How to pixel sort a photo online
- Drop a photo onto the canvas, paste it, or click to choose one. It never leaves your browser.
- Pick Pixel Sort (rows) or Pixel Sort V (columns), then move Detail to set how much of the image melts.
- Export the PNG. No account, no watermark.
How pixel sorting works
Pixel sorting reorders the pixels inside a single row or column by brightness — but only where they cross a threshold. Everything below the threshold is copied through untouched. That contrast between a smeared run and the sharp pixels beside it is the entire effect; sorting a whole line instead would just produce a gradient.
This tool runs the operator in three passes. First it converts every pixel to a luminance value with your contrast setting applied, so the slider decides which pixels are even eligible. Then it walks each line, collecting continuous runs whose luminance clears the threshold. Each run is sorted dark-to-bright and written back in place. Runs are capped at 45% of the line length, because an unbounded sort collapses the photograph into a single band of colour.
| Slider | What it controls | Practical range |
|---|---|---|
| Detail | The threshold itself | 20–40 for thin streaks, 60–80 for heavy melt |
| Intensity | Blend against the original | 100 for a pure sort, 50–70 to keep the subject readable |
| Contrast | Luminance curve before thresholding | Raise it on flat, evenly lit photos |
Direction is a separate filter rather than a slider. Pixel Sort works along rows, which reads as wind or speed. Pixel Sort V works along columns, which reads as rain, dripping paint or melting. CRT Scanlines is on the same page because the two pair well — the studio applies one filter at a time, so export the sorted PNG, drop it back in and apply CRT Scanlines to put a screen over the streaks.
Every step happens in a Canvas 2D buffer inside your browser. The image is never uploaded, and the exported PNG comes back at the resolution you dropped in, up to a 1400px long edge.
