Image to Minecraft texture converter

How the conversion works

The converter follows the same steps that the AI generator uses after it receives a picture from the image model. First it fits your image into a square. If you choose to remove the background, it finds the most common color along the edge, makes everything connected to the edge and close to that color transparent, trims the pale halo that often stays around an object and crops to what is left.

Then it shrinks the picture to the size you pick by averaging each block of source pixels into one pixel, which keeps shapes better than simply skipping pixels. Last, it reduces the palette with a median cut algorithm: it repeatedly splits the group of colors with the widest range until the number you chose is reached, and maps every pixel to the nearest color. The result is a small image with flat colors, which is what makes pixel art look like pixel art.

Tips for better results

• Start with a picture that has one clear subject and a plain background.
• For items, keep background removal on and use 16 or 32 pixels with 12 to 24 colors.
• For blocks, turn background removal off and turn tiling on. Then check the result next to itself in game.
• For portraits and scenes, use 64 or 128 pixels with 32 to 48 colors.
• If the background is not fully removed, raise the tolerance slider a little. If part of the object disappears, lower it.

Using the result

Download the PNG at its real size to use it as a texture. The large PNG is the same picture enlarged with sharp pixels, which is the right choice for avatars, thumbnails and posts. To put a texture into a resource pack, name the file after the vanilla texture and place it in assets/minecraft/textures/item or block. The folder structure guide shows where every file goes.

Questions