Every option in the image editor's export panel: PNG with color reduction, WebP, JPEG, HDR PNG, vector SVG, scale, transparency, platform sizes, file names, the print finish pass, and what changes between the free plan and Pro.
When your look is ready, open the export panel. On desktop you can use export at the right of the bottom toolbar or the Export button in the top right corner. They open the same panel. On mobile, tap the export tab.
From top to bottom:
| Section | Controls |
|---|---|
| Format | PNG, WebP, JPEG, HDR |
| scale | 1×, 2×, 4× |
| colors or quality | A slider (PNG shows colors, WebP and JPEG show quality, HDR shows a note instead) |
| transparent background | On or off switch |
| estimated size | A live estimate of the file size |
| Downloads | download PNG (or the chosen format), vector SVG, riso separation, animate |
| platform sizes | album cover, spotify canvas, social square, banner |
| Sharing and saving | copy recipe link, publish to community, save as .BTG, browse studio templates |
| Free plan only | remove watermark (Pro) |
| Format | File | Best for | Transparency | Slider |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PNG | .png | Dithered and pixel-perfect art, anything with hard edges | Yes | colors, 2 to 256, or full color |
| WebP | .webp | Smaller files for the web | Yes | quality, 1% to 100% |
| JPEG | .jpg | Photos and grades where small size matters more than crisp edges | No | quality, 1% to 100% |
| HDR | .png | Bright, high dynamic range displays | Yes | None |
PNG is lossless, so dither dots and halftone edges stay perfectly sharp. The colors slider reduces the image to a limited set of colors before saving, which can shrink files a lot and suits the flat color of dithered art.
The slider runs from 1 to 100 and maps to 2 to 256 colors. The default position of 92 gives 236 colors. At 100 there is no color reduction at all and the label reads "full color". The number of colors is shown to the right of the slider.
Note: The colors slider applies whether or not Print finish is on. The finish adds subtle grain, and strong color reduction flattens it, so push the slider to 100 (full color) when you want every bit of the paper texture. See Adjustments.
These are compressed formats. The quality slider goes from 1% to 100%, and the default is 92%. Lower quality means a smaller file with more compression artifacts, which tend to smear fine dither patterns. Keep quality high for textured looks.
JPEG has no transparency, so the transparent background switch is disabled while JPEG is selected.
HDR saves a PNG encoded for high dynamic range screens. The panel describes it as "BT.2100 PQ at 800 nits, view on HDR display in Chrome or Safari". On an HDR display in a supporting browser, the brightest parts of the image glow brighter than normal white. On an ordinary screen it may look flat or dim, so use it only when you know where it will be shown. There is no quality slider for HDR.
vector SVG saves a scalable vector file.
SVG export is a Pro feature. On the free plan, clicking vector SVG opens the upgrade dialog, except when you are working on a sample image, where it downloads normally. The SVG option is hidden while a color grade is active.
By default, Bitgrain sizes your download to match your original photo's pixel dimensions, not the size of the preview on your screen. The scale buttons multiply that:
| Scale | Output long edge (for a 3000 pixel photo) |
|---|---|
1× | 3000 pixels |
2× | 6000 pixels |
4× | 12000 pixels |
The look stays the same at every size (see Adjustments). Pixel and character looks (dither, ASCII, braille, dot matrix, blocky, Grunge ASCII) are computed on the same working grid as the preview, then enlarged with hard-edged scaling so dots never blur. Smooth effects (halftone, pop grunge, manga, haze, grades and the rest) are drawn again at the output size with their cell sizes scaled up by the same amount, so the dot count matches the preview and every dot is crisp. Scaling up doesn't add new detail to the look, it makes it bigger and sharper for print.
Limits:
The estimated size line shows roughly how big the file will be for the current format, scale and slider position. It reads "calculating…" while it works it out.
Turn on transparent background to make the paper color see-through. Bitgrain keys out the editor's cream paper color (#fdf6e3) and anything very close to it, leaving just the ink. It works with PNG, WebP, HDR and SVG, and is unavailable for JPEG.
This works best with two-tone looks (colorize off) or effects where the background is clearly paper. With full color looks, light cream tones inside your photo can turn transparent too.
The platform sizes buttons export your look cropped to an exact size in one click:
| Button | Size |
|---|---|
| album cover | 3000 × 3000 |
| spotify canvas | 1080 × 1920 |
| social square | 1080 × 1080 |
| banner | 1920 × 1080 |
The image is scaled to fill the frame and cropped from the center, so nothing is stretched. Platform sizes always save as PNG and ignore the format, scale and slider settings above. The transparent background switch still applies.
On the free plan, platform downloads are watermarked and scaled down to fit 1500 pixels on the long edge while keeping the same shape (so album cover comes out at 1500 × 1500 and spotify canvas at 844 × 1500). Pro gets the exact sizes, clean.
Platform sizes use the same cream paper (#fdf6e3) as the preview and every other download, in both light and dark theme.
Two more exports open their own dialogs:
.zip. See Risograph separations..mp4. See Animate a still.If Print finish is on under adjust, a paper and ink pass is added to raster downloads (PNG, WebP, JPEG, HDR and platform sizes): warm ink in the shadows, paper tone in the highlights, a soft mottle, grain and a hint of misregistration. It is skipped for ASCII and braille looks and for SVG. Strength follows the Strength slider (default 85%). The grain is seeded, so the same look always downloads the same way. Details in Adjustments.
Downloads get a randomly generated name made of three words and a short code, for example ambient_circuit_echoes__3f9a.png. ASCII SVG downloads are named bitgrain-ascii- followed by a timestamp. Rename the file after download if you need something specific.
While a download is being prepared, a small progress card shows the stage: "rendering effect", "preparing pixels", then "encoding file". It finishes with "fresh off the press" as the file downloads. Large sizes at 4× can take a few seconds.
Exports are unlimited on every plan. What changes is the quality of the file:
| Free | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Raster downloads (PNG, WebP, JPEG, HDR) | Watermarked, long edge up to 1500 pixels | Clean, full size up to 16384 pixels |
| Platform sizes | Watermarked, scaled to fit 1500 pixels | Clean, exact size |
| Vector SVG | Sample images only | Yes |
.btg save and load | Yes | Yes |
| Recipe links and community recipes | Yes | Yes |
The watermark is a small bitgrain.app badge with the Bitgrain logo. It is applied to every raster download on the free plan, including samples and color grades.
On the free plan the export panel also shows remove watermark (marked Pro), which opens the upgrade dialog. For what Pro includes and the 7-day trial, see Plans and pricing or /pricing.
After a watermarked download of your own photo, a dialog appears headed "your file is downloading". It tells you the file has a watermark, and if the file was scaled down it says by how much (for example, from 4000px to 1500px). It lists what Pro unlocks: the same export without the watermark, full source resolution, and SVG, 4K video and batch export.
The prompt appears after your first watermarked download in a browser session, then after every third one. Standard downloads of sample images don't trigger it.
The last group of buttons saves or shares the look rather than an image:
.btg project containing your photo and its settings.All four are covered in Presets and recipes.