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Features Overview

PixSplat offers a comprehensive set of features for pixel art creation and animation. This page provides an overview of the main capabilities.

Drawing Tools​

Basic Tools​

  • Draw: Pixel-perfect drawing as well as customizable brush sizes and shapes
  • Erase: Remove pixels with precision as well as with customizable brush sizes and shapes
  • Shape Drawing: Draw straight lines, rectangles and circles
  • Fill and Gradient: Flood fill tool and gradient tool with tolerance settings

Advanced Tools​

  • Selection: Multiple selection modes (rectangle, freehand, magic wand)
  • Transform: Move, scale, rotate, and flip selections
  • Color Picker: Advanced color selection with palette management

Animation Features​

Timeline​

  • Frame-by-frame animation support
  • Onion skinning for smooth animation
  • Frame management (add, remove, duplicate)
  • Frame timing control
  • Export to GIF (desktop only) or sprite sheets

Layer Management​

  • Unlimited layers
  • Layer blending modes
  • Layer opacity control
  • Layer visibility control
  • Layer order control
  • Edit layer names

Color Management​

  • Custom palettes
  • Import and export palettes as text format from the palette panel
  • Color history

File Support (Desktop Version)​

Import/Export Supported Formats​

Full Read/Write Support​

  • BMP, DIB (Windows/OS2 Bitmap) - with alpha support
  • PNG (Portable Network Graphics) - with alpha support
  • JPEG, JPG, JFIF, JIF, JFI (JPEG) - no alpha support
  • JPEG 2000 (JP2, J2K, J2C) - with alpha support
  • GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) - supports animation, no alpha
  • TIFF, TIF (Tagged Image File Format) - with alpha and multi-image support
  • WebP - with alpha support
  • ICO (Icon files) - with alpha and multi-image support
  • EXR, SXR, MXR (OpenEXR) - with alpha and multi-image support
  • HDR, RGBE (High Dynamic Range) - no alpha support
  • TGA, TPIC (Truevision TGA) - with alpha support
  • IFF, Z (Autodesk Maya IFF) - with alpha support
  • ZFILE (ZFile depth image) - no alpha support

Scientific and Technical Formats (Read/Write)​

  • FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) - with alpha and multi-image support
  • PPM, PGM, PBM, PNM, PFM (Portable Anymap formats) - no alpha support
  • SGI, RGB, RGBA, BW, INT, INTA (Silicon Graphics) - with alpha support
  • RLA (Run-Length encoded) - with alpha support
  • DPX (Digital Picture Exchange) - with alpha and multi-image support
  • TX, ENV, SM, VSM (TIFF variants) - with alpha and multi-image support

Import Only Formats​

  • CIN (Kodak Cineon)
  • DDS (Microsoft DirectDraw Surface)
  • HEIC, HEIF, AVIF (High Efficiency Image Formats)
  • PSD, PDD, PSB (Adobe Photoshop Documents)
  • PTEX, PTX (Per-face texture format)
  • PIC (Softimage)

Export Only Formats​

  • TERM (Terminal output-only unicode image) - with alpha support

Project Format​

  • PXS (PixSplat project files)

Note: Format capabilities vary:

  • Alpha support: Indicates transparency support
  • Multi-image: Can contain multiple images in a single file
  • Animation: Supports animated sequences (currently only GIF)

File Support (Web Version)​

Import/Export Supported Formats​

Import Support (Read)​

  • PNG (Portable Network Graphics)
  • BMP (Windows Bitmap)
  • JPEG (JPG)
  • WebP

Export Support (Write)​

  • PNG - with transparency support
  • JPEG - no transparency support
  • WebP - with transparency support (except on Safari)

Note: Web version has limited format support compared to desktop. Some key differences:

  • BMP files can only be imported, not exported
  • WebP export is not available on Safari browsers
  • Animated formats (like GIF) are not supported in the web version
  • Multi-image formats are not supported

Performance Features​

  • WebGPU powered acceleration
  • Efficient memory management
  • Real-time preview
  • Undo/redo history
  • PixSplat is really fast and responsive. Make sure to save https://pixsplat.com/ in your bookmarks to quickly open the app and start editing an image.

Next Steps​

Learn more about specific tools and features in our Tools Guide.