17

When I'm trying to view pixel art up close, chrome starts blurring the image. I want to make it so that even when the image is zoomed in, I can still see the pixels in crisp detail, not a blurred one.

Propeller
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    At the moment I don't think you can disable the smoothing algorithm that chrome uses that smooths out the edges of the images when you zoom in them. Unless there's an extension that does so or someone knows something that I don't know as of yet. – DuckDuckGoose Jan 09 '13 at 07:50
  • By zooming do you mean ctrl/cmd and +? – booyaa Jan 09 '13 at 16:49
  • @booyas, yes, that's what I mean. – Propeller Jan 10 '13 at 14:40
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    Things have improved, now this is a possible duplicate of http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7615009/disable-interpolation-when-scaling-a-canvas . In particular, see namuol's answer and jsfiddle at http://jsfiddle.net/namuol/VAXrL/1459/ which demonstrates what I think you are wanting. TL;DR for chrome: "image-rendering: pixelated;" on img and canvas elements. – Don Hatch Jan 24 '16 at 23:44
  • Not your question, but is it possible to store the images in higher quality at least, and then would the zoom use the extra detail? – Xonatron May 30 '19 at 18:05

4 Answers4

21

Update

As per the comments:

it is now possible in Firefox: image-rendering: optimizeSpeed; – Arnaud

Original

This isn't possible directly from the browser.

The smoothing is applied via an algorithm and most modern browsers do similar and in IE, Firefox and Chrome there is no way to turn this off.

http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/AIihdmfPNvE

You do have other options, here are the 2 main points from the link above, both are Chrome addons.

image-resizer
imagezoom

You could apply the CSS code below in the browser, which will turn it off! 

img { 
    image-rendering: optimizeSpeed;             /*                     */
    image-rendering: -moz-crisp-edges;          /* Firefox             */
    image-rendering: -o-crisp-edges;            /* Opera               */
    image-rendering: -webkit-optimize-contrast; /* Chrome (and Safari) */
    image-rendering: pixelated;                 /* Chrome as of 2019   */
    image-rendering: optimize-contrast;         /* CSS3 Proposed       */
    -ms-interpolation-mode: nearest-neighbor;   /* IE8+                */
    }
root
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Dave
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4

Possible in 2019 with the following CSS: image-rendering: pixelated;

Arnaud
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3

I made this bookmarklet to disable smoothing. I keep the link in my bookmark bar and tap it when I want to disable the antialiasing on a page, usually for pixel art or classic gaming:

javascript:(function pixelate() {
  const sheet = document.createElement('style');
  sheet.innerHTML = 'img { image-rendering: pixelated; }';

  document.head.appendChild(sheet);

  for(let i = 0; i < frames.length; ++i) {
    frames[i].document.head.appendChild(sheet);
  }
})()

The reason a bookmarklet was appealing is that I don't like giving extensions the "read and change all your data on the websites you visit" permission.

Stephen Niedzielski
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2

I've noticed some issues with Chrome and Firefox when using GPU rendering with images. E.g.:

img {
    -webkit-transform-style: preserve-3d;
    transform-style: preserve-3d;
}

If you have any CSS statements with the following, try removing them and see if your image quality increases.

bashaus
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