About the Image to ASCII Art
ASCII art draws pictures with the characters on your keyboard: dark areas use heavy symbols like @ and #, light areas use dots and spaces. This converter turns any picture into ASCII art. Choose how many characters wide the result should be, pick a set of characters from a simple three-character set to a detailed 70-character one, adjust the contrast and swap light and dark if you plan to paste it on a dark background. The result is plain text that you can copy into a message, a code comment, a README or a terminal, or save as a .txt file. The picture is converted in your browser and is not uploaded.
Updated October 2026
How to use the Image to ASCII Art
- 1Drop a picture. Faces, logos and simple shapes work best.
- 2Set the width in characters; 80 is a good start.
- 3Pick a character set and adjust the contrast.
- 4Swap light and dark if the picture looks like a negative.
- 5Copy the text or download it.
Getting the best result
Start with a picture that has a clear subject and good contrast. If the result looks flat, raise the contrast slider. If the dark areas are too heavy, lower it. The character set matters too: the 10-character set gives a clean, classic look, while the 70-character set shows more shading but needs more width to look good.
Always view or paste ASCII art in a fixed-width (monospace) font, such as Courier or Consolas. In a normal font the characters have different widths and the lines no longer line up.
Printing works well too. Paste the text into a document, set a monospace font at a small size such as 5 or 6 points, and use landscape or portrait to match the picture. A width of 150 characters or more gives a poster that still looks sharp from a metre away. For tiny sizes, the three-character set often reads better than the detailed one.
Character sets
- Standard: @ % # * + = - : . and space, a good all-round choice.
- Detailed: 70 characters for fine shading.
- Blocks: solid and shaded blocks that look like pixels.
- Simple: only three characters, bold and graphic.
- Binary: 1 and 0, for a code-like effect.
Related tools
Look up the characters themselves with the ASCII Table Generator, write a message as pictures with the Text to Image Generator, or prepare your picture first with Crop Image and the Black and White Image tool. The Pixelate Image tool gives a blocky look without text. Have fun and share your creations.
Features
- Width from 20 to 200 characters
- Five character sets including blocks and binary
- Contrast control
- Light and dark swap
- Correct proportions for tall characters
- Copy or download as text
- Private, no upload
Frequently asked questions
How does it make ASCII art?
The picture is divided into a grid. For each cell, the average brightness is measured and mapped to a character that looks as dark or as light as the cell.
Why does my result look stretched?
Text characters are taller than they are wide. The tool allows for this, using about half as many rows as columns, but a font with different proportions can still look stretched.
Why is it a negative?
Your text may be light on a dark background. Tick the option to swap light and dark.
How wide should I make it?
For a message or a comment, 50 to 80 characters. For a poster or a text file, 120 to 200. Larger sizes show more detail but need a small font.
Which picture works best?
High-contrast pictures with a clear subject, such as portraits against a plain background, logos and silhouettes. Busy photos turn into noise at small sizes.
Where can I use ASCII art?
In chat messages (in a code block), emails, README files, code comments, terminal greetings and printed posters.
Is the picture uploaded?
No, it is converted in your browser.