---
title: "How to add a pixelate with Claude (tested prompt and ffmpeg command)"
description: "At one second the whole shot breaks into a grid of 30-pixel squares, the bottle and holographic backdrop reduced to flat color tiles, and at four seconds it snaps back to sharp. Install one skill and ask Claude Code, or run the ffmpeg command we tested yourself."
url: https://www.recharm.com/effects/pixelate
---

# How to add a pixelate with Claude

At one second the whole shot breaks into a grid of 30-pixel squares, the bottle and holographic backdrop reduced to flat color tiles, and at four seconds it snaps back to sharp.

Made by the command on this page, from our own test clip.

## Get this effect

1. ### Switch to Code in your [Claude Desktop App](https://claude.com/download)

2. ### Install the skill (once)

   ```
   Install the Recharm video effects skill: download https://recharm-growth-staging.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/website/downloads/recharm-video-effects.zip and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills
   ```

3. ### Ask for the effect

   ```
   Add a pixelate to input.mp4
   Size of each square in pixels: 30
   Second the picture breaks into squares: 1.0
   ```

## Several videos, several effects, one ask

Put your clips in the folder, mention them with @, and ask for everything at once. Claude runs one tested script after another on each clip, then joins them.

Add a pixelate to **@clip1.mp4**, put a sale badge on **@clip2.mp4**, give **@clip3.mp4** a VHS look, then join all three with crossfades.

## Settings you can change

Ask Claude to change any of these, or edit them at the top of the command.

| Setting | Default | What it does                                      |
| ------- | ------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| `BLOCK` | `30`    | Size of each square in pixels. Bigger hides more. |
| `START` | `1.0`   | Second the picture breaks into squares.           |
| `END`   | `4.0`   | Second it snaps back to sharp.                    |

## Without the skill

Don’t want to install the skill? Paste this prompt into Claude Code and Claude writes the command itself.

```
In input.mp4 (540x960), pixelate the whole frame from 1.0 to 4.0 seconds with ffmpeg: shrink a copy of the video by 30 in each direction with area averaging (to 18x32) and scale it back up to 540x960 with nearest-neighbor scaling, so the picture becomes a grid of flat 30x30 pixel squares, 18 across and 32 down. Overlay that blocky copy at 0,0 only between 1.0 and 4.0 seconds; before 1.0 seconds and after 4.0 seconds the video must be untouched. Keep the size, 30fps, the 6 second length and the audio. There's no text to draw, but if you add any, draw it with Pillow, not ffmpeg's drawtext. Save it as output.mp4.
```

## Run it without Claude

This is the exact command we tested. Save it as `pixelate.sh` and run:

```
sh pixelate.sh input.mp4 output.mp4
```

```
#!/bin/sh
# Pixelate: from 1s to 4s the whole frame turns into big flat squares, then snaps back to sharp.
# Usage: sh pixelate.sh input.mp4 output.mp4
# Needs ffmpeg.
set -e
IN="$1"; OUT="$2"
BLOCK=30     # size of each square in pixels (540 / 30 = 18 squares across)
START=1.0    # second the picture breaks into squares
END=4.0      # second it snaps back to sharp

ffmpeg -y -i "$IN" -filter_complex "[0:v]split[base][copy];\
[copy]scale=iw/$BLOCK:ih/$BLOCK:flags=area,scale=iw*$BLOCK:ih*$BLOCK:flags=neighbor[blocks];\
[base][blocks]overlay=0:0:enable='between(t,$START,$END)',fps=30,format=yuv420p[v]" \
  -map "[v]" -map 0:a? -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -c:a copy "$OUT"
```

## More distortion and glitch

- [Anaglyph 3D **Anaglyph 3D**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/anaglyph-3d)
- [Black hole **Black hole**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/black-hole)
- [Bulge and pinch **Bulge and pinch**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/bulge-pinch)
- [Datamosh **Datamosh**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/datamosh)
- [Disintegration **Disintegration**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/disintegration)

## Find 3x _winning ads_

Recharm cuts your ad footage into tagged, searchable clips: hooks, testimonials, product shots. Find the shots that win, add the effect with Claude, and ship 3x more ad edits.

[Start 14-day free trial](https://www.recharm.com/get-started)