Image to ASCII Art Converter - Free Online Tool

Drop a picture here or browse PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF, SVG, AVIF, BMP or ICO - or paste one with Ctrl+V Text, blocks or braille Colour HTML and PNG Nothing uploaded

ASCII preview

PNG font

Your picture-

Quick styles

Width100 characters

Characters

Colour

Background

Pick the background you will post on - Discord and terminals are dark, documents and most websites are light.

Grid-

Length-

Discord-

How to Convert an Image to ASCII Art

Add a picture. Drop an image into the box, browse for one, paste it with Ctrl+V or try the sample.

Pick a style. Choose a character set - standard, detailed, blocks, braille or your own - and monochrome or colour.

Tune it live. Set the width in characters, then adjust brightness, contrast, invert, dithering and outline mode while the preview updates.

Copy or save. Copy it as text or as a Discord or Reddit code block, or save it as TXT, HTML or PNG.

Tip: crop the picture to the face or logo first with the Image Cropper - ASCII art loves big, simple shapes.

Pick the Right Characters

Each set gives the same picture a different personality.

Set	Looks like	Best for
Standard	Classic `.:-=+*#%@`	Chat, code comments, any font
Detailed	70 shades	Photos at 120+ characters wide
Blocks	Solid ░▒▓█	Pixel-art and logos
Braille	8 dots per character	Most detail in the fewest characters
Custom	Your own characters	Names, emoji-free themes, in-jokes

Logos with a transparent background come out cleanest. Remove a busy background first with the PNG Background Remover.

ASCII Art for Discord, Reddit and Terminals

Discord

Messages hold 2,000 characters (4,000 with Nitro).

Use a width of 40 to 60 and Copy for Discord - the code block keeps the columns lined up.

Code blocks need four spaces in front of every line.

Copy for Reddit adds them for you. Keep it under 80 characters wide.

Terminal and code

Most terminals show 80 columns comfortably.

Download the TXT for README files, MOTD banners and code comments.

Share It as an Image

Where text does not keep its spacing - Instagram, X or a slide deck - save the PNG instead.

The size next to the PNG button is the real file size, measured from the file you download. Need a smaller file? Run it through Compress PNG, or turn it into WebP with PNG to WebP.

Find more format tools in Other Converters.

Frequently Asked Questions

ASCII art draws a picture with plain text characters. Dense characters like @ and # make the dark or bright areas, light ones like . and spaces make the rest.

It started on early terminals and is still loved for chat messages, code comments, README files and retro designs.

Press Copy for Discord - it wraps the art in a code block, so the characters line up in a fixed-width font. A Discord message holds 2,000 characters, and the tool tells you whether your art fits.

For Reddit, use Copy for Reddit, which indents every line by four spaces. Keep the width at 60 to 80 characters so phones do not wrap the lines.

Standard works everywhere and looks classic. Detailed uses 70 characters for smoother photos at larger widths. Blocks (░▒▓█) gives a solid, pixel-art look.

Braille packs 8 dots into one character, so it shows the most detail in the fewest characters - great for chat. You can also type your own characters with Custom.

Braille characters (U+2800 to U+28FF) have a 2 x 4 grid of dots, and every dot can be on or off. That is 8 pixels per character instead of one, so a 60-character line carries 120 pixels of detail.

Switch on Dithering for photos - it spreads the dots so shading still shows.

Yes. Pick Colour and every character takes the colour of that part of the picture. Save it as HTML (a web page with coloured text) or as a PNG image.

Plain text cannot store colour, so TXT and the copy buttons always give the monochrome characters.

Text characters are about twice as tall as they are wide, so the tool uses fewer rows than columns. The Character shape setting (0.50 by default) controls this.

If your app or font has taller lines, lower it a little; if the art looks flat, raise it.

Any picture your browser can open works: PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF (first frame), SVG, AVIF, BMP and ICO. iPhone HEIC photos need converting first with HEIC to JPG.

Nothing is uploaded - the picture is read and converted inside your browser, so it never leaves your device.

The text and images you create are yours, with no watermark and no restrictions from us. Just make sure you have the rights to the picture you started from.