What this opens on
The pixel studio at 4×, nearest neighbour only. The stage draws your sprite with a whole number of screen pixels per picture pixel, so edges stay crisp instead of shimmering, and a grid can be laid over it for inspection.
| Factor | Output | Colours in the file |
|---|---|---|
| 4× | 128 × 128 px | 16 — the same 16 |
| 8× | 256 × 256 px | 16 — the same 16 |
| 16× | 512 × 512 px | 16 — the same 16 |
| 32× | 1,024 × 1,024 px | 16 — the same 16 |
Every pixel becomes an exact square block. The saved PNG is read back and its colours counted: none should be new.
Where this falls down
- A photo looks blocky.Square pixels are right for sprites, icons and screenshots of pixel art. A photograph wants a smooth method — the page says so when your picture has more than 256 colours.
- Smoothed or resized sprites carry their blur.If the sprite was already scaled with smoothing somewhere else, its soft edges are part of its pixels now, and they get enlarged too.
- Only the first frame of an animation.For every frame of an animated GIF, with the timing kept, use Enlarge GIF.
Questions people ask
Why only whole numbers?
At 3× every pixel becomes exactly a 3 × 3 block. At 2.5× some pixels would have to become two columns wide and others three, and the sprite would look uneven. Whole factors are the only ones where every pixel stays the same size.
Does it add any colours?
No. Each output pixel is a copy of one source pixel. After saving, the page reads the PNG back from its own bytes and compares its colours with yours: the count in, the count out, and how many are new — which should be none.
How big can it go?
Any whole number up to 64×, as long as the result stays under this device's ceiling: 16,000 px on the long side and 80 megapixels on a computer, 8,192 px and 24 megapixels on a phone. The page shows the largest factor your picture can take.
What file does it save?
A PNG. With 256 colours or fewer it is an indexed PNG whose palette is exactly your sprite's colours (transparency kept); with more it is an ordinary 8-bit RGBA PNG. Either way it is lossless and tagged as sRGB.
Is the pixel grid saved into the file?
No. The grid is drawn on the stage only, to help you inspect the sprite, and never reaches the download.
Better fit?
- Enlarge a GIF Every frame of an animated GIF enlarged, with each frame's timing and the loop kept.
- Enlarge a PNG Transparency-first: premultiplied resampling with no dark fringe, edge-guided for logos, PNG or WebP out.
- Double the size The factor with the least to apologise for. Opens at 2× on a sharp source.
- Where a trained model beats arithmetic, and where it doesn't The case for the classical path, made fairly, including the cases it loses.
