Image to ASCII, beside your browser tab
The ASCII Art Generator Chrome companion turns an image into text in a side panel. Adjust its width, copy the result, or download TXT and PNG. Conversion happens on your device.
Version 0.1.0 is an unpacked preview, not a published Chrome Web Store listing. There is no store install button yet. You can use the website converter without installing anything.
Install the unpacked preview
For desktop Chrome 116 or later. Review the privacy notice and source before enabling developer mode. Your organization may disable unpacked extensions.
- Extract the ZIP into a permanent folder. Chrome will keep loading that folder; do not move or delete it after installation.
- Open
chrome://extensions, enable Developer mode, click Load unpacked, and select the extracted folder containingmanifest.json. - Open the extension from Chrome's toolbar. Choose a local image or click Try a sample.
- For a webpage image, right-click it, choose Convert image to ASCII, then click Allow image host and load in the panel.
Make text you can use
Use 40 columns for compact messages or 80 for a README. Paste inside a code block or another monospace surface so spacing survives. TXT retains exact line breaks; PNG keeps the layout in an image with a white background.
Still PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP and uncompressed BMP are supported, up to 10 MiB and 24 megapixels. Animation, multiple frames, SVG and AVIF are not supported. Very tall sources may need cropping or fewer columns. Export before closing the panel; no creative history is saved.
Extension privacy notice
This notice covers ASCII Art Generator Chrome extension version 0.1.0. The extension has no analytics, advertising, accounts, page scanning, browsing-history collection or remote executable code. Your images, filenames and generated text are not uploaded to ASCII Art Generator.
A local file is processed in the extension. For a selected webpage image, you explicitly grant Chrome access to its image host and click to load it. The extension downloads only that selected URL directly from the host, including its path and query, without cookies or a referring page. The host can still see your IP address and request. Redirects and signed-in image requests are not supported.
The extension requests context-menu, side-panel and in-memory session-storage permissions at installation. Image-host permissions are optional and requested per hostname, not for all sites at installation. Chrome grants access across that hostname's ports, not just one image path. Grants can persist; remove them with Remove image-site access in the panel or Chrome's extension settings.
The selected URL is handed off temporarily in Chrome's in-memory session storage for the current window, then removed when the panel receives it or the window closes. Unread selections cannot be used after one minute. A suspended Chrome service worker can delay cleanup, so an unread URL may remain in session memory until cleanup or browser shutdown. Images and results are kept only in panel memory. Downloads you request remain as normal files on your device.
Optional website links open separately and do not pass your image or text. The website may use analytics under its own privacy policy. Uninstalling removes the extension and its Chrome permissions, but not files you downloaded.
Help and support
If host access is denied, an image redirects, or a site requires login, save the image and choose the local file. Do not bypass a site's restrictions or use images you are not entitled to use.
If copy fails, choose Select text and press Ctrl+C (Command+C on macOS), or download TXT. A PNG encoding or size error leaves text export available. If the side panel fails to open, try the toolbar icon; the extension's bundled Help & privacy page also links to a converter tab.
Report an extension problem on GitHub with your Chrome version and the action that failed. Do not include private images, signed URLs or personal data.
For more conversion modes and text tools, browse the full toolkit. The extension works independently; visiting the website is optional.