What it does
mtPaint creates pixel art and edits raster photographs on Linux and Windows. It combines indexed palettes with an RGB canvas, drawing tools, layers and image-format conversion. The program is free software under the GNU General Public License.
Choose the canvas mode before painting. Indexed images hold 2 to 256 palette colours; choose RGB for full-colour photo editing. Ctrl-N opens the new-image window, where you can start a blank canvas or bring in a clipboard image.
Keep deliberate control of the pixels
Shuffle mixes nearby pixels inside the brush area, producing texture between colour blocks. Protect a palette colour to paint around an outline without overwriting it. The palette can also be saved separately for another image.
Smudge works only on RGB images, and indexed mode disables the opacity slider. When saving PNG or GIF, the Save As options can assign a transparent palette entry. The main format list also includes BMP, TIFF, JPEG and WebP.
mtPaint can animate layers or palette changes. Animated GIF creation uses Gifsicle, so that output depends on an additional program.
Strengths
- Palette protection helps preserve outlines during colouring
- Separate palette files support consistent colour sets
- High-zoom pixel grids assist precise editing
Watch out for
- Smudge is unavailable on indexed canvases
- Indexed mode disables the opacity control
- Animated GIF creation uses Gifsicle
Best for
- Pixel art built around a limited palette
- Drawing and photo edits on Linux or Windows
Sources
- mtPaint project overview and features (Oct 27, 2026)
- mtPaint pixel-art canvas, tools and palettes (Oct 27, 2026)