How to make a picture low quality
To make a picture low quality, shrink it to a fraction of its size and stretch it back up, then save it as a JPEG at a very low quality setting, open that file and save it again a few times. Cutting the number of colors, adding noise or a little blur finishes the look.
Fastest route: open the Low Quality Image Maker, drop in the picture and press Low quality or Very low quality.
The five ways a picture looks low quality
"Low quality" is really several different kinds of damage. Pick the one that matches the look you want:
| Look | How you get it |
|---|---|
| Blocky, smeared JPEG | Save as JPEG at a very low quality, several times |
| Pixelated | Shrink the picture a lot, then enlarge it without smoothing |
| Soft, low resolution | Shrink, then enlarge with smoothing on, or blur it |
| Banded colors | Cut the number of shades per color channel |
| Deep fried | Saturation and contrast far up, noise, then low quality JPEG saves |
Why low quality JPEGs look blocky
The JPEG standard is lossy: it throws detail away to make the file smaller. The encoder splits the picture into 8 × 8 pixel blocks and stores each block as a set of wave patterns. At low quality most of the fine patterns are rounded away, so each block keeps only its rough shading. The seams between blocks show, and edges get a smeary halo.
Saving the damaged file again throws away more. The Low Quality Image Maker nudges the picture a few pixels between saves, so each pass lands on a new block grid and adds fresh loss, the way a meme degrades after being cropped and reposted.
PNG is lossless, so saving as PNG never adds damage. It keeps exactly what you made, which is why a PNG download looks identical to the preview.
Settings for five low quality looks
These are the exact presets in the Low Quality Image Maker. Use them as a recipe in any editor that has the same controls, or as a starting point for the sliders.
| Setting | Low quality | Very low | Deep fried | Pixelated | Blurry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPEG quality (1 to 100) | 8 | 3 | 4 | 60 | 20 |
| Times re-saved as JPEG | 2 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 1 |
| Pixelation (block size in px) | 2, smooth | 5, smooth | off | 12, blocky | off |
| Shades per color channel | all 256 | 32 | all 256 | all 256 | all 256 |
| Noise (0 to 100) | off | 8 | 30 | off | off |
| Blur | off | off | off | off | 4 px |
| Saturation / contrast (100% = normal) | 100 / 100 | 100 / 100 | 320 / 190 | 100 / 100 | 100 / 100 |
Worked example
Take a 1600 × 1200 photo. Pixelation 5 shrinks it to 320 × 240 (1600 ÷ 5 by 1200 ÷ 5) and stretches it back, so every 5 × 5 patch of the result comes from one pixel. Pixelation 12 leaves about 133 × 100 blocks. Cutting to 32 shades per channel leaves at most 32 × 32 × 32 = 32,768 colors, down from 256 × 256 × 256 = 16,777,216, which is where the banding comes from.
Here's what the presets did to the file size of the tool's 1600 × 1200 example, a 69 KB JPG to start with, measured in Chrome with the size shown under the preview:
| Preset | JPG size |
|---|---|
| Low quality | 18 KB |
| Very low quality | 14 KB |
| Deep fried | 16 KB |
| Pixelated | 38 KB |
| Blurry | 21 KB |
The Pixelated preset saves at quality 60, so its file stays bigger even though it looks the most broken. Your own picture will give different numbers.
How to do it by hand in any photo editor
- Resize the picture down to 10 to 25% of its width.
- Resize it back up to the original size. Choose "nearest neighbor" for hard pixels, or a smooth option for a blurry look.
- Export as JPEG with the quality slider near the bottom.
- Open the exported file and export it again. Repeat two to four times. Shift or crop it by a few pixels between saves if each new save stops changing much.
Do it with the free Low Quality Image Maker
- Open the Low Quality Image Maker and choose, drop or paste a picture.
- Press a preset, then fine-tune JPEG quality, re-saves, pixelation, colors, noise and blur. The preview updates as you drag.
- Download as JPG for the smallest file, or PNG to keep the look exactly.
It runs in your browser: your picture isn't uploaded, and there's no watermark.
Open the Low Quality Image MakerFAQ
How can I convert a photo to low quality?
Shrink and re-enlarge it, then save it as a very low quality JPEG a few times. In the Low Quality Image Maker that's one button: Low quality uses JPEG quality 8, two re-saves and a light, smoothed pixelation.
How do I make a picture low quality on iPhone?
Open the Low Quality Image Maker in Safari, tap Choose image, pick the photo and tap a preset, then Download. There's no app to install, and the photo isn't uploaded.
How can I make a PNG image low quality?
PNG has no quality setting, because it's lossless. Damage the pixels first (pixelate, cut colors, or run it through low quality JPEG saves), then save the result as PNG. The PNG keeps that damage exactly. If you want a small file, save as JPG instead.
How do I decrease the resolution of a picture?
Resize it to fewer pixels. In the Low Quality Image Maker, set Size to a longest side of 1280, 800, 480 or 240 px. To keep the same pixel size but look low resolution, use Pixelation instead.
Does making a picture low quality make the file smaller?
Usually, if you save it as a low quality JPG: the tool's example went from 69 KB to 14 KB with Very low quality. A PNG of a low quality picture can still be large, because PNG keeps every pixel exactly.
Can I undo it?
No. JPEG compression throws detail away, and shrinking a picture drops pixels. Keep the original.
Related
Sources
Each page below was read on 27 October 2026. The preset values are the Low Quality Image Maker's own, copied from its code. The file sizes were measured with the tool in Chrome on its example image; another picture or browser will give different sizes.
- ITU-T Recommendation T.81 (09/92), the JPEG standard. DCT-based processes "are lossy"; in encoding, samples "are grouped into 8 × 8 blocks". Copy hosted by the W3C.
- JPEG, Overview of JPEG 1. JPEG 1 is a "DCT based lossy image format".
- W3C, PNG Specification (Third Edition). PNG is a format for "lossless" storage of raster images. W3C Recommendation, 24 June 2025.
- WHATWG, HTML Living Standard, canvas toBlob(). For JPEG, quality is "a number in the range 0.0 to 1.0 inclusive". The tool's 1 to 100 slider maps onto it.