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ASCII Art Generator

This ASCII art generator turns your words into big letters made of keyboard characters, in 32 FIGlet fonts. Type a word, pick a font, then copy it plain or as a Discord code block.

  • Free
  • No sign-up
  • Nothing to install
  • Runs in your browser

Up to 60 characters. Short words look best; press Enter to start a new line.

Font
Letter spacing

Standard (0 wide × 1 lines)

ASCII art only lines up in a monospace font: paste it into a code block, a terminal or a plain text file.

By Maya Chen, lettering designer and type educator · Checked by Jordan Hale · · How we review content

Key facts

  • An ASCII art generator draws each letter several lines tall using only keyboard characters, so the result pastes as plain text into a terminal, README or code comment.
  • The ASCII art generator on this page offers 32 FIGlet fonts, run in your browser through figlet.js (MIT licence), with Normal, Tight and Wide letter spacing.
  • ASCII is a 7-bit character set of 128 codes, 95 of them printable: letters, digits, punctuation and the space. ANSI art adds colour through escape codes that plain text does not carry.
  • ASCII art only lines up in a monospace font, so paste it into a code block, terminal or README code fence rather than a normal chat message.
  • Five letters in the Standard font are about 30 characters wide and in Big about 40; Wrap at 80 columns splits longer text onto new banner lines.
  • Discord on a phone fits about 30 to 40 characters per line, so Small, Mini or Small Slant are the fonts to pick there.

This ASCII art generator turns a word or short phrase into large banner letters drawn with keyboard characters, in 32 FIGlet fonts. It is made for README titles, terminal banners, code comments and Discord code blocks, and it returns plain text that you can copy, wrap as a code block or download as a .txt file.

How to use the ASCII art generator

  1. Type your text in the Your text box. Short words look best, and Enter starts a new line.
  2. Pick a font from the Font menu, and a Letter spacing option (Normal, Tight or Wide). Compare all 32 fonts shows your words in every font at once.
  3. Press Copy for plain text, Copy for Discord to wrap it in a code block, or .txt to download a file.

Worked example: a README title

Typing Hello with the Standard font and Normal spacing gives a banner five lines tall:

  _   _      _ _
 | | | | ___| | | ___
 | |_| |/ _ \ | |/ _ \
 |  _  |  __/ | | (_) |
 |_| |_|\___|_|_|\___/

Paste it inside a fenced code block (three backticks) in your README so it keeps its shape. Outside a code block a proportional font will shear the rows apart.

What ASCII art text is

ASCII art text draws each letter several lines tall using ordinary keyboard characters: / and \ for diagonals, | for uprights, _ for baselines. The result is a banner you can paste anywhere plain text goes: a terminal, a README, a code comment, a Discord code block or a plain text email.

The look comes from FIGlet, a program written in 1991 by Glenn Chappell and Ian Chai, and from the fonts its users drew for it. Several of the fonts here, including Standard, Slant, Big and Small, are by Glenn Chappell and date from 1993. The generator runs the same font files in your browser through figlet.js.

ASCII, ANSI and Unicode art

The three names get mixed up, and they are different things. ASCII is a 7-bit character set of 128 codes, of which 95 are printable: letters, digits, punctuation and the space. Everything this generator draws uses only those characters. ANSI art adds colour and cursor control through escape codes (defined by the ANSI X3.64 standard) and was made for terminals and bulletin boards; the escape codes are not part of ASCII, so plain text pasted into a chat or README shows no colour. Unicode art draws with a much larger set, such as box-drawing lines, block shapes and Braille dots, which gives finer detail but needs a font that has those characters. For the history and the techniques, see what ASCII art is, and for the line and corner characters see box drawing characters.

Plain text is also why this tool offers copy and a .txt download rather than an image: the output stays editable and works in any monospace context. Two common places to put it are a GitHub README and a code comment. A README renders anything inside a fenced code block (three backticks) in a monospace font, so the banner keeps its shape; in a comment, keep it under your project’s line length.

Sources: Wikipedia, ASCII (128 codes, 95 printable characters) and Wikipedia, ANSI escape code.

Choosing a font

Use Good fonts Why
Terminal banner, README title Standard, Slant, Big Easy to read, moderate width
Discord on a phone Small, Mini, Small Slant Narrow, so lines don’t wrap
Bold heading Doom, Banner, ANSI Compact, Epic Heavy strokes
Decorative Speed, Wavy, Puzzle, Slant Relief, Fire Font Character over readability
Handwritten feel Script, Small Script Joined, slanted letters

Use Compare all 32 fonts to see your own words in each one, and Use this font to switch.

Letter spacing

FIGlet can fit letters together in three ways. Normal lets neighbouring letters share edge characters (“smushing”), which keeps banners compact. Tight pushes letters until they touch without merging. Wide gives each letter its full width, which is easiest to read but widest. If a banner is too wide, try Tight, a smaller font, or shorter text.

Width and wrapping

Each line of a banner is as long as all its letters together, so width grows fast: five letters in Standard are about 30 characters wide, in Big about 40. Wrap at 80 columns breaks long text onto new banner lines at spaces, which matches the traditional terminal width. Below the art, the generator shows the exact width and line count.

