Drag and drop or click to upload a JPG, PNG, or WEBP image. The VHS effect is applied at default intensity immediately.
VHS Effect
Give any photo the look of an old VHS tape — chromatic aberration, scanlines, and retro glitch noise. Adjust intensity and download free.
How to Add a VHS Effect to a Photo
Drag the slider from 1 (a subtle hint of tape artefacts) to 5 (heavy glitch with strong colour fringe and dense scanlines).
Click Download to save the result as a PNG at the original pixel dimensions, no watermark.
How the VHS effect works
The tool applies three canvas-based pixel operations to your image. Chromatic aberration is produced by reading the original pixel data and writing the red channel shifted several pixels to the right and the blue channel shifted to the left — the stronger the intensity, the wider the offset, producing a more visible colour fringe. Scanlines are drawn as semi-transparent black horizontal lines at regular intervals, simulating the raster lines of a CRT monitor. Noise is applied by adding a random value to each pixel's RGB channels, recreating the grain and signal degradation of magnetic tape. At higher intensities, random faint horizontal desync lines are also added to simulate tracking errors. All processing happens in your browser with no server involvement.
When to use the VHS effect
Retro and lo-fi aesthetics — the VHS look is central to nostalgia-driven content on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Music and event visuals — album artwork, gig posters, and DJ visuals frequently use VHS artefacts for an underground or vintage feel. Horror and thriller edits — the degraded tape look adds tension and unease to photography and video stills. 90s fashion and lifestyle content — brands targeting millennial and Gen-Z audiences use VHS filters to evoke the era. Memes and social content — the effect is widely used to add a lo-fi, ironic, or nostalgic tone to screenshots and reposts.