Glitch art is everywhere these days. From album covers to social media posts, you see that cool, distorted digital effect that makes you wonder if your computer screen is breaking down. It’s got this edgy, modern, and even nostalgic feel that just works.
But creating that perfect glitch effect from scratch in Photoshop can be a real pain. It involves a lot of tedious steps, and honestly, who has the time to mess with pixel sorting and color channel shifts when you’re on a deadline?
That’s where Photoshop actions come in. Think of them as a magical shortcut—one click and you’ve got a professional-looking glitch effect without all the fuss. We've rounded up 15 of the best Photoshop actions for creating stunning glitch art, so you can get that epic, distorted look in seconds. Let’s dive in!
If you're new to the world of Photoshop, the term "action" might sound a bit mysterious. But really, it's just a brilliant tool for automating your workflow.
Think of it like this: A Photoshop action is a recorded set of commands and steps that you can replay with a single click. Every time you open a menu, apply a filter, or change a setting, Photoshop can be recording it. When you're finished, you save it as a custom action.
The beauty of this is that you can then apply that exact same sequence of steps to any other image, instantly. No need to remember every single setting or spend time re-creating a complex effect. You simply hit "play" and the action does all the work for you, allowing you to create stunning, consistent results in a fraction of the time. It's a game-changer, especially for intricate effects like the ones you'll see in the list below.
Welcome to the main event! Here, we'll dive into 15 of the best Photoshop actions for creating stunning glitch effects. For each one, you'll find a clear breakdown of its features, what makes it stand out, and where to get it. Let's get started with our first pick.
This is a powerful action that goes beyond a simple static effect. It generates an animated video sequence of glitch effects from your photos, logos, or artwork. The effects are non-destructive and fully editable, allowing you to easily customize the animation within Photoshop's timeline.
The action creates a dynamic, moving glitch effect, perfect for banners, animated GIFs, and logo animations, as seen in the preview image.
This isn't just a simple action—it's a full-fledged Photoshop plugin with a dedicated panel. It gives you a huge range of customizable effects, from compressed glitches and digital distortion to analog TV looks and channel shifts, all with a user-friendly interface.
The plugin offers a variety of glitch types, including a "datamosh" effect that simulates a corrupted data stream, as well as classic horizontal line distortion and RGB channel splitting.
This action creates a futuristic, glowing holographic effect with subtle glitch and particle elements. It’s perfect for giving a subject a digital, projected appearance, as if they’re a character from a sci-fi video game. The action includes four particle directions to give you more control.
The result is a vibrant, neon-blue projection with digital lines and floating particles, similar to the pre- and post-effect shots of the soldier or dancer.
This action is all about nostalgia, specifically the retro look of an old VHS tape. It gives your photos the authentic feel of a worn-out video, complete with digital distortion, color bleeding, and even on-screen display (OSD) text like "PLAY" and a date stamp, which you can edit.
The preview images show a classic 80s and 90s vibe, with horizontal scan lines, a slightly desaturated color palette, and the tell-tale timestamp at the bottom.
This action transforms your photos into vibrant, stylized glitch art with a unique, painterly feel. It combines colorful dot patterns and distortion to create a mesmerizing digital effect that's both chaotic and beautiful. It also includes four color effects and optional paper textures.
The result is a mix of abstract art and digital error, with bright, pixelated dots and lines that give the subject a fragmented, almost watercolor-like appearance.
This action combines two powerful trends: neon lights and digital glitching. It creates a vibrant, futuristic effect with glowing lines, subtle distortion, and a vibrant color palette, making it ideal for portraits, sports shots, or any image you want to give a high-energy, cyberpunk feel.
The result is a dramatic image with bright, glowing neon outlines and lines that intersect with a digital glitch aesthetic, as shown in the previews.
This action creates a randomized, unpredictable glitch effect every time you run it, giving you a unique result with each click. It's a great tool for adding a raw, grungy, and abstract digital feel to your photos and includes 20 premade color presets to help you get started.
The result is a highly fragmented and pixelated effect with bold horizontal lines and shifted color channels, creating a sense of digital corruption and visual noise.
This is a versatile, one-click action that gives you eight different glitch actions and 32 color options. It's a fantastic all-in-one tool for creating a wide variety of digital distortion and corrupted signal effects quickly and easily.
The action can produce multiple looks, from horizontal scan lines with RGB color splits to heavily pixelated and distorted faces, as seen in the preview.
