Short
The shortest font in this selection. Try it when you have only a few lines for a label or a small terminal heading.
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10 columns · 3 rows
Font comparison
Small ASCII Fonts: Compare 6 Compact Styles
A compact banner needs both a manageable height and a manageable width. Compare these six small styles with your own text; a low row count alone does not mean a long name will fit.
Use 1–24 printable ASCII characters. Case and spaces are preserved. Samples use each font’s default letter spacing, with no frame.
Comparing: Hello · 80-column target.
Compare dimensions
Rows include font padding. Widths are measured in text columns, not pixels. The target does not resize or crop the banner.
| Font | Rows | Columns | Target | Characters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short | 3 | 10 | Within 80 columns | ASCII |
| Mini | 4 | 17 | Within 80 columns | ASCII |
| Small | 5 | 19 | Within 80 columns | ASCII |
| Small Slant | 5 | 19 | Within 80 columns | ASCII |
| 3x5 | 6 | 20 | Within 80 columns | ASCII |
| Thin | 6 | 25 | Within 80 columns | ASCII |
Preview and choose a font
Mini
A small alternative with more vertical room than Short. Compare ambiguous letters and digits in your actual name.
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| | (/_ | | (_)
17 columns · 4 rows
Small
A compact upright banner for a README section or terminal label. A useful starting point before testing more decorative faces.
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19 columns · 5 rows
Small Slant
Compact slanted letters for a heading with some movement. The leaning edges can add width, so compare the measured result.
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19 columns · 5 rows
3x5
A simple pixel-like construction. Its FIGlet font includes spacing rows, so use the rendered dimensions rather than interpreting its name as the complete output size.
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20 columns · 6 rows
Thin
Fine line shapes with a small footprint. Test legibility at the destination size, especially on a bright or low-contrast background.
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25 columns · 6 rows
How to choose
Compare the complete heading
The measurements below start with Hello. Replace it with your project name before deciding. Repeated wide letters, spaces and punctuation can change the result; a short sample is not an estimate for every word.
Use a width budget
Try 40 columns for a narrow message, or 80 for a terminal and README. A result inside the target can still scroll on a small device because the destination controls its font size. No banner can guarantee the same layout in every app.
Preserve the spacing
Copy Markdown from the full editor for a fenced code block. In a code comment, choose the language prefix in the editor and check the final width because the prefix takes additional columns. Plain text is often clearer when even Short is too large.