How to use the Image to ASCII Art
- Choose an image, drop or paste one — or try the sample. Logos and high-contrast photos work best.
- Set the width in characters: 60–100 for chat and code comments, 150+ for detailed art.
- Pick a character set and adjust brightness and contrast until the shapes read clearly. Tick Invert if the art will be shown on a light background.
- Copy the text, or download a .txt — or an HTML file that keeps the colors when “Keep colors” is on.
How image-to-ASCII works
The image is scaled down so each character covers a small block of pixels. Characters are about twice as tall as they are wide, so the image is squashed vertically by half to keep its proportions. For every block the converter measures the brightness (using the eye’s sensitivity to red, green and blue) and picks a character with a matching amount of “ink”: a space for the lightest areas, @ or █ for the darkest.
- Classic uses 10 levels and looks clean in any font.
- Detailed measures every printable ASCII character in your font and orders them by how much ink they use — up to 70 levels for smooth gradients.
- Blocks and Dots use Unicode shading and Braille-style dots — they look best in modern terminals.
With Keep colors each character is wrapped in a colored span, so the HTML file shows a full-color mosaic. Want text banners instead? Use the ASCII Art Text Generator.
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Tools that pair well with the Image to ASCII Art
- Image Converter — Convert any image your browser can open — PNG, JPG, WebP, AVIF, GIF, BMP or SVG — into PNG, JPG, WebP or AVIF, one file or hundreds at a time.
- Image Resizer — Resize a photo to exact pixel dimensions or a percentage, crop it to fill a social-media size, or fit it inside a frame with a background color — all locally in your browser.
- Text Symbols & Special Characters — Check marks, arrows, stars, bullets, math and currency signs, superscripts, box drawing, invisible spaces and ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ text faces — click to copy, with the HTML entity, CSS and Unicode for each.
- Image to Base64 — Turn a PNG, JPEG, SVG, WebP or GIF into a Base64 data URI with copy-ready CSS and HTML — or paste a Base64 string to preview and download the image.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my ASCII art look stretched?
It is shown in a font where characters aren’t square. The converter already halves the height to compensate; if your font is narrower or wider, the art may still look slightly stretched — try a different width.
Which images work best?
Simple shapes with strong contrast: logos, silhouettes and portraits against a plain background. Raise the contrast slider for busy photos.
Can I keep the colors?
Yes — tick Keep colors and download the HTML file. Plain text can’t store colors, so the TXT download and Copy are always black and white.
Is my image uploaded?
No. The image is read and converted in your browser with a canvas; nothing is sent to a server.
Can I install Image to ASCII Art as a web app and use it offline?
Yes. Image to ASCII Art is an installable web app (PWA) — installed from your browser, not downloaded from an app store. Click Install app at the top of this page in Chrome or Edge (Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS) or on Android, use Share → Add to Home Screen on iPhone and iPad, or File → Add to Dock in Safari 17+ on a Mac. It then opens in its own window with its own icon, and because it runs entirely in your browser it keeps working offline. Firefox on desktop can’t install web apps. How installing works.