OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
Video to ASCII
Turn Video Into Moving Text Art Frame by Frame, Keeping the Sound
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How the Video to ASCII works
This video to ASCII converter redraws every frame of a clip as letters, symbols and numbers, so the whole video plays as moving text art. Choose how many characters fit across the frame, which character set to use and the colours, then download a new video with the original sound.
How video to ASCII conversion works
Each frame is shrunk to a grid with one cell per character, so 120 characters across gives 120 cells in each row. The page measures the brightness of every cell and picks a character with a matching amount of ink: a space for the darkest areas, then dots and dashes, up to dense symbols such as # and @ for the brightest. Rows are twice as tall as columns are wide, which matches the shape of a typed character and keeps faces in proportion.
Choosing the settings
More characters across shows more detail but makes each letter smaller; around 80 is readable on a phone and 160 or more looks like a photo from a distance. Classic uses ten familiar symbols, Detailed uses seventy for smoother shading, Blocks uses shaded block characters for a chunky look, and Binary draws everything in ones and zeros.
Colours
Green on black gives the hacker terminal look, white on black and black on white are clean and printable, and "Original colours" tints each character with the colour of the pixels it replaced, so the video keeps its palette while turning into text.
Rendering
The clip plays once in real time while the text is drawn. Very high character counts on long or large videos can make older computers drop frames, so lower the count if the result stutters.
FAQ
Can I get the ASCII text itself instead of a video?
This page outputs a video file. For a single frame as copyable text, save a frame with the video frame capture tool and run it through the image to ASCII converter, which gives plain text you can paste anywhere.
Does it keep the sound?
Yes. The original soundtrack is recorded alongside the new ASCII picture, so music videos and clips with dialogue stay in sync. The output is WebM in Chrome, Edge and Firefox or MP4 in Safari.
Is my video uploaded?
No. Every frame is converted to text art by your browser on your own device. Nothing is sent to a server, and the finished file is created locally and saved straight to your downloads.
See also: all Video & Screen tools, Images, Audio, PDF, SVG, Simulations & Screensavers, Generative Art, Chart Makers, 3D Model Viewers, Drawing Pads, Mockups & 3D Making, Diagram Makers, 3D Science, Tracker Music.
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