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img2ansi is a high-performance image-to-ANSI converter built for developers who want to bring visual elements to the command line. It supports 24-bit color, animations, real-time processing, and seamless integration with both Node.js and browser environments. Perfect for CLI tools, terminal dashboards, ASCII art projects, and more.

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img2ansi

Transform Images

🚀 Convert images to stunning ANSI art for terminals and browsers

✨ Born from the need to render images in CLI applications with style

Node.js 12+ Modern Browsers TypeScript Ready High Performance


Visual Showcase

🎬 Watch img2ansi transform images into stunning terminal art in real-time!


Showcase Gallery

🎨 See img2ansi in Action

🖼️ High-Quality Images
Perfect reproduction with 24-bit color

🎬 Terminal Animations
Smooth video-to-terminal conversion

🎮 Game Sprites
Pixel-perfect game assets

Output Quality: Perfect
Width: 80 characters
Processing: ~300ms
Colors: 24-bit RGB
Frame Rate: 12 FPS
Resolution: 60x30
Format: Terminal sequences
Loop: Continuous
Precision: Pixel-perfect
Size: 16x16 characters
Style: Retro gaming
Response: Real-time
🎯 Use Case Examples

CLI Applications:

  • Image previews in file managers
  • Logo displays in terminal apps
  • Progress indicators with graphics

Web Applications:

  • Retro-style image galleries
  • ASCII art generators
  • Terminal emulators

Creative Projects:

  • Digital art installations
  • ASCII video players
  • Text-based games

Why img2ansi?

🎯 Purpose-Built

Created specifically for CLI applications requiring rich visual feedback and terminal-based image display

High Performance

Optimized algorithms for real-time processing with configurable quality levels

🌐 Universal

Works seamlessly across browsers, Node.js, and all major platforms

Table of Contents

🗂️ Click to expand navigation

Key Features

🎨 Core Capabilities

Feature Description Benefits
🖼️ High-Quality Conversion Advanced color quantization with 24-bit support Crystal-clear ANSI art reproduction
🔄 Multiple Quality Levels Perfect, High, Medium, Low settings Balance between quality and performance
📂 Flexible Input Sources URLs, Files, Buffers, paths, raw pixel data Works with any image source
🎯 Smart Scaling Intelligent aspect ratio preservation Perfect proportions maintained

🎬 Advanced Features

Feature Description Benefits
🎬 Animation Support Multi-frame conversion for video-to-terminal Create stunning terminal animations
⏱️ Frame Rate Control 1-60 FPS configurable playback Smooth animation control
🌐 Cross-Platform Browser + Node.js compatibility Universal deployment
🎨 HTML Rendering Convert ANSI to styled HTML Web-friendly display

🛠️ Developer Tools

Feature Description Benefits
📟 Printf Generation Terminal-ready command output Direct terminal integration
🔧 TypeScript Support Full type definitions included Enhanced development experience
Real-time Processing Optimized for live applications Responsive user interfaces
📊 Comprehensive API Extensive methods for all use cases Complete functionality coverage

Live Demo

🌐 Try it Online

Live Demo

Interactive Features:

  • 📁 Drag & Drop Upload - Simply drag images onto the page
  • ⚙️ Real-time Quality Adjustment - See changes instantly
  • 🎨 Live ANSI Preview - Rendered terminal output
  • 📋 One-click Command Copy - Ready-to-use printf commands
  • 🎬 Animation Support - Upload multiple images for animations
  • 🔧 Custom Settings - Width, height, and quality controls

💡 Quick Test

🌐 Online Demo: Try it instantly at vibhek.com/img2ansi

💻 Local Setup:

# Clone and try immediately
git clone https://github.com/vibheksoni/img2ansi.git
cd img2ansi
open index.html  # Or double-click to open in browser

Installation

🎯 Choose Your Integration Method

🌐 Browser Integration

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <script src="Lib/img2ansi.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <script>
        const img2ansi = new Img2Ansi();
        // Ready to use!
    </script>
</body>
</html>

