What file formats are supported?

The viewer supports .ans (ANSI art), .ice (iCE color ANSI), .nfo (NFO info files), .asc (ASCII text), .diz (FILE_ID.DIZ description files), .lit (Lit), .drk (Dark), and .txt (plain text). ANSI-based files are decoded using CP437 encoding, so even files created on DOS systems render correctly. Plain text files are automatically detected and decoded as UTF-8.

What is the difference between Bitmap and Hybrid rendering?

DOS Bitmap renders every character using the original IBM VGA 8x16 ROM font data, pixel for pixel, giving the most authentic DOS look. Hybrid mode uses a web font for regular text while drawing block elements, shade patterns, and box-drawing characters geometrically for pixel-perfect edges at any zoom level.

What color modes are supported?

The viewer supports the standard 16-color VGA palette used in classic ANSI art, 256-color extended palette, and 24-bit truecolor (16 million colors). The color mode is auto-detected. You can also apply retro color themes like DOS Blue, C64, Amber CRT, and Green CRT.

Can I export or save the rendered artwork?

Yes. Click Export to save the artwork as a PNG image, PDF, plain text, JSON, raw ANSI, or code snippets. You can also copy the plain text to your clipboard or send it to other tools on the site.

Open and render ANSI art files (.ans, .ice, .nfo, .asc, .diz) in your browser with full color support.

    _    _   _ ____ ___      _         _    __     ___                        
   / \  | \ | / ___|_ _|    / \   _ __| |_  \ \   / (_) _____      _____ _ __ 
  / _ \ |  \| \___ \| |    / _ \ | '__| __|  \ \ / /| |/ _ \ \ /\ / / _ \ '__|
 / ___ \| |\  |___) | |   / ___ \| |  | |_    \ V / | |  __/\ V  V /  __/ |   
/_/   \_\_| \_|____/___| /_/   \_\_|   \__|    \_/  |_|\___| \_/\_/ \___|_|

ANSI Art Viewer

Welcome to the

ANSI Art Viewer

Q: What is SAUCE metadata?

SAUCE (Standard Architecture for Universal Comment Extensions) is a metadata block appended to the end of ANSI art files. It stores information such as the artwork title, author name, group affiliation, creation date, and display width.

Q: Is my file uploaded to a server?

No. All parsing, rendering, and export happens entirely in your browser using JavaScript and WebGL. Your files are never sent to any server.

– open and view ANSI art files directly in your browser. Supports .ans, .ice, .nfo, .asc, .diz, .lit, and .drk files with full color rendering, CP437 character encoding, SAUCE metadata detection, and more. Drag and drop a file or paste ANSI text to get started!

Drag & drop an ANSI art file here

or click to browse (.ans, .ice, .nfo, .asc, .diz, .lit, .drk, .txt)

View, explore, and convert ANSI art to images, PDF, or plain text. The files you open remain entirely your own. Everything is processed locally in your browser, and no files or data are ever uploaded to any server.

Features of ANSI Art Viewer

Open ANSI Art Files: Drag and drop or browse to open .ans, .ice, .nfo, .asc, .diz, .lit, and .drk files directly in your browser.
Full Color Support: Renders 16-color, 256-color, and 24-bit truecolor ANSI escape sequences for accurate display.
CP437 Encoding: Correctly maps all 256 Code Page 437 bytes to Unicode characters, preserving box-drawing and special characters.
SAUCE Metadata: Automatically detects and displays SAUCE records including title, author, group, and date.
Paste ANSI Text: Paste raw ANSI text with escape codes and render it instantly.
Three View Modes: Switch between Canvas (pixel-perfect WebGL rendering), Text (selectable plain text), and Raw (ANSI escape codes visible).
Rendering Engines: Choose between Bitmap mode (authentic DOS pixel rendering) and Hybrid mode (web fonts for text, pixel-perfect block characters).
Multiple Fonts: Select from IBM PC fonts (VGA, EGA) and Amiga fonts (Topaz, MicroKnight, P0T-NOoDLE, mOsOul). In Hybrid mode, also choose monospace web fonts like Courier New or Consolas.
Zoom Slider: Smoothly zoom from 30% to 300% for comfortable viewing of any art size.
Color Themes: Switch between retro backgrounds like DOS Blue, C64, Terminal Amber, and more.
Line Numbers: Toggle line numbers on and off for reference.
Fullscreen Mode: View your art in fullscreen with all controls available for a distraction-free experience (Premium feature).
Export Options: Export as text, image, PDF, JSON, ANSI, or code snippets with four rendering engines and font selection.
Copy & Send: Copy plain text to clipboard or send to other tools like ASCII Art Analyzer, ASCII Validator, Case Converter, Character Counter, or Text Cleaner.

