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chafa Cheatsheet

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chafa is a terminal image viewer and converter. Converts images to ANSI art, Unicode blocks, or sixel graphics for display in terminals.

Basic Usage

  • chafa <image> - Display image in terminal
  • chafa -f <format> <image> - Specify output format
  • chafa -s <size> <image> - Set output size
  • chafa -c <colors> <image> - Set color mode

Output Formats

  • chafa -f symbols <image> - Unicode symbols (default)
  • chafa -f sixel <image> - Sixel graphics
  • chafa -f kitty <image> - Kitty terminal protocol
  • chafa -f iterm2 <image> - iTerm2 protocol
  • chafa -f none <image> - No output (for testing)

Size Options

  • chafa -s <width>x<height> <image> - Set dimensions
  • chafa -s <size> <image> - Set size (width only, auto height)
  • chafa -s auto <image> - Auto size based on terminal
  • chafa -s max <image> - Maximum size

Color Options

  • chafa -c 16 <image> - 16 colors
  • chafa -c 256 <image> - 256 colors
  • chafa -c full <image> - Full color (24-bit)
  • chafa -c none <image> - No color (monochrome)

Display Options

  • chafa --animate <image> - Animate GIF/APNG
  • chafa --center <image> - Center image
  • chafa --bg <color> <image> - Set background color
  • chafa --fg <color> <image> - Set foreground color
  • chafa --dither <mode> <image> - Set dithering mode
  • chafa --threshold <value> <image> - Set threshold for symbols

Common Examples

Basic Display

chafa image.png

Display image in terminal.

Custom Size

chafa -s 80x40 image.png

Display at specific dimensions.

Sixel Format

chafa -f sixel image.png

Use sixel graphics format.

Full Color

chafa -c full -s 100 image.png

Full color at 100 width.

Animated GIF

chafa --animate animation.gif

Display animated GIF.

Monochrome

chafa -c none image.png

Display in monochrome.

Tips

  • Use -s auto for automatic sizing based on terminal
  • Use -c full for best color quality in modern terminals
  • Use -f sixel for better quality in terminals that support it
  • Use --animate to view animated images
  • Works great with image previewers in file managers
  • Can be piped to other commands for processing
  • Supports many image formats: PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, etc.