🖥️ Node.js Integration

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/vibheksoni/img2ansi.git
cd img2ansi

# Install dependencies
npm install canvas  # For enhanced processing
const NodeImg2Ansi = require('./Lib/img2ansi.node');
const img2ansi = new NodeImg2Ansi();

Quick Start

🎯 Get Started in 30 Seconds

🌐 Browser Usage
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <script src="Lib/img2ansi.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <input type="file" id="imageInput" accept="image/*">
    <div id="preview"></div>

    <script>
        // Initialize with default settings
        const img2ansi = new Img2Ansi({
            escChar: '\u001b',
            lineEnding: '\n',
            quality: 'high'
        });

        // Handle file selection
        document.getElementById('imageInput').addEventListener('change', async (event) => {
            const file = event.target.files[0];
            if (file) {
                try {
                    // Convert to ANSI art
                    const ansiArt = await img2ansi.fromFile(file, {
                        width: 80,
                        quality: 'high'
                    });

                    // Render to HTML
                    const previewElement = document.getElementById('preview');
                    img2ansi.renderToHtml(ansiArt, previewElement);

                    // Generate terminal command
                    const printfCommand = img2ansi.toPrintfCommand(ansiArt);
                    console.log('Terminal command:', printfCommand);
                } catch (err) {
                    console.error('Conversion error:', err);
                }
            }
        });
    </script>
</body>
</html>
🖥️ Node.js Usage
const NodeImg2Ansi = require('./Lib/img2ansi.node');

// Initialize the converter
const img2ansi = new NodeImg2Ansi({
    escChar: '\u001b',
    lineEnding: '\n',
    quality: 'high'
});

async function convertImage() {
    try {
        // Convert from file path
        const ansiArt = await img2ansi.fromFilePath('path/to/image.jpg', {
            width: 80,
            quality: 'high'
        });

        // Print to console
        img2ansi.print(ansiArt);

        // Save to file
        await img2ansi.saveToFile(ansiArt, 'output.txt');

        // Generate printf command
        const printfCommand = img2ansi.toPrintfCommand(ansiArt);
        console.log('Terminal command:', printfCommand);
    } catch (err) {
        console.error('Conversion error:', err);
    }
}

convertImage();
🎬 Animation Example
// Create terminal animation from video frames
async function createAnimation() {
    const framePaths = [
        'frames/frame_0001.png',
        'frames/frame_0002.png',
        // ... more frames
    ];

    // Convert frames to ANSI
    const frames = await img2ansi.createTerminalAnimation(framePaths, {
        width: 60,
        height: 30,
        quality: 'medium'
    });

    // Play animation in terminal
    const animation = img2ansi.playTerminalAnimation(frames, {
        frameRate: 10,
        loop: true,
        clearScreen: true
    });

    // Stop after 10 seconds
    setTimeout(() => animation.stop(), 10000);
}

createAnimation();

Quality Settings

🎯 Choose the Right Quality for Your Needs

Quality Color Depth Scaling Performance Best For
🌟 Perfect 24-bit User-defined exact dimensions Medium Pixel-perfect reproduction, precise layouts
🎯 High 24-bit Smart aspect ratio preservation Good General purpose, best visual quality
⚖️ Medium Quantized 24-bit Smart scaling Fast Balanced quality/performance
Low Heavily quantized Smart scaling Very Fast Real-time processing, simple images
📋 Quality Comparison Examples
// Perfect Quality - Exact dimensions
const perfect = await img2ansi.fromFile(file, {
    width: 80,
    height: 40,
    quality: 'perfect'  // Uses exactly 80x40
});

// High Quality - Smart scaling (recommended)
const high = await img2ansi.fromFile(file, {
    width: 80,
    quality: 'high'     // Maintains aspect ratio
});

// Performance optimized
const fast = await img2ansi.fromFile(file, {
    width: 40,
    quality: 'low'      // Fast processing for real-time apps
});

Complete API Reference

🛠️ Comprehensive Method Documentation

🌐 Browser API (Img2Ansi)

