I wrote something similar years ago, which would instead convert an image into a mesh of polygons. The idea was to have a vector low-size SVG that could be used as an image placeholder or background for web pages.

I think I lost the code, but it was initially a genetic algorithm that randomly placed overlapping polygons, but the later improved method had connected polygons that shared points - which was far more computationally cheaper.

Another method I explored was to compose a representative image via a two-colour binarised bitmap, which provided a pixelated version of the image as a placeholder.

The core idea is that you drop the image as a small Data URI straight into the page, and then fetch the high-detail version later. From the user's perspective, they are getting a very usable web page early on, even on poor connections.