Low Quality Image Maker
Degrade an image on purpose: crush the JPEG quality, drop the resolution, add blocky pixelation, grain, generation loss, and the deep-fried colour push. Everything runs in your browser.
Drop your images here or click to browse
JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP and AVIF. Up to 10 files, 25 MB each. Nothing is uploaded.
Six ways to wreck an image, one slider at a time
Most "low quality" tools give you a single compression slider. This one separates the effects that actually make an image look bad, so you can combine them deliberately: crushed encoder quality, resolution collapse, hard blocky pixels, grain, repeated re-saving, and a blown-out colour push. Presets get you to a familiar look in one click; the advanced controls let you go somewhere new.
What You Can Create
Deep-fried memes
The look is not just compression. It is crushed quality plus heavy saturation and contrast, saved several times over. The deep fry slider and recompress passes do exactly that, together.
True pixel art degradation
Blocky resampling turns off pixel smoothing, so a 10% resolution scale gives you hard square pixels rather than a soft blur. Save as PNG to keep those edges perfectly crisp.
Generation loss
Every JPEG save discards a little more detail. Stack recompress passes to reproduce the decay of an image reposted across the internet for a decade, in one step.
Files under a hard limit
Set a target size in kilobytes and the encoder quality is searched automatically until the file fits. Useful for forums, ticket systems, and anything with a strict upload cap.
Lo-fi and retro art
Low resolution plus grain gives images the digitized look of 90s webcams, VHS captures, and early web graphics — the base layer of vaporwave and retro game aesthetics.
Compression test fixtures
Generate a batch of deliberately poor inputs to check how your app handles broken thumbnails, low-bandwidth loading, and images that arrive far below the expected quality.
Settings cheat sheet
Starting points for the looks people ask for most. Each one is a preset in the tool, so you can load it and then adjust from there.
| Look | Settings |
|---|---|
| Deep fried meme | Quality 5, scale 60%, smooth, deep fry 85, 4 passes |
| Potato quality | Quality 3, scale 12%, blocky, 3 passes |
| Lo-fi / retro | Quality 35, scale 20%, blocky, grain 26 |
| 90s webcam | Quality 22, scale 30%, smooth, grain 38, 2 passes |
| Fax / photocopy | Quality 12, scale 35%, blocky, deep fry 100 |
| Mild degrade | Quality 55, scale 80%, smooth, no extra passes |
How this Low Quality Image Maker works
Your image is decoded in the browser with EXIF rotation applied, so photos taken on a phone stay upright. It is then drawn onto a hidden canvas at a fraction of its original size, set by the resolution scale slider. Detail that does not survive that squash is gone for good, which is where most of the degradation comes from.
If grain is turned up, random noise is mixed into the pixels while the image is still small, so the noise ends up the same size as the pixel blocks. The small canvas is then drawn back up to the output size. Blocky resampling turns off pixel smoothing so every shrunken pixel becomes a hard square; smooth resampling blends them into a blur instead. The deep fry slider applies a saturation and contrast filter during that final draw.
The result is encoded with the quality you picked, or with a quality found by binary search if you set a target file size. Extra recompress passes decode and re-save the file repeatedly to compound the artefacts, the same generation loss that degrades an image reposted over and over. The preview renders at a reduced resolution to keep slider dragging smooth, and the full-resolution version is built when you download.
How to use this Low Quality Image Maker
Add your images
Drag files onto the upload area or click to browse. You can queue up to ten at once.
Pick a preset or dial it in
Start from Deep Fried Meme or Potato Quality, then adjust quality, resolution scale, blockiness, grain, and recompress passes until it looks right.
Compare and download
Drag the compare handle to check the result against the original, then download the file or grab everything as a ZIP.
Example Usage
Same pixel dimensions, roughly 97% smaller, with hard square pixel blocks and compounded JPEG artefacts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why would anyone want to make an image look low quality?
What is the difference between blocky and smooth resampling?
What do recompress passes actually do?
How does the target file size option work?
Which output format should I pick?
What happens to transparent areas?
Can I get a genuinely smaller image, not just a worse-looking one?
What image formats can I upload?
Is there a limit on image size?
Does the tool upload my image to a server?
What settings give the classic meme look?
Can I process several images at once?
Related Tools
Add Noise to Image
Add noise effect to images to give them a grainy, vintage look.
Blur Image Online
Blur an image online to hide details or create a soft focus effect.
Grayscale Image Online
Convert any image to black and white (grayscale) instantly.
Pixelate Effect Online
Apply a pixelation effect to censor separate parts of an image.
Posterize Effect Online
Reduce the number of colors in an image for a poster art look.
Resize Image Online
Resize an image by percentage or exact pixels.
The Low Quality Image Maker is maintained by CodeItBro. We aim to provide the best free developer tools on the web. If you have feedback or suggestions, please visit our contact page.