Constructor

const img2ansi = new Img2Ansi(options);
Option Type Default Description
escChar String '\u001b' ANSI escape character
lineEnding String '\n' Line ending character(s)
quality String 'high' Default quality setting

Core Methods

Method Description Returns
convertToAnsi(params) Convert image to ANSI art String
renderToHtml(ansiString, element, options) Render ANSI as HTML void
toPrintfCommand(ansiString) Generate printf command String

Input Methods

Method Description Returns
fromUrl(url, options) Convert from URL Promise<String>
fromFile(file, options) Convert from File object Promise<String>
fromMultipleUrls(urls, options) Convert multiple URLs Promise<String[]>
fromMultipleFiles(files, options) Convert multiple files Promise<String[]>

Animation Methods

Method Description Returns
createAnimationFrames(sources, options) Create animation frames Promise<String[]>
playAnimation(frames, element, options) Play HTML animation Object
🖥️ Node.js API (NodeImg2Ansi)

Extended Methods

Method Description Returns
fromFilePath(filePath, options) Convert from file path Promise<String>
fromBuffer(buffer, options) Convert from buffer Promise<String>
saveToFile(ansiString, filePath) Save to file Promise<void>
print(ansiString) Print to console void

Batch Methods

Method Description Returns
fromMultipleFilePaths(paths, options) Convert multiple files Promise<String[]>
fromMultipleBuffers(buffers, options) Convert multiple buffers Promise<String[]>

Terminal Animation

Method Description Returns
createTerminalAnimation(framePaths, options) Create terminal animation Promise<String[]>
playTerminalAnimation(frames, options) Play in terminal Object
⚙️ Options Reference

Conversion Options

const options = {
    width: 80,              // Target width in characters
    height: 40,             // Target height in rows (optional)
    quality: 'high',        // Quality level
    escChar: '\u001b',      // Escape character
    lineEnding: '\n'        // Line ending
};

Animation Options

const animationOptions = {
    frameRate: 10,          // Frames per second (1-60)
    loop: true,             // Whether to loop
    clearScreen: true       // Clear screen between frames
};

Animation Support

🎭 Create Stunning Terminal Animations

🎬 Video to Terminal Animation

Step 1: Extract Frames

# Using ffmpeg to extract frames
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "fps=10,scale=80:40" frame_%04d.png

Step 2: Convert to ANSI

const img2ansi = new NodeImg2Ansi();

async function createVideoAnimation() {
    // Get all frame files
    const framePaths = [
        'frames/frame_0001.png',
        'frames/frame_0002.png',
        // ... more frames
    ];

    // Convert to ANSI frames
    const ansiFrames = await img2ansi.createTerminalAnimation(framePaths, {
        width: 80,
        height: 40,
        quality: 'medium'
    });

    // Play animation
    const animation = img2ansi.playTerminalAnimation(ansiFrames, {
        frameRate: 10,
        loop: true,
        clearScreen: true
    });

    return animation;
}
🌀 Loading Animations
// Create a spinner animation
async function createSpinner() {
    const spinnerFrames = ['⠋', '⠙', '⠹', '⠸', '⠼', '⠴', '⠦', '⠧', '⠇', '⠏'];
    
    // Convert each character to ANSI
    const ansiFrames = spinnerFrames.map(char => 
        `\u001b[2J\u001b[H${char} Processing...`
    );

    const animation = img2ansi.playTerminalAnimation(ansiFrames, {
        frameRate: 8,
        loop: true
    });

    return animation;
}
🎮 Interactive Animations
// Animation with user controls
class AnimationController {
    constructor(frames) {
        this.frames = frames;
        this.animation = null;
    }

    play() {
        this.animation = img2ansi.playTerminalAnimation(this.frames, {
            frameRate: 12,
            loop: true
        });
        return this;
    }

    stop() {
        if (this.animation) {
            this.animation.stop();
        }
        return this;
    }

    pause() {
        // Implementation for pause functionality
        return this;
    }
}

