How to Convert a Movie to ASCII Format

You have probably seen images, email signatures, or websites that, when looked at closely, appear to be made up of many small text characters. This is called ASCII art. Playing a movie in ASCII format is a neat manipulation in which each frame of a movie is converted into text characters and then displayed on the screen. To achieve this manipulation of frames into text characters, you must convert the movie to ASCII format.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• VLC Media Player 0.8.6f
• Movie file

1. Download and install VLC Media Player 0.8.6f. Once installation has completed, launch the program.

2. Click "File" and then "Open File" located in the top menu of the application window to import your movie file.

3. Click "Settings" in the top menu and select "Preferences." Check the box next to "Advanced Options" located in the bottom-right corner of the Preferences window.

4. Click on the "+" sign next to "Video" in the left navigation of the Preferences window to open the configuration tree node for "Video" options. Click on "Output Modules" under the "Video" node. Select "Color ASCII art video output" from the "Video output module" drop-down list.

5. Click "Save" in the lower-left corner of the Preferences window. Press "Play" to re-start the video in the new ASCII format.

Tips & Warnings

• You need to download and install an older version of VLC Media Player (0.8.6f) in order to use the ASCII output feature. Newer versions of the VLC Media Player do not have this output option.

References

• VLC Media Player 0.8.6f