Pixel Lens · published
Thank you for using Pixel Lens!Pixel Lens v1.7 will be released on October 15, 2026 at 22:00 JST. This time, the improvements we had planned to deliver as two updates, v1.6 and v1.7, come together in one. The themes are "more places to use it" and "make, keep and share". If you already own Pixel Lens, the update is free.New in v1.7
Recording (GIF / MP4): save the lens as a GIF that's easy to post, or as an MP4 with sound
Drag & drop conversion: drop images and videos on the control panel to turn them into pixel art
Pin the lens: clicks go through to the window below, so you can play mouse-driven games through the lens
Screen sharing on Discord and others: share the Stream mode window as it is
Steam achievements and screenshots: 14 achievements, and screenshots saved to Steam
New CRT profile "Crisp": Official Default Z5 now uses "Crisp" too
Smoother to use: stays fast after resizing, saves power on still screens, shortcuts you can change
Bug fixes: including Stream mode showing only black on Windows 10
A record button (●) is now at the top right of the lens. Press it to start recording what the lens shows, and press it again to stop (shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+F9). While recording, the elapsed time appears in green at the top left of the lens (it isn't part of the recording). The lens keeps its size while recording (you can still move it).Choose the format under "Output" in Settings.
GIF (default): made for posting on social media. Length from 3 to 30 seconds (it stops by itself), 2, 4 or 8 frames per second, playback at 1x, 2x or 4x speed, and it loops. Up to 1280×1080: a bigger lens is drawn with smaller dots so that all of it fits (the dots stay crisp). No sound, and no CRT effect
MP4 (with sound): records the lens as you see it (CRT effect included), together with every sound your PC plays — game and video sound, but also voices on calls and notification sounds. No length limit
Recording works in Lens mode (for Stream mode, keep recording with OBS or similar). Recordings are saved to the same folder as screenshots.The lens while recording: A GIF example:
Drop images (PNG, JPEG, BMP, WebP), videos (MP4, MOV, WMV, AVI, MKV, WebM), or a folder of them on the control panel, and they're converted to pixel art with your current settings.
An image is saved like a screenshot: the pixel art image (plus, depending on your settings, the view-size copy and the CRT effect version)
A video becomes an MP4 with sound (with the CRT effect if it's on). Any video Windows can play can be converted, with no extra software to install
The status bar shows the progress, and a click cancels
Files are saved to the same folder as screenshots. When it's done, click the status bar to open the folder
A pin button is now at the top right of the lens. Press it and the lens stays in place, and clicks go through to the window below. Games you play with the mouse (visual novels, for example), which used to be hard, can now be played through the lens in pixel art.
The buttons at the top right still work while pinned. The pin button turns red; press it again to unpin (shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+P)
The buttons now sit right on the top edge of the lens, so when you move the mouse to them from above, the window below is less likely to react
The lens buttons are a little bigger
Until now, Stream mode didn't work with Discord's screen sharing. In v1.7, you can pick the Stream mode window ("Pixel Lens — name of the window you chose") as it is in the screen sharing of Discord, Teams, Zoom and others (when you chose a window as the capture target).
While sharing, the window's buttons show only when the mouse is over it, and never appear in the share
A large window is shrunk so that the dots stay even
The virtual camera picture is now always 16:9 (1920×1080), keeping the original shape with black bars. This also fixes the picture being stretched sideways in Zoom and others
Pixel Lens now has 14 Steam achievements. Most unlock as you use its various features, and one takes a while (10 hours in total in Lens mode). They're also a nice way to discover new features.Screenshots are also added to your Steam screenshots, as the lens shows them, so you can share them with the community from Steam (you can turn this off under "Output" in Settings).
The CRT effect has a fifth profile, "Crisp". Rather than recreating a real CRT, it puts looking crisp first, with scanlines about as strong as "Arcade".The official preset Official Default Z5 now uses "Crisp" as its CRT profile.
Stays fast after resizing: resizing the lens used to slow things down until you restarted the app. Now, a moment after you resize, it gets back to full speed by itself (the "(restart app for fast mode)" message in the title bar is gone)
Saves power on still screens: when the picture doesn't change, the conversion is skipped to lighten the GPU load. The title bar shows how much was saved over the last 5 seconds as "saved NN%"
Size shown while resizing: while you resize the lens, its size and the pixel art's size appear at its top left
Shortcuts your way: under "Shortcuts" in Settings, you can change each key, or untick it to turn it off (combinations with Ctrl or Alt). New: start / stop Lens mode (Ctrl+Shift+L) and start / stop recording (Ctrl+Shift+F9)
Please note: from v1.7, start / stop Stream mode (Ctrl+Shift+V) and the new start / stop Lens mode (Ctrl+Shift+L) are off by default (so that they don't take these keys away from other apps). If you used Ctrl+Shift+V, tick it under "Shortcuts" in Settings. The recording shortcut, Ctrl+Shift+F9, is on by default.
Stream mode showing only black on some Windows 10 PCs
Stream mode cropping the window slightly off position
Stream mode not showing setting changes right away while capturing a window with no motion
Stream mode not following a window made larger than when it started
The virtual camera picture being stretched sideways (Zoom and others)
--crt now accepts Crisp
Conversion at dot sizes 5×5 to 8×8 is faster (results are unchanged)
JPEG images are now read slightly differently, so results from JPEG input may change very slightly (PNG, BMP and WebP are unchanged)
The update will be delivered automatically through Steam. Your current settings and saved presets carry over as they are. If you used Ctrl+Shift+V for Stream mode, please see "Please note" above.
We'd love to see the GIFs and videos you make, and to hear how you use Pixel Lens and what you think. Bug reports are always welcome too.
Discord: https://discord.gg/wJJZABEbVs
X (Twitter): https://x.com/panzersoft1
Thank you for your continued support of Pixel Lens!