How to pixelate a square image to 256 big pixels with python?

Question

I need to find an way to reduce a square image to 256 big pixels with python, preferably with the matplotlib and pillow libraries.

Got any ideas ?

Answer 1

Sorry, I can't give you a Python solution, but I can show you the technique and the result, just using ImageMagick at the command-line:

Starting with this:

First, resize the image down to 16x16 pixels using normal cubic, or bilinear interpolation, then scale the image back up to its original size using "nearest neighbour" interpolation:

magick artistic-swirl.jpg -resize 16x16 -scale 500x500 result.png

Keywords:

Pixelate, pixellate, pixelated, pixellated, ImageMagick, command-line, commandline, image, image processing, nearest neighbour interpolation.

Answer 2

Another option is to use PyPXL

Python script to pixelate images and video using K-Means clustering in the Lab colorspace. Video pixelating support multi-processing to achieve better performance.

Using the Paddington image as a source you can run:

python pypxl_image.py -s 16 16 paddington.png paddington_pixelated.png

Which gives this result

Of course if you wanted it to have 256 x 256 pixels rather than just 256 big pixels you could run

python pypxl_image.py -s 256 256 paddington.png paddington_pixelated.png

Which gives this result

Both results have a more retro 8-bit look to them compared to the other solutions, which might suit your needs.