The short answer
Why use ASCII Art?
Text art goes where images cannot: a code comment, a README, a terminal banner or a plain-text email. Picking a character for every spot by hand is slow; this does it from the brightness of the image.
There are no settings. The image is shrunk to 100 columns, and the number of rows is half of what the proportions suggest, because text characters are about twice as tall as they are wide. Each cell's brightness picks one of ten characters, @ % # * + = - : . and a space, from darkest to lightest.
Transparent areas are read as black, so a logo on a transparent background turns into a solid block of @ around it. Put the logo on white first, for example with Square Image or by converting it to JPEG with Image Converter. Simple, high-contrast pictures with large shapes read well; detailed photos turn into noise at 100 columns.
The result is plain text, not an image. Image to Text reads the actual words in a picture with OCR, which is a different job. Halftone and Mosaic give a similar coarse look but stay as images you can post anywhere. Paste the text into a code block so the spacing survives.
Where ASCII Art fits
CLI splash screens
Print a project logo as text when a command-line tool starts.
Plain-text emails
Add a small text logo to a newsletter that goes out without images.
Source code banners
Put a text picture at the top of a config file or script header.
Start to finish
How to use ASCII Art
- 01Tap Choose image and pick a simple, high-contrast picture such as a logo or silhouette.
- 02Tap Apply changes; there are no sliders, and up to 100 columns of characters appear on the page.
- 03Copy the text from the page, or tap Download result to save it as a .txt file.
What to expect from ASCII Art
| Check | What it means here |
|---|---|
| Supported input | JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP, SVG and browser-supported AVIF images |
| Main controls | No settings, so the image is converted as it is |
| Output | Plain text on the page and a .txt file to download |
| Working limit | 50 MB and 50 megapixels per image |
ASCII Art tips
- Place transparent logos on white first, or the empty area fills with @.
- Paste into a code block or terminal that uses a monospace font.
- Bold silhouettes read far better than detailed photos at 100 columns.
- On a dark terminal theme, invert the image first so the tones come out right.
ASCII Art FAQ
Something missing? Ask us.
Can I change the width or the characters?
Why does it look wrong in my terminal?
Does ASCII Art upload my file?
Is ASCII Art free to use?
Why did ASCII Art fail or look wrong?
Related tools
More in Filters & Effects.