CRT effect

Your picture on a tube: a real RGB phosphor mask, scan lines, bloom, curvature and glass.

Made with the CRT filterWorks in

CRT effect on a portrait of a man with spiky red hair on a blue background, made with the CRT filter in Filter Archive (Blown Phosphor preset)

BeforeAfter

CRT rebuilds your photo on a picture tube, from the phosphor dots up. Fourteen presets cover a Trinitron monitor, a consumer TV, an arcade cabinet and a blown-out phosphor screen, plus stranger modes that shred the picture into scan lines, terminal blocks and vector traces.

14presets
65settings
3apps

Same effect, different presets.

8 photos, each with its own preset. Try it on yours

CRT effect on a portrait of a woman with copper red hair, made with the CRT filter in Filter Archive (Composite TV preset) — Composite TV

CRT effect on a portrait of a man in sunglasses on a red background, made with the CRT filter in Filter Archive (Consumer TV preset) — Consumer TV

CRT effect on a portrait of a man with silver hair and red sunglasses, made with the CRT filter in Filter Archive (Arcade preset) — Arcade

CRT effect on a portrait of a woman with red hair in a studded beanie, made with the CRT filter in Filter Archive (Terminal Green preset) — Terminal Green

CRT effect on a portrait of a man in black sunglasses, made with the CRT filter in Filter Archive (Waveform preset) — Waveform

CRT effect on a portrait of a woman with a nose strip on a white background, made with the CRT filter in Filter Archive (Vector Scan preset) — Vector Scan

CRT effect on a portrait of a woman with red hair in chrome sunglasses, made with the CRT filter in Filter Archive (Ember Phase preset) — Ember Phase

Use the CRT effect in Photoshop, Affinity or Figma.

One licence covers all three: $9.99 a month or $59.99 once. See pricing

Photoshop

Open Filter Archive from the Plugins menu, pick CRT and press Apply. The result lands on a new layer above your original.

Mac & Windows · Photoshop 2024+

Affinity

Choose Filters, Plugins, Filter Archive on a pixel layer, pick CRT and apply it to that layer.

Mac & Windows · Affinity 3

Figma

Select an image, frame or shape, run Filter Archive and apply CRT as a new layer or in place.

Figma Community

Settings worth touching.

RenderMode: How the tube draws the picture: RGB Phosphor, Arcade, Modulation, Phosphor Shred, Terminal Blocks or Scan Contour.
CurvatureTube: Bows the picture into the rounded face of the tube, corners and all.
ConvergenceGlitch: Pulls the red and blue beams apart, like a set whose convergence has drifted.

Plus 62 more in the panel, all editable after you pick a preset.

CRT Effect questions.

What is a CRT effect?

A CRT effect makes an image look like it is displayed on an old cathode-ray tube TV or monitor: visible scan lines, the red, green and blue phosphor pattern, glow around bright areas and a curved glass screen.

How do I make a CRT effect in Photoshop?

Open Filter Archive from the Plugins menu and choose CRT. Start from a preset such as Trinitron or Consumer TV, adjust the settings while the preview updates, then press Apply. The result goes on a new layer and your original stays untouched.

Can I use it in Affinity or Figma?

Yes. The same CRT filter runs in Affinity 3 on Mac and Windows, from Filters, then Plugins, then Filter Archive on a pixel layer, and in Figma on an image, frame or shape. One licence covers Photoshop, Affinity and Figma.

Which presets come with CRT?

14 presets: Trinitron, Consumer TV, Monitor, LED Wall, Arcade, Composite TV, PVM, Phaser, Ember Phase, Waveform, Flux, Blown Phosphor, Terminal Green and Vector Scan. Every setting stays editable after you pick one, and you can save a stack of filters to use again.