Term-image-tor
A command-line tool that renders images, animated GIFs, and live webcam feeds directly in the terminal using colored Unicode block characters. Built in Rust.
It uses the half-block character ▄ with ANSI colour codes — each character cell encodes two vertical pixels, giving surprisingly detailed results. Supports both 256-colour and 24-bit truecolour modes.
How it works
The tool loads an image, resizes it to fit the terminal using Lanczos3 resampling, then iterates pixel rows in pairs — background colour for the top pixel, foreground colour for the bottom, printing ▄. Animated GIFs are pre-resized on load and played back by overwriting frames with cursor escape sequences. The webcam uses the same technique in a continuous loop.
Features
Static images (PNG, JPEG, WebP, and more), animated GIF playback, and live webcam streaming. Configurable width, automatic aspect ratio preservation, and two colour modes — 256-colour for universal terminal support and truecolour for maximum fidelity.