Free Image to ASCII Art Converter
Upload any photo and watch it become text-based ASCII art — rendered locally, ready to copy, download, or paste anywhere.
Your ASCII art appears here...
High-contrast photos with a clear subject convert best.
How to use the ASCII art converter
- Choose an image from your device — it never leaves your browser.
- Adjust the width: more characters means more detail (try 100+ for portraits).
- Tick invert if you plan to view the art on a dark background.
- Copy the text or download it as a .txt file.
How image-to-ASCII works
ASCII art is a throwback to the days when screens could only show text: images are rebuilt from characters, with dense characters like @ standing in for dark areas and light ones like . for bright areas. This converter shrinks your photo to the chosen width, reads the brightness of every pixel, and maps each to a character on a density ramp — all on an HTML canvas, entirely on your device. Because text characters are taller than they are wide, the image is squashed vertically during conversion so the result does not look stretched; that is also why the preview uses a small line height. Simple, high-contrast images with one clear subject — faces, logos, pets — produce the most recognizable results, while busy low-contrast photos turn to pleasing static. Paste the output into code comments, READMEs, forum signatures, or terminal banners.
Frequently asked questions
What is ASCII art?
Images recreated using only text characters. Dense characters (@#%) represent dark areas and sparse ones (.: ) represent light areas, so the picture emerges from the pattern of characters.
Why does my art look stretched or squished?
Text characters are roughly twice as tall as they are wide. The converter compensates for this — if it still looks off, view it in a monospace font, which the preview already uses.
What images work best?
High-contrast photos with a single clear subject: portraits, pets, logos. Low-contrast or very busy images produce muddy results.
Is my photo uploaded anywhere?
No. The image is drawn to a canvas in your browser and converted locally. Nothing is sent to any server.