This action focuses on a more analog and artistic take on the glitch effect. It’s inspired by the look of a broken fax machine or an old photocopy, creating a unique, randomized grayscale poster with graphic marks and fragmented lines. Since the action is procedural, it creates a different result every time you run it.
The result is a high-contrast, black-and-white image that looks like a photocopied and corrupted piece of art, with abstract shapes, lines, and pixelated sections.
This action gives your photos an immediate dose of cyberpunk style. It's designed to create a vibrant, futuristic effect with a heavy focus on light and color. It includes two directional glitch effects, six double-color exposure options, and over 20 color presets to give you a professional, high-impact result with a single click.
The previews show a bright, neon-infused effect with chromatic aberration and horizontal lines, giving the subjects a modern, tech-noir look.
This action gives you a clean, modern take on the glitch effect by combining digital distortion with sharp, geometric shapes. It's a great choice for creating posters, flyers, or social media graphics that need a contemporary and professional feel, using both glitch and abstract design elements.
The result is a dynamic mix of the original image with an overlay of clean lines, triangles, and squares, all with a subtle color-split glitch effect, as seen in the preview.
This action creates a unique effect inspired by audio waveforms and sound distortion. It takes your image and generates a dramatic visual representation of a sound glitch, combining digital lines, pixelation, and a "mixed media" feel for an abstract and artistic result.
The previews demonstrate an effect with dynamic, distorted horizontal lines and pixel fragmentation that give the appearance of an image being corrupted by a sound wave, as if the signal is breaking up.
This is a professional and highly adjustable action that creates a classic, broken-signal glitch effect. With three different presets included, you can easily create a variety of looks, from a subtle, realistic distortion to a more dramatic and graphic effect.
The action creates a look of corrupted data, with large blocks of pixels and color shifts that make the image appear to be breaking apart.
This action transforms your images into a futuristic scene with a fully customizable system. It includes a variety of effects like holograms, glitches, code patterns, and light shapes, allowing you to create unique and complex art. The action also comes with five color schemes to give you even more creative control.
The previews demonstrate a mix of vibrant neon lights, futuristic patterns, and digital distortion, creating an "epic" and dramatic visual that looks straight out of a sci-fi movie.
This is a professional and artistic Photoshop action designed for photographers and graphic designers. It transforms your photos into glitch art with a "find edges" effect, a lot of customizable elements, and options to enhance your work. The action includes a main .atn file and a .pat file for VHS patterns.
Glitch effects are all about controlled chaos, but to get a great result, you need to have a little strategy. While actions do most of the heavy lifting, these tips will help you get the most out of them.
Go with a High-Resolution Photo: Start with the highest quality image you can. Glitch actions manipulate pixels, and a higher resolution gives you more to work with, resulting in a more detailed and dynamic effect. A low-resolution image might look blurry or indistinct.
Use Smart Objects: Before you run the action, convert your photo to a Smart Object. This is a non-destructive way of working in Photoshop. It means that the original image data is preserved, and the action is applied as a filter. If you don’t like the result, you can easily go back and make adjustments without starting from scratch. To do this, simply right-click your layer in the Layers panel and select "Convert to Smart Object."
Stack and Blend for Unique Results: Most actions will create multiple layers. Don't be afraid to experiment with them! Try turning layers on and off to see how they change the effect. You can also adjust the opacity or blending mode of individual layers to get a unique, custom look. For example, setting a layer to "Overlay" or "Soft Light" can create a more subtle, color-shifting effect.
Don't Overdo It: A little bit of glitch goes a long way. The effect is most powerful when used to add a touch of digital decay, not to completely obscure your image. Focus on using it to highlight certain areas or create an artistic border, rather than making the entire photo a distorted mess.
The following video from YouTube provides a comprehensive tutorial on creating a glitch effect in Photoshop, including tips on using color channels and filters.
Glitch art has moved beyond a passing trend; it's a powerful and expressive style that brings a modern, digital edge to any project. While the manual process can be complicated, Photoshop actions have completely leveled the playing field, making it easy for anyone—from a seasoned designer to a curious beginner—to create stunning, professional-looking glitch effects in just a few clicks.
We hope this list has given you the perfect starting point to experiment and find the ideal action for your next creative endeavor. Whether you're designing a futuristic album cover, a striking social media graphic, or just having fun with your photos, these actions will save you countless hours and unlock a whole new world of artistic possibilities.
Now it’s your turn! Try out a few of these actions and share what you create. We’d love to see how you incorporate the digital chaos of glitch art into your work in the comments below!
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© 2025 Advise Graphics. All rights reserved.
Cop© 2025 Advise Graphics. All rights reserved.