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What Is ASCII Art?

What is ASCII art? Pictures and lettering made from text characters, strictly the 95 printable ASCII characters. This guide covers its history from typewriter art to Discord code blocks, the main styles, and why it only lines up in monospace fonts.

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

Key facts

  • In the strict sense, ASCII art uses only the 95 printable characters of ASCII, the character code published in 1963.
  • Typewriter art from the 1890s survives in print, so making pictures from typed characters is older than ASCII itself.
  • FIGlet, released in 1991 by Glenn Chappell and Ian Chai, prints words in large letters made of characters, and its fonts still power most text-to-ASCII generators.
  • ANSI art adds colour and the line and block characters of code page 437, and flourished on bulletin board systems in the 1980s and 1990s.
  • ASCII art only holds its shape in monospace fonts, where every character, including the space, has the same width.

ASCII art is pictures, patterns and lettering made from text characters. In the strict sense it uses only the 95 printable characters of ASCII, the character code published in 1963 that covers English letters, digits, punctuation and the space. In everyday use the name also covers text art that borrows Unicode symbols, block characters or Braille dots.

What is ASCII art made of, and where did it come from?

ASCII art is made of text characters, and it grew from typewriters and teleprinters through early computers to bulletin boards.

Before computers

People made pictures with typed characters as soon as they had typewriters. Typewriter art from the 1890s survives in print, and typists kept the tradition going for decades, using the overstrike and the half-line shift to add shading. When teleprinters spread in the mid-20th century, operators exchanged pictures made of characters over radio teletype (RTTY), punched onto paper tape so they could be sent again.

Early computers

Line printers and terminals could only print characters, so programmers used characters for pictures. In 1966, Kenneth Knowlton and Leon Harmon at Bell Labs made Studies in Perception I, a large image built from small electronic symbols, an early example of turning a scanned picture into characters, which is what an image to ASCII converter does today.

BBSes, Usenet and FIGlet

In the 1980s and 1990s, bulletin board systems and Usenet newsgroups made ASCII art social. Signatures, logos and whole galleries were posted and shared, and artists signed their pieces with initials in a corner, a habit that continues. On IBM PC bulletin boards, ANSI art added colour and the line and block characters of code page 437. In Japan, a separate tradition known as Shift JIS art grew on text boards, using Japanese characters and proportional fonts.

In 1991 Glenn Chappell and Ian Chai released FIGlet, a program that prints words in large letters made of characters. Its users drew hundreds of fonts, and those fonts still power most text-to-ASCII generators, including ours.

What are the main types of ASCII art?

Type Example Notes
Line art /\_/\ cat ears Outlines with / \
Solid or shaded @%#*+=-:. Characters chosen by how much ink they show
Lettering FIGlet banners Words in large letters
One-line @}->-- <3 One row, works in any font
Block art █▓▒░ Unicode blocks as pixels
Braille art ⣿⣶⣤ 2×4 dots per character, fine detail

Why does ASCII art need a monospace font?

ASCII art is a grid. It only holds together when every character, including the space, takes the same width, which is true of monospace fonts (terminals, code editors, code blocks) and not of the proportional fonts used in most apps and documents. That is why our galleries offer a Code block button and why one-line art is the only kind that works everywhere.

Is ASCII art accessible?

A screen reader reads ASCII art as a run of punctuation, or skips it. Treat it as decoration: say the important thing in words as well, and in HTML wrap art in a <pre> element with role="img" and a text description.

Sources: Wikipedia articles “ASCII art”, “ASCII”, “Typewriter art”, “FIGlet” and “ANSI art” (consulted 2026-10-04); Bell Labs history of Studies in Perception I (Knowlton and Harmon, 1966).

So what is ASCII art today? A grid of characters that only holds its shape in a monospace font. Try it yourself: browse the ASCII art galleries, make a banner with the ASCII art generator or read how to make ASCII art.

Frequently asked questions

Basics

Who invented ASCII art?
Nobody: making pictures from typed characters is older than ASCII itself. Typewriter art was published in the 1890s, teleprinter operators made pictures in the mid-20th century, and the name ASCII art arrived with computers and the ASCII code of 1963. Later artists then spread it through bulletin boards and Usenet.
What is the difference between ASCII art and ANSI art?
ANSI art adds colour and cursor movement using ANSI escape codes, and on IBM PCs it usually drew with the block and line characters of code page 437. It flourished on bulletin board systems in the 1980s and 1990s. ASCII art in the strict sense is monochrome and uses only the 95 printable ASCII characters.
Is ASCII art the same as emoji art?
No. ASCII art uses text characters arranged in a grid, so its shape depends on spacing and font. Emoji art uses emoji as pixels or stickers. Both are text, but emoji are drawn differently on every platform, while pure ASCII looks the same in any monospace font.
What is ASCII art made of?
It is made of the 95 printable characters of ASCII: English letters, digits, punctuation and the space. In everyday use the name also covers text art that borrows Unicode symbols, block characters such as the full block and shades, or Braille dots, which give finer detail at two by four dots per character.

Where it works

What is ASCII art used for today?
People use it for signatures and logos, terminal banners, chat and social posts, and pure decoration. Artists still sign pieces with initials in a corner, a habit from bulletin board days. Pasted into chat apps it needs a code block, or the spacing breaks.
What are the main types of ASCII art?
The main types are line art using slashes and brackets, solid or shaded art picked by how much ink each character shows, FIGlet lettering, one-line art that works in any font, Unicode block art, and Braille art. Each trades portability against detail, and only one-line art survives in every app.
What is ASCII art in Japan, and is it different?
Japan has a separate tradition known as Shift JIS art, which grew on text boards and uses Japanese characters and proportional fonts. Western ASCII art relies on a monospace grid, while Shift JIS art is drawn to look right in the fonts used on those boards.

How it works

How do I make ASCII art after learning what it is?
Choose a method: draw by hand in a monospace editor, turn words into banners with FIGlet fonts, convert a photo with an image-to-ASCII tool, or generate it with code. The how to make ASCII art guide gives steps for each, along with the mistakes that break the shape.

Tips & limits

Why does ASCII art need a monospace font?
ASCII art is a grid, and it holds together only when every character, including the space, takes the same width. That is true of monospace fonts in terminals, code editors and code blocks, not of the proportional fonts used in most apps and documents. One-line art is the only kind that works everywhere.
How do I make ASCII art accessible on a web page?
Not really. A screen reader reads ASCII art as a run of punctuation, or skips it. Treat it as decoration, say the important thing in words as well, and in HTML wrap art in a pre element with role img and a text description so assistive technology gets a meaningful label.

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