Halftone Generator
Turn any image into print-style halftone dots. Runs in your browser, downloads as a transparent PNG, free with no sign-up.
What a halftone is
Halftone is the printing technique that builds an image out of dots of varying size. Big dots where the image is dark, small dots where it is light; step back and your eye blends them into smooth tones. It is how newspapers, comics, and screen prints reproduced photographs long before high resolution printing existed.
This tool runs the same idea as a WebGL shader. Upload an image and it is sampled into a live dot grid. Four dot styles (classic, gooey, holes, soft), square or hexagonal grids, and a contrast control set the character, and you can keep the image's own colors or render single-ink dots. The dots sit on a transparent background, so the downloaded PNG layers cleanly over any color or texture.
If you want the four-ink offset printing look, with overlapping cyan, magenta, yellow, and black rosettes, use the CMYK halftone instead.
How it works
Drop an image
Drag, drop, paste, click, or tap. JPG, PNG, WebP. The file never leaves your browser.
Tune the dots
Pick a dot style and grid, then set size, dot radius, and contrast until the pattern reads right at your target size.
Download the PNG
Full resolution, transparent background. You can also carry the image's palette straight into the mesh gradient generator.
Questions people ask
How do I turn a photo into a halftone effect?
Open the InstantGradient halftone generator, drop in your photo, and it becomes a live dot pattern instantly. Choose a dot style and grid, adjust the dot size and contrast, then download the result as a PNG. It runs in your browser with no sign-up and no Photoshop needed.
What is the best free halftone generator online?
The InstantGradient halftone generator is free with no sign-up, no watermark, and no export limit. It renders the halftone live with a real WebGL shader (not a slow server round-trip), gives you four dot styles and square or hex grids, keeps your image's own colors or single ink, and exports a transparent PNG at full resolution.
How do I make a halftone effect without Photoshop?
You do not need Photoshop or any install. The InstantGradient halftone generator does it in the browser: drop an image, tune the dots, download the PNG. It works the same on desktop and mobile.
How do I get the comic book or newspaper dot look?
Use the built-in presets. The Newspaper preset gives a fine single-ink dot screen, and the Comic preset uses a coarse hex grid for the classic Ben-Day panel look. Start from a preset, then fine-tune the dot size and contrast.
Is this halftone generator tool really free?
Yes. It is completely free with no sign-up, no watermark, and no export limit. InstantGradient makes money from an optional pass on the mesh gradient generator, not from this tool.
Do my images get uploaded to a server?
No. Your image is read locally and processed by a WebGL shader running in your own browser. Nothing is uploaded, so you can use private or client work safely.
What size is the download?
The exported PNG matches your original image resolution, capped at 4096 pixels on the longest side, which is enough for print and large screens.
Can I apply a halftone effect to a gradient or animation?
Yes. This tool halftones a still image, but the InstantGradient mesh gradient generator applies the same halftone shader to an animated gradient you can export as a 4K image, an MP4 video, or code. Generate a palette, pick a shader style, and toggle Halftone in the effects list.
More free tools
The shader behind this tool is open source: paper-design/shaders (MIT). Same shader, same defaults as the effect in our editor.