Advanced Usage

🎯 Professional Integration Patterns

🎨 Custom Color Mapping
// Advanced color configuration
const img2ansi = new Img2Ansi({
    escChar: '\u001b',
    lineEnding: '\n',
    quality: 'high'
});

// High contrast settings for better visibility
const highContrastOptions = {
    width: 80,
    quality: 'high',
    brightness: 1.3,     // Boost brightness
    contrast: 1.2        // Increase contrast
};

const ansiArt = await img2ansi.fromFile(file, highContrastOptions);
Performance Optimization
// Real-time processing configuration
const realtimeConfig = {
    quality: 'low',       // Fast processing
    width: 40,            // Smaller dimensions
    colorDepth: 16        // Reduced color palette
};

// Batch processing optimization
const batchConfig = {
    quality: 'medium',    // Balanced quality
    width: 60,
    concurrent: 4         // Process 4 images simultaneously
};

// Memory-efficient processing
const memoryEfficientConfig = {
    quality: 'low',
    width: 30,
    streaming: true       // Process in chunks
};
🔧 CLI Integration
// CLI tool implementation
#!/usr/bin/env node

const NodeImg2Ansi = require('./Lib/img2ansi.node');
const path = require('path');

class CLI {
    constructor() {
        this.img2ansi = new NodeImg2Ansi();
    }

    async processFile(inputPath, options = {}) {
        try {
            const ansiArt = await this.img2ansi.fromFilePath(inputPath, {
                width: options.width || 80,
                quality: options.quality || 'high'
            });

            if (options.output) {
                await this.img2ansi.saveToFile(ansiArt, options.output);
                console.log(`✅ Saved to ${options.output}`);
            } else {
                this.img2ansi.print(ansiArt);
            }

            if (options.printf) {
                const command = this.img2ansi.toPrintfCommand(ansiArt);
                console.log('\n📋 Printf command:');
                console.log(command);
            }
        } catch (error) {
            console.error('❌ Error:', error.message);
            process.exit(1);
        }
    }
}

// Usage: node cli.js image.jpg --width 80 --output result.txt --printf
🌐 Web Application Integration
// React component example
import React, { useState, useCallback } from 'react';

const AnsiArtConverter = () => {
    const [ansiArt, setAnsiArt] = useState('');
    const [isProcessing, setIsProcessing] = useState(false);

    const handleFileUpload = useCallback(async (file) => {
        setIsProcessing(true);
        try {
            const img2ansi = new window.Img2Ansi({
                quality: 'high'
            });

            const result = await img2ansi.fromFile(file, {
                width: 80,
                quality: 'high'
            });

            setAnsiArt(result);
        } catch (error) {
            console.error('Conversion failed:', error);
        } finally {
            setIsProcessing(false);
        }
    }, []);

    return (
        <div className="ansi-converter">
            <input 
                type="file" 
                onChange={(e) => handleFileUpload(e.target.files[0])}
                accept="image/*"
            />
            {isProcessing && <div>Processing...</div>}
            {ansiArt && (
                <pre className="ansi-output">{ansiArt}</pre>
            )}
        </div>
    );
};

Performance Optimization

🎯 Maximize Speed and Efficiency

🚀 Real-time Applications

// Optimized for speed
const fastConfig = {
    quality: 'low',
    width: 40,
    height: 20
};

// Process with minimal delay
const ansiArt = await img2ansi.fromFile(file, fastConfig);

Performance Tips:

  • Use low quality for real-time
  • Reduce dimensions (width/height)
  • Process smaller images
  • Enable image smoothing

🎯 Batch Processing

// Process multiple images efficiently
const images = [...fileList];
const options = { width: 80, quality: 'medium' };

// Parallel processing
const results = await Promise.all(
    images.map(file => img2ansi.fromFile(file, options))
);

// Sequential processing (memory-friendly)
const results = [];
for (const file of images) {
    results.push(await img2ansi.fromFile(file, options));
}

Optimization Strategies:

  • Parallel vs Sequential processing
  • Memory management
  • Progress tracking
  • Error handling

