What is Pixel Replication?
Pixel replication enlarges raster content by mapping each source pixel to a block of output pixels. It introduces no interpolated colors, so original pixel boundaries remain sharply visible.
How Pixel Replication works
Pixel replication is the nearest-neighbor form of resampling: each destination location takes the value of a selected source sample without blending adjacent samples. At whole-number enlargement factors, source pixels become uniformly sized rectangles and hard transitions remain exact. It belongs in the scaling stage of an image pipeline and is especially predictable for indexed art, labels, segmentation maps, and other data whose sample identities must not be averaged.
Key facts
- At an integer scale factor, each source pixel maps to an equal rectangular block. This preserves a pixel-art grid without creating intermediate colors along edges.
- At a noninteger scale, destination rows or columns cannot all receive the same number of copies, so repeated-pixel widths vary and diagonal motion can look uneven.
- GPU and canvas pipelines may default to linear filtering. Pixel replication requires a nearest-neighbor sampler or disabled smoothing at every scaling stage, including final display scaling.
When Pixel Replication matters
Select pixel replication for pixel art, masks, or diagnostic images whose discrete samples must remain intact. On photographs or noninteger scaling ratios, it can create jagged edges and blocky results.