Bayer Dither Gradient

Gradients Studio's Bayer dither gradient draws a gradient through the classic 4 × 4 Bayer matrix: where the fade between two colors passes a cell's threshold, that cell gets a mark, so the transition becomes a regular crosshatch. The first download needs no account.

Make a Bayer dither gradient Free wallpapers

First download free, no account · 4K on Pro, from $9 · No subscription

Palettes through the matrix

Each card is the real render at these settings, and opens in the studio with them.

Effects: Dither
Cell size: 32px
Density: 100%
Grain: 10%

The smooth originals are free 4K wallpapers: Ember, Aurora, Ice Fiber, Sunset, Midnight, Storm, Spotlight and Abyss.

What Bayer dithering is

Bayer dithering, or ordered dithering, compares each pixel with a small tiled matrix of thresholds. The 4 × 4 version holds the numbers 0 to 15, arranged so that neighboring thresholds are far apart, which spreads marks evenly and gives 16 levels of tone between two colors. It is the regular crosshatch of early computer graphics.

How the finish uses it

Every cell snaps to its nearest palette color. Where the gradient sits between two colors, the cell's Bayer threshold decides whether it also carries a mark in the second color: a bar, a cross, a ring or a dot. Density scales how readily marks appear; at 100% they follow the gradient's tones.

Ordered or blue noise

Ordered dithering repeats, so the pattern itself shows: rows and diagonals line up into a texture. Blue-noise dithering, which the Pixel finish uses, scatters cells irregularly so the pattern disappears into tone. Pick Bayer when you want the dither to be seen.

The settings on this page

Effects Dither, cell size 32 px (120 marks across a 4K frame), Density 100% and Grain 10%. For a stricter, more mathematical look, type a single character such as + into Characters, so every mark has the same shape.

Sized for where it goes

Exact sizes and safe zones for the places a background ends up, each with examples at that shape.

More generators

The same studio, set to another look.

Questions

Is it a 4 × 4 or an 8 × 8 Bayer matrix?

4 × 4, which gives 16 threshold levels in each transition. At gradient scale that is enough steps for the fade to read smoothly while the pattern stays clearly ordered.

Can I use Floyd–Steinberg or Atkinson instead?

Not here. Error diffusion scatters differently whenever the image size changes, so the preview and the 4K file would disagree. The two finishes are ordered Bayer (Dither) and blue noise (Pixel), and both place every mark the same way in the preview and the export.

Why do the marks change shape?

By default each cell's mark is a bar, cross, ring or dot, picked by its position, which keeps the texture lively. Type one character into Characters to use a single shape everywhere.

Can I download a Bayer dither gradient for free?

Yes: your first download needs no account and keeps the finish, as an HD JPG (1920 × 1080 for 16:9). 4K with the dither finish is Pro, $39 for 12 months, or $9 for a Week Pass.

Make one now

The studio opens set to this look. Shuffle until something feels right, then export.

Make a Bayer dither gradient