Where you paste Comfortable width
Terminal, code editor 80
Discord or Slack on desktop about 60 to 80
Discord on a phone about 30 to 40
Code comment under 80, matching your project’s line length

Accessibility

ASCII art is made of punctuation, so a screen reader reads it as a long list of symbols, or skips it. When the words matter, put them in plain text too: as the commit message, the alt text of an image, or the line under the banner. In HTML, wrap ASCII art in a <pre> element with role="img" and an aria-label, which is what the preview on this page does.

For pictures rather than words, see the ASCII art galleries or convert a photo with the image to ASCII converter.

If you only need a quick banner, the whole job is one box, one font and one copy button, which is what this ASCII art generator is for; the galleries and the image converter cover pictures.

Frequently asked questions

Basics

How is this different from the big text generator?
The big text generator draws letters on a 5×7 grid with solid blocks (█), which is compact and reads well in chats. This generator uses FIGlet fonts drawn with slashes, underscores and brackets, the classic ASCII art banner look, with many more styles.
How do I make ASCII art from text?
Type a word in the Your text box, pick a font from the Font menu and press Copy. The banner updates as you type, up to 60 characters. Short words look best, because each letter is drawn several characters wide and long text soon passes a normal line width.
How many fonts does the ASCII art generator have?
There are 32 FIGlet fonts. Compare all 32 fonts shows your own text in every one at once, and Use this font switches the generator to the one you like. Each font's author is credited in that comparison, so you can see who drew the style you pick.
Can I download ASCII art as a text file?
Yes. Press the .txt button next to Copy and the banner downloads as a plain text file named after the font. Plain text keeps the art editable and works in any monospace context, which is why the tool offers a text file rather than an image.

Where it works

Can I post ASCII art in Discord without the Copy for Discord button?
Yes. Type three backticks on their own line, paste the art, then add three more on a new line below it. Discord then shows a code block in a monospace font, so every line keeps its width. The step-by-step version is in ASCII art for Discord.
Why does my ASCII art look broken after pasting?
ASCII art only lines up when every character has the same width, which is true of monospace fonts such as those in terminals, code editors and code blocks. Most chat apps, social networks and word processors use proportional fonts, where a space is narrower than a W, so the rows drift apart. Paste into a code block or switch the font to a monospace one such as Courier New or Consolas.
Can I use ASCII art in a GitHub README?
Yes, inside a fenced code block. Put three backticks on the line above and below the banner, and GitHub shows it in a monospace font so every row keeps its alignment. Outside a code block the Markdown renderer uses a proportional font and the letters shear apart.
Which ASCII art font fits a Discord phone screen?
Small, Mini or Small Slant. Discord on a phone fits only about 30 to 40 characters per line, and Standard or Big letters pass that after four or five letters. Check the width shown under the banner before you copy, and use Copy for Discord to add the backticks.

How it works

What is a FIGlet font?
FIGlet is a program from 1991 that prints text in large letters made of ordinary characters, and a FIGlet font (an .flf file) is the set of drawings it uses for each letter. Hundreds of fonts were made by its users. This generator uses figlet.js, an MIT-licensed JavaScript version, with 32 fonts whose files carry a permission or licence notice; each font's author is credited in the font comparison.
What do Normal, Tight and Wide letter spacing do?
Normal lets neighbouring letters share edge characters, a FIGlet trick called smushing, which keeps banners compact. Tight pushes letters until they touch without merging. Wide gives each letter its full width, so it reads most easily but takes the most columns. Switch to Tight when a banner is too wide.
What does Wrap at 80 columns do?
It breaks long text onto new banner lines at spaces, so no row of the art is wider than 80 characters, the traditional terminal width. Turn it off if you want one long banner. The generator shows the exact width and line count below the art either way.
Is ASCII art the same as ANSI art?
No. ASCII art uses only the 95 printable ASCII characters. ANSI art adds colour and cursor control through escape codes defined by the ANSI X3.64 standard, and those codes are not part of ASCII, so plain text pasted into a chat or README shows no colour.

Tips & limits

Can I use accents or emoji?
Most FIGlet fonts only contain the 95 printable ASCII characters. Some, such as Standard, Big and Lean, also cover accented Latin letters like é and ñ. Characters a font lacks are left out, and the tool tells you when that happens. Emoji are never drawn.
Is my text sent anywhere?
No. The fonts are downloaded to your browser when you pick them and the art is made on your device. Nothing you type is sent to our server.
What is the best font for a README title?
Standard, Slant or Big. They are easy to read and moderate in width, with five letters in Standard about 30 characters across. Pick a heavier font such as Doom or Banner for a bold heading, and avoid decorative ones such as Speed or Wavy when readability matters.
Can screen readers read ASCII art?
Not usefully. A screen reader reads the banner as a long list of punctuation symbols, or skips it. Put the words in plain text as well, such as the line under the banner or the commit message. On a web page, wrap the art in a pre element with role img and an aria-label.

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