How to Properly Upscale Pixel Art in Photoshop

Resizing images in Photoshop is very easy, but sometimes the end result is not quite good as expected, and that is due the resizing method you choose. Of course some enlarging methods are better than others depending on the image type you want to upscale, and in this tutorial you will learn the correct way to properly upscale pixel art images in Photoshop while taking a look at a few of the wrong ways to make it.

The Wrong Method 1

Step 1

Open your pixel art image in Photoshop and go to Image > Image Size. In this case the image dimensions are 48 x 48 px.

Step 2

Check the Resample option. By default, Photoshop will set the resampling method to Automatic.

Step 3

Check the “Constrain Aspect Ratio” icon.

Step 4

Set the Width and Height to “Percent”.

Step 5

Finally, set the percentage Width to 1200 and click OK.

Step 6

As you may see, the end result is not even close to be acceptable.

The Wrong Method 2

Step 1

Open your pixel art image in Photoshop and go to Image > Image Size. In this case the image dimensions are 72 x 72 px.

Step 2

Check the Resample option, and from the dropdown menu select “Preserve Details (enlargement)”.

Step 3

Check the “Constrain Aspect Ratio” icon.

Step 4

Set the Width and Height to “Percent”.

Step 5

Finally, set the percentage Width to 1200 and click OK.

Step 6

As you may see again, the end result is not even close to be acceptable.

The Wrong Method 3

Step 1

Open your pixel art image in Photoshop and go to Image > Image Size. In this case the image dimensions are 72 x 72 px.

Step 2

Check the Resample option, and from the dropdown menu select “Bicubic Smoother (enlargement)”.

Step 3

Check the “Constrain Aspect Ratio” icon.

Step 4

Set the Width and Height to “Percent”.

Step 5

Finally, set the percentage Width to 1200 and click OK.

Step 6

Again the end result is not acceptable at all.

The Correct Method

Step 1

Open your pixel art image in Photoshop and go to Image > Image Size. In this case the image dimensions are 72 x 72 px.

Step 2

Check the Resample option, and from the dropdown menu select “Nearest Neighbor (hard edges)”.

Step 3

Check the “Constrain Aspect Ratio” icon.

Step 4

Set the Width and Height to “Percent”.

Step 5

Finally, set the percentage Width to 1200 and click OK.

Step 6

This time the final result is exactly what we expect when we need to upscale our pixel art images.