Frequently asked questions
Everything you might want to know about turning ASCII, JSON streams, and trusted source handoffs into video with A2V: how it works, your privacy, exports, and the developer API.
What is A2V?+
A2V turns ASCII, ANSI, multi-frame text, JSON/NDJSON frame streams, and asciicast recordings into reconstructed video directly in your browser. You can watch, tweak, and export the result as a video.
Do my videos get uploaded to a server?+
No. Studio rendering and recording happen locally in your browser. Your files never leave your device, which makes it private and fast.
What makes the ASCII output look so good?+
The renderer preserves source glyphs, strips terminal control sequences safely, keeps multi-frame measurements stable, and applies CRT-inspired color, glow, scanline, and gradient styling without changing the underlying art.
Can I use it from code or an AI agent?+
Yes. There is a REST API at /api/v1/render, an OpenAPI 3.1 spec at /api/openapi.json, a Model Context Protocol (MCP) endpoint at /api/mcp, and machine-readable discovery files at /llms.txt and /llms-full.txt. Any script or MCP-compatible agent can render ASCII, asciicast, JSON, or NDJSON input to ANSI, HTML, SVG, JSON, JSON-stream, or plain text.
What formats can I export?+
You can copy the raw text, export a recorded video of the animated stream, or (via the API) render to plain text, ANSI, HTML, SVG, JSON, and JSON-stream NDJSON.
Can A2V restore source-artifact quality?+
Yes when a trusted handoff includes the original WebM or source artifact. A2V preserves that artifact directly for source-quality playback and download. If a stream sends only ASCII frames, A2V reconstructs animated video from those frames, but it will not pretend ASCII-only input contains the original video detail.
Is it free?+
Yes, A2V is free to use in the browser. It is part of the Platphorm, created by Michael Barbine, AirCon, and The Machine.