Droste effect maker
The image inside the image, forever
Drop a photo or clip and it recurses into itself endlessly, straight or twisted into a spiral, animating as a seamless infinite zoom.
What is the Droste effect?
The Droste effect is a picture that contains a smaller copy of itself, which contains a smaller copy, and so on forever. It is named after a Dutch cocoa tin whose label showed a nurse holding a tray with that same tin, and M.C. Escher pushed it furthest in Print Gallery, where the recursion bends into a logarithmic spiral.
zlabz builds it as a GPU shader in your browser using complex-log math, so the recursion is mathematically exact at any zoom. Pick the region shape, straighten it or twist it into a spiral, set the vanishing point, and the whole thing animates as a seamless infinite zoom. Feed it a photo for a hypnotic loop, or a video and every frame recurses the same way.
How it works
Four steps to the infinite loop
Drop in a photo or clip
JPG, PNG, MP4, MOV or WebM up to 150MB. A demo image is already looping when you arrive, so you can explore before you upload.
Pick a preset
Classic, Spiral, Hex, Kaleido, Triangle or Vortex. Each is a complete look you can then pull apart dial by dial.
Shape the recursion
Straight or twisted, six region shapes, radius, rotation, scale, vanishing point, zoom depth and speed. Every change repaints the preview live.
Export MP4 or PNG
Photos export as a seamless infinite-zoom MP4 that loops perfectly, or a still PNG. Videos keep their original audio.
Why zlabz
Built to beat the other Droste tools
Many tools screen a still image. The difference shows up on video and in motion.
How the alternatives stack up
Artkit LoopFlow
The original browser tool this mode is measured against. Nice region drawing, but its infinite-zoom video export is a PRO feature and captures the live preview.
Droste Effect Editor
A clean client-side editor for recursive still images with rotation, scale and shear. Great for posters, with no animation or video.
Mathmap / Dr.Oste
Powerful desktop math-image tools for spiral Droste stills. Steep learning curve and no in-browser video.
Photoshop + plugins
Full manual control with the right actions and plugins, if you own the license and the time. Overkill for a quick looping post.
Feature notes reflect the public versions of these tools as of July 2026. All names belong to their owners. Try them and compare the exports yourself.
Made for every feed
The infinite-zoom loop is impossible to scroll past.
Hypnotic reels
Turn any photo into an endless zoom that holds the scroll on TikTok and Reels.
Music visuals
Loop album art or performance footage into a spiral for synthwave and psy edits.
Backgrounds and loops
Seamless infinite-zoom backdrops for streams, stages and installations.
Surreal art
Build Escher-style Print Gallery pieces from your own photos.
Logo stings
Recurse a logo into itself for a mesmerizing intro or outro.
Meme edits
The image-in-the-image gag, animated and exported in seconds.
Questions, answered
Is the Droste effect maker free?
Yes. Every shape, preset and dial is free. Generating uses free daily credits, and free exports carry a small watermark you can remove with Pro.
Can I make an infinite-zoom video, not just a still?
Yes. The effect animates by default, and a photo exports as a seamless MP4 that loops forever. You can also export a single still PNG.
Does it work on video too?
Yes. Drop an MP4, MOV or WebM and every frame recurses the same way, exported as an MP4 that keeps its original audio.
What is the twisted mode?
Twisted bends the recursion into a logarithmic spiral, the look M.C. Escher used in Print Gallery, instead of the straight zoom.
Do I need to install anything?
No. The shader, preview and export all run in your browser. Your file never uploads to a server, it stays on your device.
How long can a video be?
Up to 30 seconds per export at up to 150MB. Longer uploads are trimmed to the first 30 seconds automatically.
Ready to fall in forever?
Open the editor and the demo is already looping. Drop your photo or clip and export in minutes.
Try Droste free