Platform Compatibility

Tested and Verified Platforms

🌐 Browsers 🖥️ Node.js 💻 Operating Systems
  • ✅ Chrome 80+
  • ✅ Firefox 75+
  • ✅ Safari 13+
  • ✅ Edge 80+
  • ✅ Mobile browsers
  • ✅ Node.js 12.x
  • ✅ Node.js 14.x
  • ✅ Node.js 16.x
  • ✅ Node.js 18.x
  • ✅ Node.js 20.x
  • ✅ Windows 10/11
  • ✅ macOS 10.15+
  • ✅ Ubuntu 18.04+
  • ✅ Debian 10+
  • ✅ CentOS 7+

Performance Benchmarks

Real-world Performance Data

Image Size Quality Processing Time Output Size Use Case
1920x1080 Low ~150ms 80x40 chars Real-time preview
1920x1080 High ~300ms 80x40 chars Standard display
4K (3840x2160) Perfect ~800ms 120x60 chars High-quality output
GIF Animation (10 frames) Medium ~1.2s 60x30 chars Terminal animation
📊 Benchmark Details

Test Environment:

  • Node.js 18.17.0
  • 16GB RAM, Intel i7-10700K
  • Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

Performance Tips:

  • Use low quality for real-time applications (< 100ms)
  • Use medium quality for balanced performance (< 250ms)
  • Use high quality for best visual results (< 500ms)
  • Use perfect quality for pixel-perfect reproduction

Development Setup

🛠️ Local Development
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/vibheksoni/img2ansi.git
cd img2ansi

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run examples
node examples/node-example.js

# Open browser example
open examples/browser-example.html

# Run the main demo
open index.html
🧪 Testing
# Run all tests
npm test

# Test specific functionality
node test/quality-test.js
node test/animation-test.js
node test/performance-test.js

# Browser testing
npm run test:browser
📦 Building
# Build for production
npm run build

# Minify library
npm run minify

# Generate documentation
npm run docs

Examples

🎯 Real-world Usage Examples

🎮 Game Development
// ASCII art game sprites
class GameSprite {
    constructor(imagePath) {
        this.ansiArt = null;
        this.load(imagePath);
    }

    async load(imagePath) {
        const img2ansi = new NodeImg2Ansi();
        this.ansiArt = await img2ansi.fromFilePath(imagePath, {
            width: 16,
            height: 16,
            quality: 'perfect'
        });
    }

    render(x, y) {
        // Position cursor and render sprite
        process.stdout.write(`\u001b[${y};${x}H${this.ansiArt}`);
    }
}
📊 Data Visualization
// Terminal dashboard with images
class Dashboard {
    constructor() {
        this.img2ansi = new NodeImg2Ansi();
    }

    async renderChart(chartImagePath) {
        const ansiChart = await this.img2ansi.fromFilePath(chartImagePath, {
            width: 80,
            quality: 'high'
        });

        console.clear();
        console.log('📊 System Performance Dashboard');
        console.log('═'.repeat(80));
        this.img2ansi.print(ansiChart);
        console.log('═'.repeat(80));
    }
}
🎨 Creative Applications
// ASCII art generator with effects
class ArtGenerator {
    constructor() {
        this.img2ansi = new NodeImg2Ansi();
    }

    async createAsciiPortrait(imagePath) {
        // High quality for portraits
        const portrait = await this.img2ansi.fromFilePath(imagePath, {
            width: 120,
            quality: 'perfect'
        });

        // Add artistic border
        const border = '█'.repeat(124);
        return `${border}\n${portrait}\n${border}`;
    }

    async createPixelArt(imagePath) {
        // Low quality for pixel effect
        return await this.img2ansi.fromFilePath(imagePath, {
            width: 40,
            quality: 'low'
        });
    }
}

FAQ

How do I choose the right quality setting?

Quality Selection Guide:

  • Perfect: When you need exact dimensions and pixel-perfect reproduction
  • High: For general use with automatic aspect ratio preservation (recommended)
  • Medium: When you need good quality but faster processing
  • Low: For real-time applications or when speed is critical
What image formats are supported?

