Lofi Cities: pixel night cities and endless lofi in the browser

Lofi Cities is a free web app where night cities are drawn in pixel graphics and lofi music plays endlessly. The author of the project is Safa Elmali. The list has eleven cities, among them Paris, Tokyo, New York, London, Rio de Janeiro and Istanbul. Nothing needs to be installed, and no account and no pop-ups are needed either; everything works on a computer, tablet and phone.

Each city has its own weather, recognizable landmarks and sounds: rain on the attic window in Paris, neon rain by the tower in Tokyo, snow over the Brooklyn Bridge. The scene is a 480 by 270 pixel animation that loops seamlessly once every four minutes. Cities can be switched manually, or you can turn on a tour: it changes the scene every 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes, or follows the night and shows the city closest to 1 a.m. local time.

There is no ready-made playlist. Chords, drums, bass and often the melody are synthesized right in the browser via the Web Audio API, adding tape wobble and vinyl crackle, without samples or recordings, so the music never ends. The Vibe panel sets the style, from jazzhop by default to ambient, bossa nova and medieval lofi, as well as the mood and lineup: full band, no drums, or chords only.

The weather can be changed in any city: rain, snow, autumn leaves or a clear night, and the city sounds with track names follow it. There are timers: focus 25/5 or 50/10 on a loop, and sleep, which after 15 to 90 minutes lowers the music and pauses it. After the first visit the site also works offline, and the current frame can be saved as a PNG image.

There are no accounts, chats or cookies here. At the same time, anonymous usage statistics are still collected: it shows which cities are viewed, but without cookies, and browsers with the Do Not Track signal do not get included. Settings and anonymous identifiers are stored in the browser, and the server forgets a visitor a day after the last visit. A counter under the city name shows how many people are listening right now and how many dropped by during the day. You can send a reaction into the scene or release a paper lantern, but no names or messages appear.

Under the city name hangs a billboard that can be rented. Video loops of all cities are sold on Gumroad: four-minute 1080p MP4s without sound, in the creation of which AI took part; for personal use and as a background in streams, the Lofi Cities credit is required, while music and sounds are not included in the set. The site itself remains free.

Image: David Revoy CC BY 4.0 · License

Translation editors: Соловьев В., Пеков А.