Glitch Effects

Glitch effects create digital distortion and artifacts for stylistic purposes. MovieLite provides three glitch effect classes: Glitch, ChromaticAberration, and Pixelate.

Glitch

Create digital distortion artifacts simulating VHS glitches, digital corruption, and RGB channel shifts.

Constructor

Glitch(
    intensity: float = 0.5,
    rgb_shift: bool = True,
    horizontal_lines: bool = True,
    scan_lines: bool = False
)

intensity

float

default:"0.5"

Intensity of the glitch effect, from 0.0 (no effect) to 1.0 (maximum glitch). Automatically clamped to [0.0, 1.0].

rgb_shift

bool

default:"True"

Enable RGB channel shifting. Separates red and blue channels horizontally.

horizontal_lines

bool

default:"True"

Enable horizontal displacement lines that create scanline-like glitches.

scan_lines

bool

default:"False"

Enable scan line artifacts (alternating dark lines).

Examples

from movielite import VideoClip, vfx

# Full glitch effect
clip = VideoClip("input.mp4")
clip.add_effect(vfx.Glitch(
    intensity=0.7,
    rgb_shift=True,
    horizontal_lines=True,
    scan_lines=True
))

# Subtle RGB shift only
clip.add_effect(vfx.Glitch(
    intensity=0.3,
    rgb_shift=True,
    horizontal_lines=False,
    scan_lines=False
))

# VHS-style scan lines
clip.add_effect(vfx.Glitch(
    intensity=0.5,
    rgb_shift=False,
    horizontal_lines=True,
    scan_lines=True
))

How It Works

RGB Channel Shift

Shifts red channel right by 2% × intensity of frame width
Shifts blue channel left by the same amount
Creates chromatic separation effect

Horizontal Displacement Lines

Generates random horizontal bands
Number of bands: 5 × intensity
Each band shifts horizontally by random amount
Shift range: ±10% × intensity of frame width

Scan Lines

Creates alternating dark lines (every other line)
Darkness: 15% × intensity
Simulates CRT/VHS scan line artifacts

The glitch effect uses time-based seeding for pseudo-random patterns. This ensures consistency - the same frame at the same time will always have the same glitch pattern.

Source: src/movielite/vfx/glitch.py:6-82

ChromaticAberration

Chromatic aberration effect that separates RGB channels, simulating lens distortion.

Constructor

ChromaticAberration(intensity: float = 5.0)

intensity

float

default:"5.0"

Intensity of the aberration in pixels. How far to shift the RGB channels. Minimum value is 0 (automatically enforced).

Examples

from movielite import VideoClip, vfx

# Subtle aberration
clip = VideoClip("input.mp4")
clip.add_effect(vfx.ChromaticAberration(intensity=3.0))

# Strong aberration
clip.add_effect(vfx.ChromaticAberration(intensity=10.0))

How It Works

Shifts red channel right by intensity pixels
Shifts blue channel left by intensity pixels
Green channel remains unchanged
Creates color fringing effect similar to lens distortion

Unlike the Glitch effect’s RGB shift (which is percentage-based), ChromaticAberration uses absolute pixel values. This makes it more predictable and consistent across different resolutions.

Source: src/movielite/vfx/glitch.py:84-120

Pixelate

Pixelate effect that reduces resolution to create a blocky, retro appearance.

Constructor

Pixelate(block_size: int = 10)

block_size

int

default:"10"

Size of pixelation blocks in pixels. Larger values = more pixelated. Minimum value is 1 (automatically enforced).

Examples

from movielite import VideoClip, vfx

# Light pixelation
clip = VideoClip("input.mp4")
clip.add_effect(vfx.Pixelate(block_size=8))

# Heavy pixelation
clip.add_effect(vfx.Pixelate(block_size=20))

# Extreme pixelation (8-bit style)
clip.add_effect(vfx.Pixelate(block_size=40))

How It Works

Downscale: Resize frame to (width/block_size, height/block_size) using linear interpolation
Upscale: Resize back to original dimensions using nearest-neighbor interpolation
The nearest-neighbor upscaling creates the blocky effect

The pixelate effect uses OpenCV’s fast resize operations. Even with large block sizes, performance remains excellent.

