Image to ASCII Art Converter
Turn an uploaded photo into monospace ASCII art — pick a character density ramp, output width, and an optional colorized preview, entirely in your browser.
Input
JPG, PNG, GIF or WebP. Processed entirely in your browser — your image is never uploaded.
How many characters wide the output is. Height is computed automatically to keep the art proportional in a monospace font. Range 40-200.
Which characters stand in for dark-to-light brightness levels.
Swaps dark and light mapping — useful for a light-on-dark (terminal-style) look instead of dark-on-light.
Renders each character in its source pixel's average color. The copyable/downloadable text output below is always plain monochrome.
ASCII art
Upload an image to generate ASCII art.
Guides
Turn a photo into ASCII art. Upload an image and this tool samples its pixel brightness in a grid, then swaps each cell for a character from a light-to-dark ramp — the classic effect you'd see in an old BBS banner or terminal splash screen. Everything runs in your browser: your image is never uploaded.
How do I use it?
Drop an image onto the uploader, then adjust the settings — output changes live as you tweak them:
- Width (characters) — how many characters wide the result is (40-200). The height is computed automatically from a typical monospace character's proportions, so the art doesn't come out stretched.
- Character set — the ramp of characters used to represent brightness, from dark to light: Classic (10 levels,
@%#*+=-:.), Detailed (70 levels, for fine gradients), Blocks (solid block glyphs), or Simple (a minimal 4-character ramp). - Invert brightness — swaps dark and light, useful for a light-on-dark terminal look instead of dark text on a light background.
- Colorize preview — shows each character in its source pixel's average color. The text output underneath stays plain monochrome either way, since color doesn't survive a copy-paste into a text file.
Copy the result or download it as a .txt file from the output panel.
Why is the height different from the image's real proportions?
Monospace characters are taller than they are wide, so mapping one character to one square pixel block would stretch the art vertically. This tool shrinks the row count relative to the column count to compensate, so the ASCII art keeps roughly the same proportions as the source photo when viewed in a monospace font.
Which images work best?
High-contrast images with clear subjects — portraits, logos, simple scenes — read best as ASCII art. Busy, low-contrast photos tend to turn into visual noise once reduced to a character grid. A narrower width (fewer characters) also reads better for busy images; a wider setting suits simple, high-contrast subjects.
Is my image uploaded anywhere?
No. The image is decoded and sampled locally using your browser's canvas — it never leaves your device.