Libcaca

Libcaca: Graphics Library for Text Mode Output

A graphics library that outputs text instead of pixels, allowing images, video and GUI apps to be shown in text mode.

What is Libcaca?

Libcaca is an open source graphics library designed for text mode and ASCII art. It converts pixel graphics into formats suitable for display in text console, terminal emulators and text mode graphical user interfaces. The key benefit of Libcaca is that it allows graphical content like images, animations and video to be displayed without an actual graphics card or display hardware.

Some of the key features and capabilities of Libcaca include:

• Rendering images, video and graphical primitives into various text art formats like ASCII art, ANSI art, Unicode art, CP437 art etc.
• Supporting 256 color terminals using ANSI escape codes as well as 16 color, monochrome and RGB color spaces.
• Abstract display model allowing portability across different terminals and console environments.
• C API for integration into text based user interfaces and applications.
• Command line interface tools for media playback, image and video conversion and viewing.
• Language bindings for various languages like C++, Python, Ruby, Perl etc.

Libcaca has been ported across many operating systems like Linux, Windows, OS X, FreeBSD etc. It can serve as a replacement for conventional graphical libraries and toolkits in scenarios where displaying pixel graphics is not feasible due to hardware or environment limitations. For example, it can be useful for system administration over limited SSH connections as well as for musicians and VJs looking to integrate visuals into live ASCII art performances.

Libcaca Features

Official Links