Pixelorama
A free, open-source pixel art editor for sprites, tiles, and animations.
- Stars
- 10.9k
- Forks
- 597
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- GDScript
- Last update
- 4 days ago
- Type
- App
What it is
Pixelorama is a free, open-source program for drawing pixel art. It covers making sprites, tilemaps, and animations, and it can export to common image and animation formats. People use it to make art for games or for their own creative projects.
- Draw sprites and tiles for a 2D game, including rectangular, isometric, or hexagonal tilemaps
- Build animations using layers, frames, onion skinning, and frame tags
- Export a spritesheet, animated PNG, GIF, or video
- Use non-destructive layer effects such as outlines or drop shadows while keeping the original art unchanged
Great for
- Pixel artists making sprites or tiles for games
- People making frame-by-frame animations with layers and timelines
- Game developers who want to export spritesheets or GIFs
- Users who want a free MIT-licensed editor on Windows, Linux, macOS, or the web
Not ideal for
- People who need a general-purpose photo or vector editor, since it is built around pixel art
- Users who need a stable build of the main branch, because the README says early access builds have bugs and are unstable
- People who want to work with Godot source code without learning Godot 4.7.1, since the README says building from source needs that version
How to get it
- 1
Download the app
Install on Windows via WinGet
winget install pixelorama - 2
Run it
- Download a stable build from GitHub Releases, Steam, Itch.io, or Flathub, or install with WinGet on Windows
- Open Pixelorama and create a new project
- Draw on the canvas using the tools, then add frames or layers for animation
- Export your work using the export options for PNG, GIF, spritesheet, or video
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Use the online documentation at orama-interactive.github.io/Pixelorama-Docs to learn features
- Map tools to left and right mouse buttons to speed up your workflow
- Add free community-made extensions, such as a 2D-to-3D voxel tool, as mentioned in the README
- Use the command line interface to automate bulk exports
- Attach custom metadata to layers, frames, and cels for game development pipelines
Downloads
Strengths
- Free and open-source under the MIT license
- Runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, and the web, per the README
- Includes pixel-art-focused features such as indexed mode and tilemap layers
Trade-offs
- The README says the project is unstable in early access builds, so stable releases are recommended
- Some documentation pages are still missing, according to the README
- Building from source requires a specific Godot version, which may be hard for non-developers
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pixelorama (this) | 10.9k | App | beginner | 4 days ago | Pixel artists making sprites or tiles for games |
| godot | 119k | App | beginner | 6 days ago | Indie game developers who want a free engine with no royalties |
| magictools | 17.7k | Curated list | beginner | 5 days ago | Indie game developers looking for sprites, textures, icons, or 3D models |
| primitive | 13.6k | CLI | intermediate | 2.3 years ago | Artists exploring generative or abstract image styles |
| Claude-Code-Game-Studios | 33k | Dev tool | intermediate | 18 days ago | Solo indie developers who want structure around AI-assisted game development |
| renderdoc | 11.3k | App | intermediate | 5 days ago | Graphics programmers debugging their own Vulkan, D3D11, D3D12, or OpenGL applications |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.