How do I convert a picture to ASCII art?

Drop the image onto the workspace, or paste it with Ctrl+V or Cmd+V. The ASCII version appears straight away; adjust the columns and character set until it looks right, then copy the text or download it.

Why does my ASCII art look squashed or stretched?

ASCII art only keeps its proportions in a monospaced font with no extra line spacing. Paste it into a code block, a terminal or a text editor with a monospace font, or download the PNG, which is drawn with the right spacing.

How many columns should I use?

Around 80 to 120 columns fit a terminal or a README. Use more for detail in a downloaded image, and fewer for something small enough to paste into a chat or a code comment.

Can I keep the colours of the original image?

Yes. Turn on colour and every character takes the colour of the part of the image it stands for. Plain text cannot carry colour, so download the PNG to keep it.

Is my image uploaded?

No. The image is read and converted in your browser, and it never leaves your device.

Image to ASCII

Turn a photo into ASCII art, in black and white or full colour. Everything runs locally with zero file uploads.

In: PNG · JPEG · WebP · GIF · BMP · SVG
Out: Text · PNG · TXT

Drop an image to turn into ASCII

PNG, JPEG, WebP, GIF, BMP or SVG. You can also paste an image. Nothing is uploaded.

A picture made of letters

ASCII art draws an image with nothing but characters: dense glyphs like @ and # where the picture is dark, light ones like dots and spaces where it is bright. Drop a photo, and the converter turns it into text you can paste into a terminal, a README or a code comment, or download as an image to share.

How the conversion works

One character per cell. The image is scaled down to a grid as many cells wide as the columns you choose, and each cell is the average colour of the pixels it covers.
Brightness picks the character. The character set is ordered from the densest glyph to the lightest, and every cell takes the one that matches its brightness. More characters in the set means smoother shading.
Characters are tall. A letter is roughly twice as tall as it is wide, so the grid has fewer rows than columns for the same proportions. The ratio is measured from the font, so the result is not stretched.
Light or dark background. On a light page dark areas get the dense characters; on a dark page, like a terminal, bright areas do. Pick the one that matches where the art will be shown.
Colour is optional. With colour on, each character keeps the colour of its cell. Copied text has no colour, so it is only in the PNG download.

Frequently asked questions

How do I convert a picture to ASCII art?: Drop the image onto the workspace, or paste it with Ctrl+V or Cmd+V. The ASCII version appears straight away; adjust the columns and character set until it looks right, then copy the text or download it.
Why does my ASCII art look squashed or stretched?: ASCII art only keeps its proportions in a monospaced font with no extra line spacing. Paste it into a code block, a terminal or a text editor with a monospace font, or download the PNG, which is drawn with the right spacing.
How many columns should I use?: Around 80 to 120 columns fit a terminal or a README. Use more for detail in a downloaded image, and fewer for something small enough to paste into a chat or a code comment.
Can I keep the colours of the original image?: Yes. Turn on colour and every character takes the colour of the part of the image it stands for. Plain text cannot carry colour, so download the PNG to keep it.
Is my image uploaded?: No. The image is read and converted in your browser, and it never leaves your device.

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