Display Images on Terminal Using Python

Displaying images on a terminal window can be a useful and fun feature to add to your Python programs. It can be used to create ASCII art, display diagrams or charts, or simply show images in a terminal-based interface. In this article, we'll explore how to display images on a terminal using Python.

First, let's understand the basic concept of displaying images on a terminal. A terminal window is essentially a text-based interface that displays characters on the screen. Therefore, to display an image, we need to convert it into characters that can be displayed on a terminal.

Types of Libraries for Displaying Images using Python

There are several Python libraries that can be used to display images on a terminal, such as Pillow, OpenCV, and ASCII Art. For this article, we'll use the ASCII Art library.

ASCII Art library

ASCII Art is a Python library that converts images into ASCII art. ASCII art is a technique that uses ASCII characters to create images. Each ASCII character represents a different shade of gray, which can be used to create a grayscale image. By using different characters for different shades of gray, we can create an ASCII art representation of an image.

To install the ASCII Art library, you can use pip ?

pip install ascii_art

Once installed, you can use the library to load an image and convert it into ASCII art. Here's an example ?

Example

In the following example, we first load an image from a file using the built-in open function. We then pass the image data to the ascii_art function to convert it into ASCII art. Finally, we print the ASCII art to the terminal using the print function.

from ascii_art import ascii_art
# Load an image
image_path = "image.png"
with open(image_path, "rb") as f:
   image_data = f.read()
# Convert the image to ASCII art
ascii_data = ascii_art(image_data)
# Display the ASCII art in the terminal
print(ascii_data)

Note that the ASCII Art library can be customized to use different ASCII characters to represent different shades of gray. You can also adjust the size of the characters to create a more detailed or simplified representation of the image.

Conclusion

In conclusion, displaying images on a terminal can be a fun and useful feature to add to your Python programs. By using the ASCII Art library, you can convert images into ASCII art and display them on a terminal window.