Acknowledgments and credits

This tool is built with JavaScript and Bootstrap. ANSI parsing, CP437 decoding, and color rendering all run entirely in your browser — no server-side processing required. The SAUCE metadata parser follows the SAUCE specification. Pixel-perfect rendering uses bitmap fonts from The Ultimate Oldschool PC Font Pack by VileR (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Amiga fonts from rewtnull/amigafonts (GPL-FE).

Frequently Asked Questions

ANSI art is a form of digital art created using characters from the Code Page 437 (CP437) character set combined with ANSI escape codes for color. It was popular on bulletin board systems (BBS) in the late 1980s and 1990s. Unlike plain ASCII art that uses only standard printable characters, ANSI art uses the full 256-byte character set including block elements (█▄▀), shade characters (░▒▓), and box-drawing characters (─│┌┐) along with 16 foreground and 8 background colors.

The viewer supports .ans (ANSI art), .ice (iCE color ANSI), .nfo (NFO info files), .asc (ASCII text), .diz (FILE_ID.DIZ description files), .lit (Lit), .drk (Dark), and .txt (plain text). ANSI-based files are read as raw bytes and decoded using CP437 encoding, so even files created on DOS systems render correctly. Plain text files are automatically detected and decoded as UTF-8. You can also paste ANSI text with escape codes directly.

SAUCE (Standard Architecture for Universal Comment Extensions) is a metadata block appended to the end of ANSI art files. It stores information such as the artwork title, author name, group affiliation, creation date, and display width. When detected, the viewer shows this information in the File Information panel and uses the width value for correct rendering.

DOS Bitmap renders every character using the original IBM VGA 8×16 ROM font data, pixel for pixel. This gives the most authentic DOS look. Hybrid mode uses a web font for regular text characters while drawing block elements, shade patterns, and box-drawing characters geometrically for pixel-perfect edges at any zoom level. Try both to see which you prefer.

The viewer supports the standard 16-color VGA palette (8 colors + 8 bright variants) used in classic ANSI art, 256-color extended palette (16 standard + 216 color cube + 24 grayscale), and 24-bit truecolor (16 million colors). The color mode is auto-detected and shown in the File Information panel. You can also apply retro color themes like DOS Blue, C64, Amber CRT, and Green CRT.

Yes. Click Export to open the export modal where you can save the artwork as a PNG image, PDF, plain text, JSON, raw ANSI, or code snippets. You can also use Copy to copy the plain text to your clipboard, or Send to to pass the text to other tools on the site such as the ASCII Art Analyzer or Validator.

No. All parsing, rendering, and export happens entirely in your browser using JavaScript and WebGL. Your files are never sent to any server. This makes the viewer safe for viewing private or unpublished artworks.

Popular archives include 16colo.rs (the largest ANSI/ASCII art archive), artscene.textfiles.com, and art packs released by groups like ACiD, iCE, and Blocktronics. Many NFO files bundled with software releases also contain ANSI art. You can drag and drop any .ans file directly into this viewer.

Looking for more? Check out our ASCII tools!