Ansizalizer

A terminal UI to convert images to ANSI art. Built with Ansipx and Bubble Tea.

Features

• Keyboard-navigable text-based UI with contextual help tooltips
• File browser for selecting .png, .jpg, .jpeg, and .gif images
• Real-time preview of rendered ANSI art
• Animated GIF support with per-frame rendering
• Alpha transparency with partial-block rendering for smooth edges
• Export to .ansi text files or copy directly to clipboard
• Batch export entire directories (with subdirectory support)
• Browse Lospec.com for color palettes
• Generate palettes by sampling image colors
• Save and load settings presets as JSON
• 6 built-in color themes (light/dark, paletted, transparent)
• User preferences (help visibility, splash screen, theme/settings restore)
• Animated splash screen on startup

Installation

From source

Requires Go 1.21+.

git clone https://github.com/Zebbeni/ansizalizer.git
cd ansizalizer
go build

Windows:

start ansizalizer.exe

Mac/Linux:

./ansizalizer

Debug mode

Run with -debug to enable logging to console.log:

./ansizalizer -debug

Screenshots

Character Modes

Render with Unicode block characters, ASCII characters, or custom character sets.

Unicode blocks (ex. ▀▄)

Ascii characters (ex. 0-9)

Custom text (ex. "isle of the dead " | repeat)

Color Palettes

Use true color (24-bit RGB) or limited palettes from Lospec.com. Generate palettes by sampling colors from any image.

Lospec (ex. Mona Lisa | Ammo8, Iridescent Crystal)

Alpha Transparency

Transparent pixels render as empty space. Partial transparency at edges uses the best-fit Unicode block character for smooth outlines.

Animated GIFs

Preview animated GIFs frame-by-frame with adjustable delay.

Themes

Switch between 6 built-in themes. Paletted themes derive colors from your selected palette.

Dark on Light (paletted)

Light on Dark (paletted)

Batch Export

Export all images in a directory as .ansi files with a single operation.

Render Settings

Setting	Options	Description
Characters	Unicode (Block), ASCII, Custom	Character set for rendering
Unicode Blocks	Full, Half, Quarter, Shade (Light/Med/Heavy)	Block character granularity
Colors	True Color, Limited Palette	24-bit RGB or palette-matched
Palette Source	Lospec, From File, Generated	Where to get limited palettes
Size	Width, Height, Fit/Fill/Stretch	Output dimensions in characters
Adjust	Brightness, Contrast	Image adjustments (-100 to 100)
Text Style	Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough	ANSI text attributes
Advanced	Sampling, Dithering, Serpentine	Resampling and dither options
Animation	Delay (ms)	GIF frame delay (10-2000ms)
Alpha	Render Threshold, Transparency, Trim	Alpha channel handling

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
Arrow keys	Navigate menus and settings
Enter	Select / expand menu
Esc	Back / exit menu
Tab	Next item
+ / -	Expand / collapse submenu
Ctrl+C	Copy rendered output to clipboard
Ctrl+S	Save rendered output to file
Ctrl+H	Toggle help tooltips
Ctrl+Q	Quit

Rendering Engine

Ansizalizer uses ansipx as its rendering engine -- a standalone Go library for converting images to ANSI art. You can use ansipx independently in your own projects.

FAQ / Troubleshooting

Q: The UI isn't rendering correctly

Check your terminal's font settings. Make sure your font supports Unicode block characters. Monospace fonts like DejaVu Sans Mono or JetBrains Mono work well.

Q: My images look squashed / stretched

Adjust the Char Size Ratio under Settings > Size. Different terminal fonts have different width-to-height ratios. Typical values are 0.45-0.50.

Q: My exported .ansi files are larger than the original image

ANSI escape codes are verbose -- each colored character requires multiple bytes. For use in applications, consider compressing the .ansi files.

Q: How do I use a custom color palette?

Save a .hex file (one hex color per line, e.g. #ff0000) to the palettes directory, then select it from Settings > Colors > From File.