The Best Free Glitch Effect Generators

Movavi Video Editor is a professional-level video editing platform for Windows or Mac with glitch video effect functionalities and presets. With a wide range of special effects, features, and tools (including a handy glitch effect), Movavi provides an intuitive editing application that’s easy enough for beginners to pick up and robust enough to do everything that expert editors need for their video projects.

Movavi is a solid choice for a glitch maker to add a video glitch effect before you publish your glitch video online. With Movavi, you can easily add a glitch effect in just a few easy steps. First, download and install Movavi Video Editor on your computer. Open the software and import the video that you want to use for your glitch effect. Go to the filters library and select the glitch filter that best fits the style of your video. Click on Apply to see the glitch effect on your video clip. You can also use this filter on only a single segment of your video (e.g., in a dream sequence or to show a specific mood) by splitting your clip up into multiple segments and then applying the glitch effect to the segment (or segments) that you want. In addition to automatic mode, you can also add glitch effects in manual mode using finer settings.^[1]

According to Adobe, After Effects^® is “the industry standard motion graphics and visual effects software.” It’s a fairly comprehensive video editing tool that includes effects and filters for animation and live-action videos. Users especially enjoy the ability to delete objects from scenes or add new objects and animations to video clips. The glitch effect is included in After Effects^® filters and effects, making it a good option for some video creators. Adobe’s pricing scheme is the biggest downside to Adobe^® After Effects^® for many users who want to add a glitch effect to a small project, though. With no option to buy a lifetime license, you’ll either need to pay $20.99 per month to use After Effects^® alone or bundle it with all the Adobe^® Creative Cloud^® apps for $52.99 per month. This option does allow you to use apps like Adobe^® Premiere^® Pro, but it’s still not ideal for many users on a budget.

Adobe^® Photoshop^® has been the standard for digital photo editing for so long that people often use the word “Photoshopped” when they mean “edited.” As part of the Adobe^® Creative Cloud^®, Photoshop^® is a paid photo editing platform with a wide range of filters, effects, and tools. It’s not the most intuitive photo editing software, but it’s a go-to application for pro editors. It includes multiple tools to create an RGB glitch effect and has a few options to make photos appear glitchy in different ways.

Ephoto360 is a free online photo editor with a range of effects, including glitch effect options. Users can choose an effect from the front page, select from one of several categories, or search for desired filters and effects. Once you find the glitch effect you want to use, click on it, and scroll down to upload a photo. Some users have reported that the upload feature occasionally does not work, or requires multiple attempts. Once you’ve selected a photo and uploaded it, you can click Go to apply the filter and add a glitch effect. Along with issues uploading photos, some users have complained that it can be difficult to tell the difference between ads and app tools. Clicking on an ad instead of a filter option can lead you away from Ephoto360’s site, and you may lose your work.

ImageGlitcher is a free online glitch photo app that allows users to quickly and easily add a glitch effect to a photo or other digital image. The interface is extremely simple. Just drag and drop your photo into the gray box. Once you see your photo loaded in the browser, scroll down and you’ll see two buttons: Glitch it! and Save Image. There are also two sliders for glitchiness and brightness, and a check box to include scan lines if you want to add an old TV effect. While this app is exceptionally easy to use and free, it does have limitations. If you need to edit a video, it can’t help at all. Likewise, if you need other editing tools aside from a VHS glitch effect, you’ll need to use another editing platform. But, if you just want a quick and easy way to add a glitch effect to an image, ImageGlitcher may be a good option.

Glitchatron is another free online glitch photo effect maker. The interface for this application isn’t the most attractive, but it’s straightforward and easy to use if you just need to create a simple glitch effect online. To create a glitch picture with Glitchatron, click the gray Choose File button and browse for the file you want to use for your glitch image. You can then choose a level of glitchiness, between low and extreme, change the mask shape of the image, and choose a text overlay if you want one. Then hit Glitch and save your image when you’re happy with it. This tool does have a couple of limitations, aside from being solely a glitch photo editor. If you want to try out different levels of glitchiness, you can’t really undo what you’ve done. Going from low to medium and back to low creates an entirely different effect. Also, this platform only supports JPG images.

HTML5 Image Glitcher is another single-purpose glitch adder for creating a glitch overlay on an image. That said, unlike some of the other options we’ve reviewed, HTML5 Image Glitcher is also a glitch GIF maker, so you can make a TV distortion effect with a bit of animation with this software.

Mara is a free glitch photo editor that allows users to create a glitch effect in a few different ways. You can upload a local file, snap a pic with your webcam, use an image URL, paste an image or screenshot from your clipboard, or grab a file from Dropbox. The glitch tools include seed, amount, iterations, and quality, which give a range of effects. However, the output on each of these options isn’t always consistent. If you want to start over to make a new glitch effect, though, you can just unclick the Enable checkbox to go back to your original image. Also, if you want to create other effects, Mara has an option to export your image to one of its other tools before you save.