. The Commodore 64's vibrant VIC-II palette. Saturated and distinctive.
Terminal — 12 phosphor-green shades. Evokes the monochrome CRT monitors of the 1970s and 80s.
Use cases
Before/after posts — upload a modern photo and share the pixelized result. These get shared constantly on social media and retro gaming communities.
Game dev mockups — quickly prototype what a design or character would look like under console constraints.
Streaming overlays — pixelize a webcam snapshot or scene for retro-themed streams.
Profile pictures — convert a photo into a pixel-art avatar. Combine with Pixel Upscaler to get a crisp 512px PNG.
FAQ
Is my image uploaded anywhere? No. Everything runs locally in your browser using HTML5 Canvas. Nothing is sent to a server.
What pixel size should I use? 4–8px for a subtle retro look; 12–24px for chunky, unmistakably arcade vibes. The slider re-processes instantly.
Can I use the output commercially? Yes — the processing is done locally by you. The palette colors themselves are from historical hardware.
What's the difference between NES and PICO-8? NES has 64 colors (the full hardware spec), while PICO-8 is a curated 16-color set designed for maximum contrast and aesthetics. PICO-8 results look more stylized; NES results look more like actual NES screenshots.