Pixel Stretch
The stretch that made the effect go viral
Your frame is squeezed to a sliver and smeared back across the screen, so every band of light is built from your subject’s own colours. The subject is cut out automatically and stands razor sharp in front of it all.
What the pixel stretch effect actually is
It looks like a blur, and it is not one. The picture is compressed toward a single line until only a sliver of it survives, then that sliver is pulled back across the whole frame. Because the sliver crosses your subject, every band you see is made of that subject’s own colour — a red car throws red light, a gold jet throws gold.
The part almost everyone gets wrong is what gets smeared. Smear the flat frame and the whole picture turns to bands and your subject disappears into them. Smear only the CUT-OUT subject, over the untouched plate, and the bands exist only where the subject does — which is why they stop above the head and the background stays clean.
How it works
Four steps, no plugins, nothing to install
Drop in a photo or a clip
Anything up to 150MB, video or still. Two demos are built in if you just want to see it move first.
The subject is cut out for you
The rotoscope step runs automatically — no masking, no keyframes. On video it tracks frame by frame.
Pick a look
38 templates across bands, trails, bursts, ripples and neon — each one previewed on your own footage, not a stock thumbnail.
Export frame-exact MP4
Rendered offline frame by frame, with the original audio. What you saw in the preview is what lands in the file.
Why this one
The difference is the cut-out
Most smear filters run over the whole frame. That is a different effect, and it is the reason they never look like the reference.
How people make this today
After Effects CC Scale Wipe
The original recipe, and still the best control you can get — if you own After Effects and are willing to roto every shot by hand.
Photoshop Pixel Stretch Actions
Fine for a single still. No motion, no tracking, and nothing that survives being turned into a clip.
CapCut Smear & Motion Presets
Fast and free, but the smear runs over the whole frame, so the subject goes with it.
Datamosh / Smear Plugins
Great for glitch and databend looks. A different effect — corruption rather than a controlled directional stretch.
All names belong to their respective owners. Listed to help you choose the right tool, not to knock any of them — several are excellent at what they do.
What people make with it
It reads best on one clear subject against a clean background.
Sports and motorsport edits
A car or an athlete throwing their own colours across the frame at speed.
Artist and album visuals
A portrait standing in front of a wall of light built from their own wardrobe.
Product reveals
Hold the product sharp and let its colour trail off into empty space.
Title and intro cards
Open on a flat frame and let the stretch bloom in behind your type.
Travel and aviation
A jet keeping its nose crisp while the fuselage drags off the edge of the shot.
Transitions between shots
Stretch out of one clip and back into the next so the cut lands on the bands.
Questions
Is it free?
Yes. Open the editor and start — exporting spends one credit, and every account gets credits that refresh daily.
Does it work on video, or only photos?
Both. A photo becomes a clip of whatever length you choose; a video is segmented and stretched frame by frame, with its original audio carried into the export.
Do I have to cut the subject out myself?
No. That is the step the effect normally demands and the one this does for you, on stills and on video. You can still grow, soften or switch it off entirely.
What if it cannot find a subject?
It falls back to smearing the whole frame, which is a real look in its own right — the Full Smear template is built on it. It works best on the classes it knows: people, vehicles, aircraft, animals.
Do I need After Effects?
No. This is a port of that recipe — the same scale wipe, wave and glow — rebuilt to run live in a browser tab with nothing to install.
Will there be a watermark?
Free exports carry a small zlabz mark. Any paid plan removes it and the MP4 comes out clean.
Make one in about a minute
Drop in a clip, pick a look, export. No install, no plugin, no rotoscoping.
Open the editor