Source: src/movielite/vfx/glitch.py:122-156

Combining Glitch Effects

Layered Glitch

clip = VideoClip("input.mp4")
clip.add_effect(vfx.ChromaticAberration(intensity=5.0))
clip.add_effect(vfx.Glitch(
    intensity=0.4,
    rgb_shift=False,  # Already have aberration
    horizontal_lines=True,
    scan_lines=True
))

Retro Digital Look

clip = VideoClip("input.mp4")
clip.add_effect(vfx.Pixelate(block_size=12))
clip.add_effect(vfx.Saturation(1.4))  # Boost colors
clip.add_effect(vfx.Contrast(1.2))

VHS Tape Distortion

clip = VideoClip("input.mp4")
clip.add_effect(vfx.Glitch(
    intensity=0.6,
    rgb_shift=True,
    horizontal_lines=True,
    scan_lines=True
))
clip.add_effect(vfx.Saturation(0.8))  # Slightly desaturate
clip.add_effect(vfx.Contrast(0.9))    # Lower contrast

Creative Use Cases

Cyberpunk Aesthetic

clip = VideoClip("input.mp4")
clip.add_effect(vfx.ChromaticAberration(intensity=8.0))
clip.add_effect(vfx.Saturation(1.5))
clip.add_effect(vfx.Contrast(1.3))

Glitch Transition

clip = VideoClip("input.mp4")
# Apply stronger glitch at specific moments
clip.add_effect(vfx.Glitch(intensity=0.8))
clip.add_effect(vfx.FadeOut(0.5))

Censorship/Privacy Effect

# Pixelate faces or sensitive content
clip = VideoClip("input.mp4")
clip.add_effect(vfx.Pixelate(block_size=25))

Performance Considerations

All glitch effects use NumPy array operations which are highly optimized. However, they do process every frame:

Pixelate: Very fast (just resize operations)
ChromaticAberration: Fast (simple channel shifts)
Glitch: Moderate (multiple operations per frame)

Intensity Impact

Effect	Low Intensity	High Intensity	Performance Impact
Glitch	0.0 - 0.3	0.7 - 1.0	Low to Moderate
ChromaticAberration	1 - 5px	15 - 30px	Very Low
Pixelate	5 - 10	30+	Very Low

Technical Details

Glitch Random Seed

The Glitch effect uses time-based seeding:

seed = int(t * 1000) % 1000
np.random.seed(seed)

This ensures:

Consistent glitches at the same timestamp
Variation between frames (different t values)
Reproducible results

Color Channel Order

OpenCV uses BGR color order, so:

Channel 0 = Blue
Channel 1 = Green
Channel 2 = Red

Effects shift channels 0 and 2, leaving channel 1 unchanged.

Core Classes

Effects

Transitions

Audio Effects

Utilities

Glitch

Constructor

Examples

How It Works

RGB Channel Shift

Horizontal Displacement Lines

Scan Lines

ChromaticAberration

Constructor

Examples

How It Works

Pixelate

Constructor

Examples

How It Works

Combining Glitch Effects

Layered Glitch

Retro Digital Look

VHS Tape Distortion

Creative Use Cases

Cyberpunk Aesthetic

Glitch Transition

Censorship/Privacy Effect

Performance Considerations

Intensity Impact

Technical Details

Glitch Random Seed

Color Channel Order

See Also

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Core Classes

Effects

Transitions

Audio Effects

Utilities

​Glitch

​Constructor

​Examples

​How It Works

​RGB Channel Shift

​Horizontal Displacement Lines

​Scan Lines

​ChromaticAberration

​Constructor

​Examples

​How It Works

​Pixelate

​Constructor

​Examples

​How It Works

​Combining Glitch Effects

​Layered Glitch

​Retro Digital Look

​VHS Tape Distortion

​Creative Use Cases

​Cyberpunk Aesthetic

​Glitch Transition

​Censorship/Privacy Effect

​Performance Considerations

​Intensity Impact

​Technical Details

​Glitch Random Seed

​Color Channel Order

​See Also

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Glitch

Constructor

Examples

How It Works

RGB Channel Shift

Horizontal Displacement Lines

Scan Lines

ChromaticAberration

Constructor

Examples

How It Works

Pixelate

Constructor

Examples

How It Works

Combining Glitch Effects

Layered Glitch

Retro Digital Look

VHS Tape Distortion

Creative Use Cases

Cyberpunk Aesthetic

Glitch Transition

Censorship/Privacy Effect

Performance Considerations

Intensity Impact

Technical Details

Glitch Random Seed

Color Channel Order

See Also