How to resize pixel art without blurring it

Pixel art goes blurry because ordinary resizing blends neighbouring pixels. The cure is a method that doesn't blend. In Paint by Zaweba, open Image > Image Size and choose hard edged resampling to keep every pixel crisp, or the Pixel art option, which uses Scale2x and Scale3x to double or triple a sprite while smoothing its staircase edges in the classic style.

Most image editors default to smooth resampling, which suits photos. For a sprite drawn one pixel at a time it's the wrong choice: crisp edges turn to mush and colours bleed together.

Two ways to keep it sharp

Hard edged resampling copies each pixel into a bigger block without mixing colours. A 16 pixel sprite scaled to 64 pixels becomes 4 by 4 blocks of exactly the same colours. This is what most people want when they share pixel art online or put it into a game engine at a larger size. It keeps the art exactly as drawn.

Scale2x and Scale3x, under the Pixel art option, do something cleverer. They look at each pixel's neighbours and round off diagonal steps, so a curve made of stair steps comes out a little smoother while the colours stay pure. Some artists love the look, others feel it changes their art. Try both and compare.

Step by step

Open the sprite and choose Image > Image Size (Ctrl+Alt+I). Pick hard edged resampling or Pixel art from the resampling options.

Choose a whole number scale: 200, 300, 400 percent and so on. That is the rule that matters most. At 150 percent, some pixels become two blocks wide and others one, and the art looks uneven even with hard edges. Scale2x and Scale3x work at exactly double and triple, so pick those sizes with them.

Apply it and zoom in to check.

Seeing pixels while you work

Paint by Zaweba helps while you draw, too. The pixel grid shows the edge of every pixel once you zoom past 600 percent, and it's on by default. Pixel Preview shows hard pixels at every zoom level, so you can judge your art without the display smoothing it. Neither changes the picture itself.

Getting a good result

Draw at the native size and scale only for display or export. Keep the small original as your working file and make big copies from it, never the other way round.

Save scaled pixel art as PNG. JPEG compression smears the hard edges and adds noise to flat colours, which ruins the clean look. For simple animations, GIF keeps the flat colours too.

If you use the sprites in a game, check whether the engine scales them itself. Often it is better to export at native size and let the engine scale with its own nearest pixel setting, and to keep upscaled copies for previews, shop pages and social posts.

Other tidy ups

When you do want to resize a full picture with text or shapes in it, remember those layers scale as vectors in Paint by Zaweba, so they come out sharp regardless of the method. For pure pixel art, though, hard edges or the Pixel art scalers keep every pixel where you put it.