ANSI art

noun

A form of letter art that used the extended ASCII character set from the IBM Model 5150 Personal Computer's (IBM PC) Disk Operating System (DOS), and control codes, which allowed for limited color, graphic block characters, limited sound, limited animation.

Meanings

nounANSI art (uncountable)
  1. uncountableartA form of letter art that used the extended ASCII character set from the IBM Model 5150 Personal Computer's (IBM PC) Disk Operating System (DOS), and control codes, which allowed for limited color, graphic block characters, limited sound, limited animation.

Origin

ANSI + art. So called because of the use of the ANSI text terminal display standard (ANSI X3.64), from the American National Standards Institute.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

ANSI art. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ANSI%20art

MLA

“ANSI art.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ANSI%20art. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ANSI art,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ANSI%20art.

Source: ANSI art on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.