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    ASCII Art Generator

    New

    Turn any picture into ASCII art in your browser. Copy it as text to paste into a chat, a code comment or a terminal, or save it as an image, in plain black and white or in the picture's own colors.

    Drop a picture here

    or paste with Ctrl+V. Faces, pets and logos with strong light and dark come out best.

    Runs entirely in your browser. Your images are never uploaded to a server.

    How it works

    1. Drop in a picture. Faces, pets and logos with strong light and dark parts come out best.
    2. Choose how many characters wide it should be. More characters means more detail.
    3. Pick a character set: classic, detailed, shaded blocks, minimal, ones and zeros, or your own.
    4. Choose the background it will be seen on, and the shading flips to match.
    5. Copy the text, or save it as a PNG in one color or in the picture's own colors.

    Common use cases

    Frequently asked questions

    How do I turn an image into ASCII art?
    Drop the image in and it is converted straight away. The picture is shrunk so each character stands for a small patch of it, then each patch's brightness picks a character: dense ones like @ and # for the dark parts, light ones like . and : for the pale parts, and a space for the lightest. Choose the width and the character set until it looks right, then copy it or save it.
    Why does my ASCII art look wrong when I paste it?
    It only lines up in a monospace font, where every character is the same width. Most chat apps and email use a proportional font, which squashes the art. In Discord or Slack, paste it inside a code block, with three backticks on the line before and after. In an email or a document, select it and change the font to Courier New or Consolas. If long lines wrap, choose a narrower width.
    What width should I use?
    For a chat message or a code comment, 60 to 80 characters, which fits without wrapping on most screens. Discord code blocks show around 80 on a desktop and fewer on a phone. For an image or a print, go wide, 150 characters or more, and the detail becomes almost photographic from a distance.
    What is the difference between the two backgrounds?
    Dark text on light draws the dark parts of the picture with the heaviest characters, which is right for a white page, an email or a print. Light text on dark does the opposite, for a terminal, a code editor or dark mode, where the bright parts need the heavy characters. The same art pasted on the wrong background looks like a negative, so choose where it will be seen.
    Can ASCII art be in color?
    As an image, yes. Choose The picture's colors and each character is drawn in the color of the part of the picture it stands for, then saved as a PNG. Copied text is always plain, since text itself carries no color; it takes on whatever color the place you paste it uses.
    Can I use my own characters?
    Yes. Choose Your own and type characters from the lightest looking to the boldest. The lightest parts of the picture stay blank, and your characters shade the rest in order. A few characters of very different weights, like . : * # @, shade best; your initials or a word give a more graphic, patterned look.
    Is my picture uploaded?
    No. The conversion runs entirely in your browser, so the picture never leaves your device. iPhone HEIC photos work too, and there is no signup or watermark.

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