Reference articles on history, science, culture and more
Surprise meSurprise meSubscribe
Encyclopedia

Libcaca

ASCII art software

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
1 min read
Source updated May 11, 2026
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

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.

01Overview

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

libcaca is free software, licensed under WTFPL version 2.

An example Wikipedia logo generated using libcaca 0.99.beta18
An example Wikipedia logo generated using libcaca 0.99.beta18

02Projects using libcaca

Watch videos about LibcacaExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Libcaca”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.

Continue exploring

Related topics

AAlib

AAlib is a software library which allows applications to automatically convert still and moving images into ASCII art. It was released by Jan Hubicka as part of the BBdemo project in 1997.

FFmpeg

FFmpeg is a free and open-source software project consisting of a suite of libraries and programs for handling video, audio, and other multimedia files and streams. At its core is the command-line ffmpeg tool itself, designed for processing video and audio files.