Bash: Seven[+] applications designed to display images in a terminal



UPDATE: 22nd November, 2019
Added version that uses 'mpv'. Details at bottom of blog-post

Personal notes on seven programs that provide some ability to display images in a POSIX terminal interface [bash environment specifically]. This is in no way an exhaustive list, nor does it claim to highlight the best applications available. These are merely notes made recently while investigating a solution for such a task.

source image: '"Michael Gehlert" by Harald Peter' http://piqs.de/fotos/192320.html



Catimg: https://github.com/posva/catimg



  • MIT License.
  • Simple to compile or run as shell script (script requires ImageMagick).
  • Adjust output height and width.
  • Limited colours with shell script.
  • Blocky with both, but better with compiled binary
  • Interporates transparency.
  • Doesn't rely on file extensions.
hiptext: https://github.com/jart/hiptext



  • License not specified.
  • Generate images from specified ASCII characters.
  • Grey-scale mode.
  • Generate moving images from video file.
  • Blocky but with support for half-blocks.
  • Support for SIXEL.
  • Compilation Errors (Ubuntu 17.10: 'libpng12-dev' missing installation candidate. Ubuntu 16.04: Library linking errors with Ubuntu 16.04).
lsix: https://github.com/hackerb9/lsix



  • GPL-3.0 License.
  • Works like 'ls' but shows thumbnails of image files in directory.
  • Requires SIXEL compatible terminal, which are not common (Xterm works).
  • Produces pleasing results.
  • Can be slow.
  • No customisation parameters.
w3mimgdisplay: http://w3m.sourceforge.net/



  • MIT Licence [w3m].
  • Part of w3m/w3m-img terminal web browser.
  • Accurate image reproduction when it works.
  • A lot depends on terminal/system used (Xterm works).
  • Acts as new layer so it messes up terminals with multiple panels. However, it can work well, as seen with 'Ranger' for its image previews.
  • Tricky to get working independantly N.B http://blog.z3bra.org/2014/01/images-in-terminal.html
tiv (TerminalImageViewer): https://github.com/stefanhaustein/TerminalImageViewer



  • Apache License 2.0 License.
  • Simple to compile c++ or Java version, minimal requirements.
  • Uses multiple Unicode characters to create more pleasing results.
  • Best at generating 'character-based' images at low resolutions.
  • Can be slow at higher resolutions.
  • Colour compatibility issues with some terminal/systems.
img2txt (libcaca): http://caca.zoy.org/wiki/libcaca



  • WTFPL License.
  • Classic terminal application and library.
  • Many adjustable parameters.
  • Caca by name; caca by nature.
  • Better than nothing.
bash-drawille: https://github.com/mydzor/bash-drawille




  • Bash implementation of more well-known Python version which uses braille characters to render an image from.
  • As per above: experimental but usable pure bash program.
  • Image reproduction rudimentary but useful for other graphical purposes.


'mpv' (--vo=tct): https://mpv.io/ (https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/…/vo_tct.c)



  • GPL-2.0-or-later [plus others] License.
  • Uses half-block unicode so it's not the sharpest result but it does look clean and uniform.
  • Output requires parsing and cleaning to make it useful.
  • The major advantage of generating images this way is the availability and ease-of-use of mpv.
# Example command that cleans/prunes some of the problematic ANSI characters.
# (sed commands could be tightened up; may need altering in some cases)

mpv --no-terminal --vo=tct --vo-tct-width=80 --vo-tct-height=80 image.jpg \
| sed 's,\x1B\[?25l\x1B\[2J\x1B\[[0-9]*;[0-9]*f,\n,g' \
| sed -n '/^\x1B/p; /^\x1B/q' \
| sed 's,\x1B[[0-9]*;[0-9]*f,\n,g'
time:
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