16x16 to 64x64 covers almost everything
- 16x16 - the smallest common size. Icons, tiny objects, game-boy-style tiles.
- 32x32 - the sweet spot for most game tiles and simple characters.
- 48x48 / 64x64 - characters with real detail, UI portraits, medium backgrounds.
- 128x128 + - detailed art, large sprites, or images meant for print.
The golden rule of pixel art: start small, not big. Every pixel is placed by hand, so a larger canvas means more work. Most beginners and even professionals start at 16 or 32 pixels and only go bigger when the art needs it.
Common sizes and what they are for
| Size | Best for | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 16x16 | Icons, coins, tiny tiles | Very chunky; a full face can be just a few pixels. |
| 32x32 | Tiles, small characters, UI | The most common starting size in tutorials. |
| 48x48 | Detailed tiles and characters | Great middle ground between retro and modern. |
| 64x64 | Hero characters, portraits | Room for faces, equipment and shading. |
| 128x128 | Large props, splash art | Often used for showcase art rather than gameplay. |
| 256x240+ | Full scenes, backgrounds | Matches retro console framebuffers (see below). |
Characters are often taller than they are wide (e.g. 16x24 or 32x48). Tiles are usually square. If you are building a game, pick a base size and stick to it so all your assets match.
The resolutions retro consoles actually used
If you want an authentic retro look, target the framebuffer resolution of the console you are referencing. These are the numbers artists designed for.
| System | Resolution | Era |
|---|---|---|
| NES / Famicom | 256x240 | 8-bit, early 1980s |
| SNES | 256x224 | 16-bit, early 1990s |
| Sega Genesis / Mega Drive | 320x224 | 16-bit, early 1990s |
| Game Boy / Game Boy Color | 160x144 | 8-bit, 1989 / 1998 |
| Game Boy Advance | 240x160 | 32-bit, 2001 |
| Commodore 64 / MSX | 320x200 | 8-bit home computers |
| DOOM-era PC | 320x240 | Early 1990s |
What modern pixel art games use
Modern indie games rarely use retro resolutions because those were 4:3. Today the common widescreen target is 640x360 - it scales with perfect integers to 720p (2x), 1080p (3x) and even 4K (6x) without blur.
| Game | Render resolution | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Undertale | 640x480 | Characters ~30-49 px tall, scaled up 200%. |
| Owlboy | 640x360 | Protagonist is ~39 px tall. |
| Shovel Knight, Hyper Light Drifter | 640x360 | The modern widescreen standard. |
A good rule of thumb: use a base resolution that is a whole multiple of your display (or a common display divided by an integer). That way sprites never get non-integer scaled and blurry.
Scaling pixel art without blur
Pixel art only looks crisp when scaled by integer multiples (2x, 3x, 4x...) using nearest-neighbor scaling. Photo-style upscalers and bilinear smoothing turn crisp sprites into a blurry mess - exactly the problem our tool was built to solve.
- 1. Always start from the original small file, never a screenshot.
- 2. Scale by whole numbers: 2x, 3x, 4x, 8x.
- 3. Keep smoothing/interpolation OFF so edges stay hard.
Already made your sprite? Upscale it up to 32x with zero blur, right in your browser - files never leave your device.
Upscale a Sprite FreeSize questions, answered
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