Supported Formats:

  • Browser: JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP, SVG, BMP
  • Node.js: JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP, BMP, TIFF
  • Input Sources: File objects, URLs, Buffers, file paths, raw pixel data
How do I optimize for terminal display?

Terminal Optimization Tips:

// Standard terminal (80 columns)
const terminalOptions = {
    width: 80,
    quality: 'high'
};

// Wide terminal (120+ columns)
const wideTerminalOptions = {
    width: 120,
    quality: 'high'
};

// Mobile terminal (narrow)
const mobileOptions = {
    width: 40,
    quality: 'medium'
};
Can I create custom color palettes?

The library uses standard ANSI color codes. You can post-process the output to use custom color mappings or modify the quantization algorithms in the source code for specialized color palettes.

How do I handle large images?

Large Image Strategies:

// Reduce dimensions for large images
const largeImageOptions = {
    width: 60,           // Smaller width
    quality: 'medium',   // Balanced processing
    timeout: 30000       // Longer timeout
};

// Progressive loading for very large images
const progressiveOptions = {
    width: 80,
    quality: 'low',      // Start with low quality
    streaming: true      // Process in chunks
};

Troubleshooting

🔧 Common Issues and Solutions

CORS Errors (Browser)

// Problem: CORS error when loading external images
// Solution: Use proper CORS headers or proxy

const img = new Image();
img.crossOrigin = 'anonymous';  // Enable CORS
img.src = 'https://example.com/image.jpg';

Canvas Module Issues (Node.js)

# Problem: Canvas module installation fails
# Solution: Install build tools

# Windows
npm install --global windows-build-tools

# macOS
xcode-select --install

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install build-essential libcairo2-dev libpango1.0-dev libjpeg-dev libgif-dev librsvg2-dev

Memory Issues with Large Images

// Problem: Out of memory with large images
// Solution: Reduce dimensions or process in chunks

const safeOptions = {
    width: Math.min(originalWidth, 100),
    height: Math.min(originalHeight, 100),
    quality: 'low'
};

Performance Issues

// Problem: Slow processing
// Solution: Optimize settings

const optimizedOptions = {
    width: 60,           // Reduce size
    quality: 'low',      // Faster processing
    concurrent: 1        // Reduce parallelism
};
🐞 Debug Mode
// Enable detailed logging
const img2ansi = new NodeImg2Ansi({
    debug: true,
    verbose: true
});

// Check processing stats
const stats = await img2ansi.getProcessingStats();
console.log('Processing time:', stats.processingTime);
console.log('Memory usage:', stats.memoryUsage);
console.log('Image dimensions:', stats.dimensions);

Contributing

💝 Join Our Community

We welcome contributions from developers of all skill levels!

🐛 Report Bugs

Found an issue? Create an Issue

💡 Request Features

Have an idea? Start a Discussion

🔧 Submit Code

Ready to contribute? Submit a PR

🛠️ Development Guidelines

Code Standards

  • Follow existing code style
  • Add tests for new features
  • Update documentation
  • Use meaningful commit messages

Pull Request Process

  1. Fork the repository
  2. Create a feature branch
  3. Make your changes
  4. Add tests and documentation
  5. Submit a pull request

Testing Requirements

  • Unit tests for new functionality
  • Browser compatibility testing
  • Performance impact assessment
  • Documentation updates

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🎉 Free for Commercial and Personal Use

MIT License


🌟 Show Your Support

If img2ansi helped you create something awesome, give it a ⭐!

GitHub Stars

🚀 Built with ❤️ for the Developer Community

Made with ❤️ by vibheksoni

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About

img2ansi is a high-performance image-to-ANSI converter built for developers who want to bring visual elements to the command line. It supports 24-bit color, animations, real-time processing, and seamless integration with both Node.js and browser environments. Perfect for CLI tools, terminal dashboards, ASCII art projects, and more.

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