RetroTxt

Version 5 is underway!

Turn pieces of ANSI text art and ASCII, NFO documents into HTML using RetroTxt. RetroTxt is the Extension that takes legacy and plain text files and stylizes them into a more acceptable, useful format to view or copy from a web browser tab.

Install from the Chrome Store, Microsoft Addons, or Firefox Addons

View ANSI, ASCII, NFO, Shift JIS text art as HTML

View server and dev-op logs styled with colored text

16.7 million, 256 and standard 16 color support

View BBS colored text files for Celerity, PC Board, Renegade, Telegard, Wildcat!, WVIV systems

• [x] Swappable palettes; VGA, CGA, xterm, monochrome, Apple IIgs, Commodore 64 and switchable iCE Colors
• [x] Customizable font and background colors
• [x] SAUCE metadata parsing
• [x] Multiple text encodings support including CP-437, ISO-8959-1, Windows-1252, Shift JIS
• [x] Automatic block character, line artifact fixes
• [x] Hundreds of IBM PC font choices such as VGA, PS/2, EGA, CGA, MDA plus variants, and more
• [x] Various Amiga and home computer system fonts; Commodore, Atari, Apple, and more

Check out the documentation

☕ Support RetroTxt, why not buy me a coffee?

Install

Chrome · Firefox · Edge · Brave

Or use the source code.

Requirements

Chrome, Chromium 72, or Firefox 69 or newer browsers.

Post-installation

You can test the RetroTxt install by clicking on one of the many sample artworks found in the Samples tab from RetroTxt options or typing rt samples in the browser address bar.

Configuration

Out of the box, some useful features of RetroTxt are off as most browsers require you to grant permission before RetroTxt can access the specific browser data it needs. These are in the Settings tab from RetroTxt options or typing rt settings in the browser address bar.

Run RetroTxt

Once configured, RetroTxt will run on any text or ANSI art file observed in a permitted browser tab and mark the toolbar icon with a check.

Elsewhere there are thousands of text files hosted at textfiles.com or the Project Gutenberg plain-text books. Turn on the Use RetroTxt as a local text file viewer setting. Then download one of the fantastic text art packs found at 16 colors and use the file:/// protocol to browse and view the text art files saved to your computer.

Permissions

Chrome, Brave, and Edge require the Allow access to file URLs Extension setting enabled if you wish to use RetroTxt with text files stored on your computer.

Privacy

RetroTxt does not collect or transmit any data created by your web browser.

All data generated by the Extension is only ever stored locally on your computer by using the browser local or session storage APIs.

RetroTxt Privacy

License

GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE

An important note about the license

While RetroTxt uses a GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0, the included fonts are not. You should read each font license in the fonts/ subdirectory before redistribution, as some of the authors do not permit the sale or modification of their fonts or collections.

Credits

RetroTxt by Ben Garrett, mail

RetroTxt ANSI logo Zeus II Twitter @Zeus_II

• The Ultimate Oldschool PC Font Pack by Viler
• Retro Computer Fonts by Kreative Korp

• Atari Classic TrueType Fonts by Mark L. Simonson
• Atari ST 8x16 System by divVerent
• C64 TrueType by Style
• IBM 3270 by Ricardo Banffy
• Mona public domain
• Multi Platform Fonts by TrueSchool Ascii
• Plex by IBM Corp.
• Spleen by Frederic Cambus
• Unscii by Viznut

CSS framework by Bulma

Options icons by Google Material Design