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How-to · 8 min read

How to make a tier list with your own images

By Farasat Abbas Naqvi·Updated September 2026

You can make a tier list with your own images by uploading them straight into the maker — JPG, PNG, WebP or GIF, several at once — and dragging each picture into a tier. Uploads are read locally in your browser, never sent to a server, and the finished board exports as a PNG.

When your items need pictures — characters, album covers, logos, outfits — an image tier list is the way to go. Upload your own images, drag them into tiers, and export. Here’s how.

Build an image tier list now:
Open image maker

Step 1 — Open the image maker

Head to the Image Tier List Maker. It opens with a blank board set up for pictures instead of text.

Step 2 — Upload your images

Click Add items and either browse your device or drag a batch of files straight onto the drop zone. You can select many at once — every image becomes a draggable tile in the tray. All processing happens in your browser, so nothing is uploaded to a server.

On a phone or tablet the same button opens your camera roll or photo gallery, and you can still select multiple pictures in one go. If you build boards mostly on mobile, the phone guide walks through that whole flow.

Step 3 — Choose a tile shape

Before or after uploading, pick a tile shape that suits your images: square, landscape, portrait, round, pill, capsule, or original (which keeps each photo’s native aspect ratio). Round works well for faces and logos; landscape suits posters and album art.

Step 4 — Drag, customize, export

Drag each image into a tier from S to D. Rename and recolor tiers, add a title or logo, then hit Preview to check the result and Export PNG to download a clean, shareable image. Your board is saved in your browser, so you can come back and tweak it later.

That PNG posts anywhere a picture does — Discord servers, Reddit threads, group chats, any social media feed. Prefer a link people can open? The share menu builds one with your tiers and tile names encoded in the URL, plus a short link for tidier messages. The photos themselves stay on your device, so on an image board the PNG is what to post. And the watermark is yours to control: the default text can be rewritten or hidden entirely, so there’s no forced stamp on your export. More routes — including the vertical video export — are covered in how to share a tier list.

Supported image formats and sources

The uploader accepts any file your browser treats as an image, which in practice means the common file formats: JPG (or JPEG), PNG, WebP and GIF all work. HEIC — the format iPhones shoot by default — depends on the browser: Safari usually handles it, others may not, so if a photo refuses to load, convert it to JPG first. Files are read with the browser’s built-in FileReader API, which is why they never leave your device while you build. Your photos stay private, no sign up stands in front of the uploader, and the only data saved is the board itself — in your own browser.

One honest limitation: there’s no clipboard support, so you can’t copy and paste a tier list image directly from another tab. Save it to your device first, then upload it or drag the file in — both routes work.

Where people actually get their pictures: screenshots of game characters, movie posters, food photos from their own camera roll, memes, fan art, album covers, logos saved as transparent PNGs, stock photos for work boards. Anything already in your gallery or downloads folder is fair game — just stick to images you have the right to use if the board is going public.

Manage your image library

Your unranked tray doubles as the image library while you work. To remove a picture completely, send it back to the tray and delete it there — removing a ranked tile just returns it to the tray first, so one tap never destroys anything. Uploaded a batch with duplicates? Delete the extras the same way. There’s no replace button, though: to swap a blurry shot for a sharper one, delete the old tile and upload the new file.

Multi-select saves real time on big boards — select a handful of tiles and move them as a group instead of dragging one by one. You can also reorder whole rows, reset a single tier without touching the rest, or clear the board and start over. Undo and redo cover every one of those moves, so experiment freely.

Image size and quality

Tiles are small, so quality problems show up fast. A sharp tier list image starts with source pictures that are at least a few hundred pixels on the short side — big enough that shrinking them keeps faces and logos recognizable, small enough that forty of them don’t bloat the board. High-resolution originals are fine; the browser scales them down. What hurts is upscaling: a 40-pixel thumbnail stretched to tile size will always look blurry.

There are no crop presets here — instead of a fixed square crop, you pick from seven tile shapes, and “original” keeps each image’s native dimensions. For a clean grid, aim for a consistent size and orientation across your set: all portraits, all landscapes, or all squares. Exact pixel recommendations per shape live in tier list image sizes.

Text vs image boards

Not every topic earns pictures. A text tier list — names instead of pictures — is quicker to build and easier to read for foods, songs or anything abstract; the text maker takes a pasted list and turns every line into a tile. Image boards win when recognition is instant: faces, posters, box art.

You don’t have to choose forever, either. The display toggle switches between image-only tiles, text-only labels, and both at once — the “both” mode puts captions under images, which rescues any board where two pictures look alike.

FAQ

Can I upload my own images to a tier list?+

Yes. The image tier list maker lets you upload any pictures from your device — select several at once or drag them in — and each becomes a rankable tile.

Where are my images stored?+

Entirely in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server, and your board is saved locally for next time.

Can I keep the original shape of my images?+

Yes — choose the “Original” tile shape to preserve each image’s native aspect ratio.

What image formats are supported?+

JPG, JPEG, PNG, WebP and GIF all upload fine — the picker accepts anything your browser recognizes as an image. The edge case is HEIC from iPhones: some browsers read it, some don’t, so convert stubborn photos to JPG before uploading.

How do I remove or delete images from a tier list?+

Every tile has a small × button. On a ranked tile it sends the image back to the unranked tray; on a tray tile it deletes the image from the board. So a full delete is two steps for ranked items — back to the tray, then remove — and undo brings it back if you slip.

Can I copy and paste images into a tier list?+

Not directly — there’s no clipboard paste here. Save the image to your device first, then add it through the upload picker or drag the file onto the drop zone. Both accept batches, so grabbing ten screenshots and dragging them in at once is usually faster than pasting would be anyway.

Can I make a tier list without images?+

Yes. The text tier list maker builds boards from names instead of pictures — paste a list and each line becomes a tile. It’s the better fit for foods, songs and abstract topics.

Can I export with no watermark?+

Yes. The watermark is just editable text with a show/hide toggle — turn it off and your PNG exports clean, or rewrite it to credit yourself instead. Nothing is stamped on your download that you didn’t choose.

What size should tier list images be?+

A few hundred pixels on the short side is plenty — tiles are small, so huge files gain you nothing and tiny thumbnails turn blurry. Per-shape recommendations are in tier list image sizes.

Can I make a tier list with photos from my phone?+

Yes — on a phone the upload button opens your camera roll, and you can select several photos at once. The full mobile workflow, quirks included, is in tier list on your phone.

Keep reading

Tool
Image Tier List Maker →
Templates
Browse image templates →
FN
About the author
Farasat Abbas Naqvi

Farasat is an engineer who designs websites and builds practical online tools in his spare time. He created Tier List Maker after using other ranking sites that asked for an account, stamped watermarks on downloads, or simply did not work well on a phone. He is not a professional gamer or a self-described tier-list expert — he builds and maintains this site himself, fixes issues, and adds features based on what visitors actually ask for.