Small terminal illustration
Use 60 columns, a 0.5 character ratio, and the simple #+:. space ramp. A compact ramp can make small shapes easier to recognize in a terminal.
Image to characters
PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF, AVIF, BMP; up to 64 million source pixels. Animated images use a still frame.
Uses a weighted brightness estimate, composited over white. One sampled pixel becomes one ASCII character. Rows follow the image aspect ratio and your character proportions (400 rows maximum).
Export plain text or HTML
Use a monospace font and preserve whitespace. The HTML download escapes the character art and includes its own white background. A 0.5 character ratio suits many monospace fonts; adjust it for your destination.
ASCII preview
Choose an image or try the mountain example to see live character art.
Image processing and generated artwork stay in your browser. Files are not uploaded by this tool.
How to use the Image to ASCII
- 01
Load a local raster image or try the original mountain illustration.
- 02
Choose the column count and character width-to-height ratio. Enter a ramp in darkest-to-lightest order, keeping any space at the end.
- 03
Review the monospace preview. Copy the characters or download TXT or HTML while preserving spaces and line breaks.
Examples
Detailed text poster
Use 160 columns and the detailed ramp. Keep a monospace font in the destination and avoid proportional text formatting that would shift each row.
From image brightness to characters
The browser samples the image to the output character grid. Each sample receives a weighted brightness estimate and is composited over white if it is partly transparent. Its brightness selects an index in your ramp. This is an artistic brightness approximation, not calibrated glyph-density measurement; different fonts make the same character look darker or lighter.
Keep the image proportions
Characters are usually taller than they are wide. A ratio of 0.5 means a character cell is about half as wide as it is tall, so the output uses fewer rows than a square-pixel grid. The preview uses monospace text; change the ratio if the final font distorts the result. At most 200 columns and 400 rows are generated.
What to know
- Only printable ASCII ramp characters are accepted; ramps contain 2–32 characters.
- Fine details may disappear during sampling. Wide or tall source images can require fewer columns to stay within 400 rows.
Common questions
Why does a pasted image look stretched or misaligned?
Use a monospace font, preserve consecutive spaces, and keep the original line breaks. A proportional font gives characters different widths and breaks the grid.
Can I use angle brackets in the ramp?
Yes. Printable ASCII characters are accepted, and the HTML download escapes markup characters so they remain visible text.
Does the HTML export embed my source image?
No. It contains only the generated character art and basic display styles. The TXT export contains the characters and line breaks alone.