Image to ASCII Art
Turn photos and logos into text art made of characters. Pick the width and character set, go mono or full colour, then copy the text or download it as TXT, PNG or HTML.
Paste it into a code editor, a README, a chat or anywhere that uses a monospaced font.
How to use Image to ASCII Art
- 1
Upload an image
Drop a photo, logo or drawing. High-contrast pictures give the clearest result.
- 2
Tune the ASCII
Set the width in characters, choose a character set, adjust brightness and contrast and pick a dark or light background, mono or colour.
- 3
Copy or download
Copy the plain text, or download a TXT file, a PNG image or a colour HTML page.
What is ASCII art?
ASCII art is a picture drawn with text characters. Dense characters such as @, # and % act as dark pixels and light characters such as . and : act as bright ones, so from a distance the text reads as an image. It is popular in code comments, terminal banners, README files, chats and retro designs.
How this ASCII art generator works
The converter samples your image into a grid of cells, one cell per character. Because characters are about twice as tall as they are wide, the grid is squashed vertically so the result keeps the right proportions. Each cell's brightness is then mapped to a character from the chosen set. Everything happens in your browser, so your images stay private.
Character sets
- Standard: a balanced 10-step ramp that works everywhere.
- Detailed: 70 characters for subtle shading and portraits.
- Blocks: the shaded block characters ░ ▒ ▓ █ for a bold, solid look.
- Simple: just # + - . for clean, minimal art.
- Binary: ones and zeros for a matrix-style effect.
- Braille dots: fine dotted texture.
- Custom: type your own characters, from darkest to lightest.
Mono or full colour
Monochrome ASCII is plain text you can paste anywhere that uses a monospaced font. Full-colour mode gives every character the colour of the original pixel, which looks striking as a PNG image or an HTML page.
Dark or light background
ASCII art looks different on dark and light backgrounds, because on a dark terminal the dense characters are bright. Choose the background you will display the art on and the characters are mapped accordingly. Use Invert for a negative effect.
Tips
- Use 60 to 120 characters for chats and code comments, 150 to 300 for detailed posters.
- Increase contrast for photos with soft lighting.
- Logos and portraits with a plain background convert best.
- Turn on Sharpen edges to bring out outlines.