ASCII art for slides and presentations

Drop animated ASCII art into Keynote, PowerPoint or Google Slides as a GIF or video, for title slides and section breaks.

Loading the builder…

/WHY

A title slide sets the tone for a whole talk. A moving ASCII scene behind it says technical and considered before you say a word, and works in every slides app.

The builder shows your title on the slide, gives you a 1920 by 1080 video for Keynote, PowerPoint and Google Slides with step by step instructions for looping it, a still PNG title slide, and the live link for web decks such as reveal.js, Slidev, Pitch and Canva.

/EXAMPLES

Ready-made examples to copy

Each one is complete. Copy it as it is, or change the piece name to any piece in the library.

reveal.js background

A live background behind any slide.

<section data-background-iframe="https://www.ascii-magic.com/ascii/embed?piece=starry-ridge&fit=cover&credit=0" data-background-interactive="false">
  <h1>Q3 product review</h1>
</section>

Slidev

An iframe behind the content of a centred slide.

---
layout: center
---

<iframe src="https://www.ascii-magic.com/ascii/embed?piece=spinning-torus&credit=0" class="absolute inset-0 w-full h-full" style="border:0"></iframe>

# Thank you

Section dividers

Use a different piece behind each section title so the audience feels the change.

Intro:     great-wall-sunset
Problem:   pixel-fire
Solution:  spinning-torus
Results:   bar-chart-race
Questions: starry-ridge

How to do it

Pick a piece for your title slide or section break.
Export a GIF, or a 1080p video for the sharpest result.
Insert it into your slide and set it to loop.

Every piece page has an Export panel with these sizes: Desktop 4K, Desktop 1080p, Phone wallpaper, YouTube thumbnail, GitHub social preview, X header, LinkedIn banner, Square post and Story.

/GUIDE

Video, not GIF

Slides apps play video smoothly and loop it; GIFs are heavy and often stutter. The builder records an MP4 (or WebM where MP4 is not available) at 1920 by 1080, a few megabytes for 8 seconds.

Presenting offline

The video works with no internet. The live link needs a connection, so for conference talks prefer the video and keep the link for web decks you present from your own laptop.

Pieces that work well for this

Open any of them to copy the code or export.

Aurora CurtainsDemoscene

Blinking CursorLettering

Bouncing LettersLettering

Breaking News TickerLettering

Burning TitleLettering

Chalkboard LetteringLettering

Silent Film Title CardLettering

Constellation LetteringLettering

/FAQS

ASCII art for slides and presentations: frequently asked questions

Q. How do I use ASCII art in a presentation?

Download the piece as a 1920 by 1080 video and place it behind your title, set to loop. That works in Keynote, PowerPoint and Google Slides. For web decks such as reveal.js or Slidev, use the live link instead, which plays the piece full screen in the browser.

Q. How do I add an animated ASCII background to a PowerPoint slide?

Press Download video, then in PowerPoint choose Insert, Video, This Device and pick the file. On the Playback tab, set Start to Automatically and tick Loop until Stopped. Right-click the video, choose Send to Back, and type your title over it.

Q. How do I loop an ASCII video in Keynote?

Drag the downloaded video onto the slide and resize it to fill. In the Format sidebar under Movie, turn on Loop and make sure Start Movie On Click is off, so it plays on its own. Then use Arrange, Send to Back and add your title on top.

Q. How do I add an ASCII animation to Google Slides?

Upload the downloaded video to Google Drive first, because Google Slides only plays videos from Drive or YouTube. Then choose Insert, Video, Google Drive and pick it. In Format options, under Video playback, set it to play automatically and tick Loop.

Q. Should I use a GIF or a video in my slides?

Use a video. Slide apps play video smoothly and loop it cleanly, while GIFs are heavy and often stutter. The builder records 8 seconds at 1920 by 1080 as MP4, or as WebM where the browser cannot make MP4, which usually comes to a few megabytes.

Q. How do I use a live ASCII background in reveal.js?

Add data-background-iframe to a section with the builder's live link, plus data-background-interactive set to false so clicks pass through to your slide. The reveal.js tab writes the whole section with your title and subtitle. The piece plays live behind the text while that slide is showing.

Q. Can I embed ASCII art in Slidev, Pitch or Canva?

Yes. The Slidev tab places the live link in a full-size iframe behind a centered title. Pitch and Canva accept embeds by URL, so add an embed element and paste the live link. For a still slide in any of them, download the title slide PNG instead.

Q. Will the ASCII animation work when I present offline?

The downloaded video works with no internet, because it is a file inside your deck. The live link needs a connection, since it loads the piece from ascii-magic.com. For conference talks and unreliable venue internet, use the video and keep the live link for web decks on your own laptop.

Q. Can I make a still title slide image with ASCII art?

Yes. Download title slide PNG draws your title and subtitle over the art at 1920 by 1080, centered with a soft shade behind the text. Use it as a slide background, the cover of a PDF handout, or a thumbnail for the recording of your talk.

Q. Which slide layouts does the ASCII builder offer?

There are two layouts. Art fills the slide crops the piece to cover the whole frame, and Art on the right keeps the whole piece in view beside your title in the preview. The downloaded video and the live link fill or fit the frame to match the layout you pick.

Q. Which ASCII pieces work best for title slides and section breaks?

Scenes such as Great Wall Sunset and Paris Rooftops Dusk suit an opening slide, while Spinning Torus, Tesseract and Wireframe Globe suit technical talks. Bar Chart Race fits a results section and Rocket Launch a launch. Use a different piece behind each section title so the audience feels the change.

Q. Will an ASCII video look sharp on a projector or a 4K screen?

At 1080p it looks sharp on almost every projector. For a 4K display, open the piece's own page, set the export size to 3840 by 2160 and press Download video. The characters are drawn fresh at the export size, so they stay crisp rather than being stretched up.

Other ways to use it

Each one has its own builder.

Portfolio

ASCII art for a developer portfolio

Make a developer portfolio stand out with an animated ASCII hero, a terminal-style about section and live ASCII charts.

Dashboard

ASCII charts for status pages and dashboards

Animated ASCII bar charts, gauges, sparklines and uptime bars for status pages, internal dashboards and terminal tools.

AI agent

ASCII art with AI coding agents

Tell Claude, Cursor or any AI coding agent to add an animated ASCII piece to your project. Copy-paste instructions included.

ASCII art GIFs for newsletters and email

Export animated ASCII art as a GIF for newsletters and email, where scripts and video do not play.

README

Animated ASCII art for a GitHub README

Put an animated ASCII banner, scene or loader at the top of your GitHub README. Copy a GIF or SVG, no build step, works in GitHub's dark and light themes.

Website

An animated ASCII hero for GitHub Pages

Add a live, animated ASCII art hero to a GitHub Pages or personal website with one script tag. No framework, no build step, under 10 KB per piece.