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Turn any photo or illustration into a pixel-perfect Perler bead pattern. Perler beads — also known as fuse beads, Hama beads or melty beads — are small plastic beads arranged on a pegboard and fused together with an iron. This tool converts your image into a bead grid, lets you remove the background, and exports a printable chart with a full bead colour list. All processing runs locally in your browser. Your data is not uploaded to any server.
100% LocalPerler beads are small, hollow plastic beads that are arranged on a pegboard to form a picture, then fused together by briefly applying heat with a household iron. Once the beads melt and cool, they lock into a single flexible sheet that can be used as a coaster, keychain, magnet, wall decoration or standalone piece of pixel art. Because each bead represents exactly one pixel of colour, bead art is essentially physical pixel art — which is why almost any digital image can be converted into a bead pattern.
The hobby is popular with children, crafters, retro-gaming fans and pixel artists alike. Simple projects use a small square pegboard and a handful of colours, while advanced pieces can span thousands of beads across multiple connected boards and require a detailed chart to assemble accurately. This converter generates exactly that kind of chart — a grid where every cell maps to one bead and one specific colour from the palette.
The same product is sold under several brand and regional names. They all refer to the same type of cylindrical fusible bead and are generally interchangeable:
Beads are usually sold in two standard diameters, midi (5 mm) and mini (2.6 mm). Midi is the most common for beginners and is what most free pegboards are designed for. Mini beads allow much finer detail but require more patience and a smaller pegboard. When you pick a grid size in this tool, think of it as choosing how many beads wide the finished piece will be.
A bead pattern is simply a colour-coded grid. Each cell tells you which bead to place at that position. Reading a chart is straightforward once you follow a few habits:
Not every image converts equally well. A few characteristics tend to produce much cleaner results:
If you are new to the craft, a practical starting point is a 60×60 to 100×100 pattern with two or three colours. It is quick to assemble, needs a single pegboard, and lets you confirm that your colour choices look right before committing to a larger project.
Click the upload area, drag & drop a file, or paste from your clipboard with
Ctrl+V (Mac: ⌘+V). The tool accepts JPG, PNG, WebP and GIF.
Your image is loaded into the browser and never sent to a server.
Switch to the Cutout view and click Auto Remove Background. The algorithm samples the four edges of your image, clusters the dominant background colours, and deletes only the regions connected to the border. This keeps similar colours inside the subject (for example, a white pocket on a white shirt) from being erased.
Use the Tolerance slider to control how aggressively similar colours are removed. Fine-tune the result with the Erase and Restore brushes — red areas will be removed, normal colours will be kept.
The grid size determines how many beads your final pattern uses. The default is 160 on the longest side, matching the original aspect ratio. Use the preset buttons (40–400) or type a value manually. Smaller grids are great for icons and simple logos; larger grids capture more detail for photos and complex illustrations.
Open the Bead Preview tab to see the converted pattern. Each cell corresponds to one bead, and colours are matched to the closest bead palette colour. The Bead Usage panel lists every colour with its code, name and count — ready to use as a shopping list. Export a clean PNG, a printable chart with grid lines, or save the project as JSON for further editing.