VideoToAscii converts and streams any video file or webcam input as colourful ASCII characters directly in your terminal. Supports multiple conversion strategies, optional audio playback and output files.

Video-To-Ascii

A modern C# console application that converts videos into ASCII art with audio support.

Overview

Video-To-Ascii transforms video files into ASCII art live in the console. The application provides a responsive and efficient video-to-text conversion experience with synchronized audio playback. Additionally exporting to different output formats like .json, .ps1 or .sh is supported.

Thanks to Joel Ibaceta/video-to-ascii for the original project.

Features

Convert video files to real-time ASCII art in your console
Multiple conversion strategies for different artistic styles
Audio support for a complete viewing experience
Support for various video formats
Support for outputting the result to a file

Requirements

.NET 8 Runtime
FFmpeg for audio support (optional)
Terminal/console with Unicode support
Sufficient console size for the desired ASCII resolution

Installation

Chocolatey

Currently under moderation. Therefore only 1.1.2 is available and version needs to be specified.

Install Chocolatey and open a terminal:

choco install videotoascii --version 1.1.2

Scoop

Install Scoop and add My Scoop bucket and the versions bucket:

scoop bucket add der_floh https://github.com/der-floh/scoop-bucket
scoop bucket add versions

Then install the tool:

scoop install videotoascii

WinGet

Install WinGet and run a terminal with administrator privileges (required for dotnet):

winget install videotoascii

Releases

Download and install the latest Release or view all Releases.

Usage

Options

Options:
  -f, --file         Path to the video file (required)
  -s, --strategy     Conversion strategy (default: filled-ascii)
                           Available: filled-ascii, ascii-color, just-ascii
  -a, --audio        Enable/disable audio (default: false)
  -o, --output       Output file path (default: none)
  --help                   Display help information

Supported Output types

These are the current supported output file types:

.txt
.json
.bat
.ps1
.sh

Examples

# Basic playback with default settings
videotoascii -f video.mp4

# Just-ascii conversion with audio
videotoascii -f video.mp4 -s just-ascii -a

# Output to file
videotoascii -f video.mp4 -o output.ps1

Acknowledgments

Joel Ibaceta/video-to-ascii for the original project

VideoToAscii Der_Floh

README