Durdraw – a modern ANSI art editor for modern Unix terminals
I've been working on an ANSI art editor off and on for a while. It works like a traditional ANSI text editor, except it supports 256 colors, Unicode and CP437 encoding, frame-based animation, custom UI themes, terminal mouse input, HTML and IRC color output, and runs in Utf-8 terminals. It's written in Python and curses, and is fairly portable across Unix systems. If you have ever used TheDraw or Aciddraw, the user interface is similar. It can also load/convert, view, edit and save most CP437 (MS-DOS style) ANSI art in a Utf-8 terminal, so you can view ANSI artscene packs in the comfort…
In plain words
Durdraw is a modern ANSI art editor for Unix terminals that recreates the experience of classic tools like TheDraw and Aciddraw. It supports 256 colors, Unicode, CP437 encoding, frame-based animation, custom themes, and mouse input, with output options for HTML and IRC. Written in Python using curses, it can load, edit, and convert MS-DOS style ANSI art files in UTF-8 terminals, making retro artscene packs accessible and editable in modern environments.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
I've been working on an ANSI art editor off and on for a while. It works like a traditional ANSI text editor, except it supports 256 colors, Unicode and CP437 encoding, frame-based animation, custom UI themes, terminal mouse input, HTML and IRC color output, and runs in Utf-8 terminals. It's written in Python and curses, and is fairly portable across Unix systems. If you have ever used TheDraw or Aciddraw, the user interface is similar. It can also load/convert, view, edit and save most CP437 (MS-DOS style) ANSI art in a Utf-8 terminal, so you can view ANSI artscene packs in the comfort of your favorite terminal, and even convert them into 256 color Unicode ANSI. I've been using it for my own ANSI and ASCII art for a number of years, and hope this will help artists work with less restrictions. I think there is a lot of opportunity for ANSI art beyond its dominant 16-color Code Page 437 format. We all have computers with amazing ANSI terminals with modern features. Shouldn't they be the natural home for making text art? It's still a work in progress, and I'm always adding features. Thanks for checking it out!
Does a similar job
all alternatives →- ASANSI-Saver – A macOS ScreensaverMar 2026 · github.com · ▲104
Hi, I've been working on something I've been thinking for long time but since I had no experience with macOS screen savers I always posponed. Now thanks to Claude I was able to create a screensaver that scroll ANSI files while your computer is idle. It allow to use local ANS files or packs directly from 16colo.rs. Repo: https://github.com/lardissone/ansi-saver
- WBWeb-based ANSI art viewerMar 2026 · sure.is · ▲29
My love letter to ANSI art. Full width rendering, scrolling by baud rate, text is selectable, and more. There are some example links at the top if you're feeling lucky.
- FAFancy-ANSI – Small JavaScript library for converting ANSI to HTML2024 · github.com · ▲16
I made this tool to add support for custom ANSI palettes to kubetail (https://github.com/kubetail-org/kubetail). Maybe you'll find it useful too. Let me know if you have any suggestions!
- AAANSI art renderer in JavaScript/Canvas2012 · atdt.github.com · ▲47
- BTBuilding terminal dashboards using ASCII/ANSI art and JavaScript2015 · github.com · ▲305
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