# Image Posterize

Reduce the number of tones in an image for a bold, poster like look. The posterize tool rounds every red, green and blue value to the nearest of 2 to 32 evenly spaced levels per channel, so smooth gradients turn into flat bands of color. At 2 levels an image uses at most eight colors. Great for pop art, screen print previews, retro game graphics and stylized illustrations.

## Frequently asked questions

### What does the levels setting mean?

It is the number of distinct values each color channel may use, from 2 to 32. With 4 levels each channel can only be 0, 85, 170 or 255. Every original value is rounded to the nearest allowed level.

### How many colors does the result have?

At most the number of levels cubed, because each of the three channels is limited separately. Two levels allow 8 colors, four levels 64 colors and eight levels 512 colors. Most images use fewer than the maximum.

### Which level count should I choose?

Use 2 or 3 for a bold pop art effect, 4 to 6 for a clear poster look that still shows the subject well, and 8 to 32 for a subtle banding effect. Higher values look closer to the original.

### Is posterize the same as reducing a palette?

Not quite. Palette reduction picks the best colors for each image, while posterize uses fixed, evenly spaced levels per channel. That makes posterize predictable and consistent across images, which suits screen printing previews and graphic styles.

### Why do I see flat bands in gradients?

That is the effect itself. Smooth gradients such as skies have many close tones, and rounding them to a few levels turns them into visible steps. Blurring the image slightly first gives smoother band edges.

### Does it keep transparency?

Yes, only the color channels are posterized and the alpha channel is unchanged. Grayscale images are posterized in gray.

### Which formats can I upload?

Upload JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, TIFF or AVIF images up to 5 MB. Animated files use their first frame and images larger than 4000 pixels on a side are scaled down to fit.

### What is the output format?

The result is a PNG, which stores the flat color areas very efficiently and often produces smaller files than the original photo. Lower level counts usually give the smallest files.

### Can I get a two color poster?

For exactly two colors, convert to black and white with the Image Threshold tool, or posterize with 2 levels and then apply the Image Duotone tool for colors of your choice. The duotone maps the remaining tones onto your two colors.

### How is the result calculated?

A lookup table rounds each of the 256 possible channel values to its nearest level, then every pixel is mapped through it. The calculation is exact and repeatable.

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