What is big ASCII text?

Big ASCII text draws each letter from several lines of ordinary characters, so a word becomes a large banner such as the ones at the top of README files, source code headers, and terminal programs. The most common format for these letter shapes is FIGlet, a program from 1991 whose font files are still used by command-line tools, code editors, and websites. Because the result is plain text, it works anywhere a monospace font is used.

Tool description

This tool turns text into big letters with a FIGlet font you choose. It includes 47 popular fonts, from the classic Standard and Big to the block letters of ANSI Shadow and the 3D look of Larry 3D. You can change how tightly the letters fit together and wrap long text at a set width, then copy the result or download it as a text file.

Features

  • 47 FIGlet fonts, including Standard, Big, ANSI Shadow, ANSI Regular, Block, Doom, Slant, Small, Shadow, Colossal, Graffiti, Star Wars, and 3-D
  • Search the font list by name
  • Letter spacing: the font's own setting, full width, fitted, smushed, or overlapped
  • Wrap long text at a width you set, breaking between words where possible
  • Each line of input becomes its own row of big letters
  • Warns about characters the chosen font cannot draw
  • Copy the result or download it as a text file

How it works

A FIGlet font stores every character as a small grid of text, all with the same height. The tool places the grids for your letters side by side. With full width, each letter keeps its whole grid. Fitted moves letters together until they touch. Smushed goes one step further and merges the edges of neighbouring letters using the rules stored in the font, and overlapped merges them even where those rules do not allow it. Font files are loaded only when you choose them, and all rendering happens in your browser.

Tips

  • Paste the result into a code block (three backticks in Markdown, Discord, or Slack) so it is shown in a monospace font. Otherwise the letters fall apart.
  • Many fonts only have letters for basic Latin letters, digits, and punctuation. Accented letters, other scripts, and emoji are left out, and the tool tells you which ones.
  • Fonts such as ANSI Shadow and Block use Unicode block characters. For a place that only supports ASCII, such as an old terminal, choose Standard, Big, Doom, or Slant.
  • Set a wrap width of 80 for a classic terminal, or leave it empty to keep each line on one row.