Pixel Sort Effect

Sorts the pixels of any picture along one direction, so the tones you pick smear into long glitch streaks.

Try this effectGet the plugin

Made with Pixel Sort

Works in
The same photo with the face, hair and sweatshirt torn into horizontal pixel streaks that smear across the white background.
Photo of a young man with short gray hair and silver headphones, leaning toward the camera in a teal sweatshirt on a white background.

The pixel sort effect moves the pixels already in your picture instead of adding texture on top. Runs of pixels inside a tone range get sorted by brightness, hue or saturation, while everything outside that range stays sharp. You can change the range, the angle and what it sorts by. The pixel sort effect comes with Nexus, a plugin for Photoshop, After Effects, Illustrator, Affinity and Figma.

Same effect, different settings

7 photos, each with its own settings. Try it on yours

  • Pixel Sort Effect on a photo of a woman with slicked black hair and green side light
  • Pixel Sort Effect on a photo of two horses, one black and one white
  • Pixel Sort Effect on a photo of a person leaping in an orange coat
  • Pixel Sort Effect on a photo of a pale blue iris flower on black
  • Pixel Sort Effect on a photo of a black raven over a tattooed hand
  • Pixel Sort Effect on a photo of a person in a long blue robe and black headphones
  • Pixel Sort Effect on a photo of a glass android head with glowing wires

Use Pixel Sort Effect in your apps

It runs natively in Photoshop, After Effects, Illustrator, Affinity and Figma, with the same settings everywhere.

The plugins are free with an account. Paid plans add bigger renders and your own effects. See pricing

Settings worth touching

Low
The bottom of the range that gets sorted. Raise it to keep shadows and midtones sharp, lower it to tear more apart.
Angle
The direction of the streaks. 0 runs them sideways, 90 runs them up and down, and anything between cuts on a slant.
Sort By
What orders the pixels. Brightness gives smooth light to dark fades, Hue gives bands of color, and Saturation pulls vivid colors apart.

Questions, answered

Pixel sorting is a glitch technique that reorders the pixels in a line by a value such as brightness. Only pixels inside a set range move, so parts of the picture smear while the rest stays intact.

Open the look in the Nexus web editor and drop in your own image, no account needed. Adjust Low and Angle until the streaks sit right. Exporting needs a free account, which exports images up to 720px.

Install Nexus for Photoshop and apply the look as a Smart Filter. Double-click it later to change Low, Angle or Sort By, without losing the original picture.

Yes. It lands as a native effect on any layer, and its controls can be keyframed on the timeline, so the streaks can grow, fade or change direction over time.

Yes. Nexus for Illustrator uses your selection as the source and places the result back as an embedded image. This look outputs pixels only, so you do not get vector paths.

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