Convert a PNG to ASCII Art

width in characters · four ramps · invert for dark terminals · copy or .txt

Turn an image into text art for a README, a terminal banner, a commit message or a plain-text email signature. Set how many characters wide you want it, pick a character ramp, and copy the result. Runs entirely in your browser.

Getting a result that actually reads

Each character samples one cell of the image and picks a glyph by brightness. Two things decide whether the output is recognisable. First, width: below about 60 characters almost nothing survives, 80–120 is the sweet spot for a face or a logo, and past 200 you're producing something nobody can paste anywhere. Second, contrast: ASCII art has maybe ten brightness levels to work with, so a flat, evenly-lit photo turns to mush. Push Contrast up first, or run Black & white to see the shapes the ramp will have to work with.

The row count is derived automatically at half the width ratio, because monospace characters are roughly twice as tall as they are wide. Without that correction everything comes out stretched vertically.

Which ramp to choose

Classic is the familiar @%#*+=-:. — reliable everywhere, safe in any encoding. Block shading uses Unicode half-tone blocks and looks markedly better for portraits, but it needs a font with those glyphs. Dense spends 70 distinct characters on fine gradients; good for large output, noisy at small sizes. Minimal is nearly monochrome and suits bold logos.

Ramps run dark-to-light for dark text on a light background. Viewing in a dark terminal inverts the perceived brightness, so tick Invert — otherwise the picture reads like a photographic negative.

FAQ