ASCII Art effect

Rebuilds an image out of characters, by density or by a tone-ordered ramp of glyphs.

Made with the ASCII filterWorks in

ASCII art effect on a portrait of a woman in white sunglasses with a lollipop, made with the ASCII filter in Filter Archive (Plotter preset)

BeforeAfter

ASCII turns a photo into a grid of text. Each cell gets the character whose weight matches the tone underneath, from a terminal screen of letters to dense blocks, strokes or binary. Change the ink and ground colours for green-on-black, black-on-paper or anything else.

3presets
17settings
3apps

Same effect, different presets.

8 photos, each with its own preset. Try it on yours

ASCII art effect on a wide-angle portrait of a woman looking up at the camera, made with the ASCII filter in Filter Archive (Terminal preset) — Terminal

ASCII art effect on a portrait of a laughing woman with pink curly hair, made with the ASCII filter in Filter Archive (Plotter preset) — Plotter

ASCII art effect on a portrait of a man with spiky red hair on a blue background, made with the ASCII filter in Filter Archive (Terminal preset) — Terminal

ASCII art effect on a portrait of a woman with silver hair and blue sunglasses by the sea, made with the ASCII filter in Filter Archive (Plotter preset) — Plotter

ASCII art effect on a portrait of a woman with copper red hair, made with the ASCII filter in Filter Archive (Terminal preset) — Terminal

ASCII art effect on a portrait of a woman with black hair, hands on her head, made with the ASCII filter in Filter Archive (Plotter preset) — Plotter

ASCII art effect on a portrait of a woman in headphones holding a CD, made with the ASCII filter in Filter Archive (Terminal preset) — Terminal

Use the ASCII art effect in Photoshop, Affinity or Figma.

One licence covers all three: $9.99 a month or $59.99 once. See pricing

Photoshop

Open Filter Archive from the Plugins menu, pick ASCII and press Apply. The result lands on a new layer above your original.

Mac & Windows · Photoshop 2024+

Affinity

Choose Filters, Plugins, Filter Archive on a pixel layer, pick ASCII and apply it to that layer.

Mac & Windows · Affinity 3

Figma

Select an image, frame or shape, run Filter Archive and apply ASCII as a new layer or in place.

Figma Community

Settings worth touching.

CharactersSymbols: Which characters build the picture: ASCII, Terminal, Strokes, Dense, Blocks or Binary.
Cell HeightGrid: How tall each character cell is. Taller than wide is the terminal look.
InkOutput: The colour of the characters, set against the Ground colour behind them.

Plus 14 more in the panel, all editable after you pick a preset.

ASCII Art Effect questions.

What is an ASCII art effect?

An ASCII art effect redraws a picture using text characters, choosing denser characters for darker areas and lighter ones for bright areas, so the image appears when you step back.

How do I make an ASCII art effect in Photoshop?

Open Filter Archive from the Plugins menu and choose ASCII. Start from a preset such as Image Project or Terminal, adjust the settings while the preview updates, then press Apply. The result goes on a new layer and your original stays untouched.

Can I use it in Affinity or Figma?

Yes. The same ASCII filter runs in Affinity 3 on Mac and Windows, from Filters, then Plugins, then Filter Archive on a pixel layer, and in Figma on an image, frame or shape. One licence covers Photoshop, Affinity and Figma.