Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised May 30, 2026

Libcaca

libcaca is a software library that converts images into colored ASCII art. It includes the library itself, and several programs including cacaview, an image viewer that works inside a terminal emulator, and img2txt, which can convert an image to other text-based formats.

Last revised
May 30, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
251 w
Citations
13
Source
libcaca
DevelopersSam Hocevar and Jean-Yves Lamoureux
Initial releaseNovember 22, 2003 (2003-11-22)(0.1 release)1
Stable release
0.9 / February 2, 2004 (2004-02-02)2
Preview release
0.99.beta20 / October 19, 2021 (2021-10-19)3
Written inC
Operating systemUnix-like, Windows, MS-DOS, OS X4
Available inEnglish
LicenseFree software: WTFPLv24
Websitelibcaca.zoy.org Edit this on Wikidata
Repository
An example Wikipedia logo generated using libcaca 0.99.beta18 source ↗

libcaca is a software library that converts images into colored ASCII art. It includes the library itself, and several programs including cacaview, an image viewer that works inside a terminal emulator, and img2txt, which can convert an image to other text-based formats.

Overview

libcaca has been used in a variety of programs, including FFmpeg, VLC media player, and MPlayer.567

libcaca is free software, licensed under WTFPL version 2.8

Projects using libcaca

See also

See also

References

References

  1. Hocevar, Sam. "Release 0.1 svn log". Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  2. Hocevar, Sam. "Release 0.9 svn log". Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  3. Hocevar, Sam. "Release libcaca v0.99.beta20 · cacalabs/libcaca · GitHub". GitHub. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
  4. Hocevar, Sam. "libcaca Homepage". Caca Labs. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  5. FFmpeg team. "FFmpeg 1.0 release notes". Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  6. VideoLAN Organization. "VLC Media Player: modules/caca". VLC Media Player documentation. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
  7. MPlayer team. "libcaca – Color ASCII Art library". MPlayer documentation. 4.10. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
  8. Martinez, Carlos Garcia (2024-06-03). "Exploring the Artistry and Legacy of ASCII Text Art". Retrieved 2024-12-14.
  9. GStreamer team. "cacasink". GStreamer Good Plugins 1.0 Plugins Reference Manual. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
External links