GitHub - lardissone/ansi-saver: ANSI art screensaver for macOS — streams art from 16colo.rs BBS archive packs

AnsiSaver

A macOS screensaver that brings back the art of the BBS era.

Remember dialing into BBSes at 14.4k, watching ANSI art fill your terminal line by line? The vibrant CP437 characters, the neon color palettes, the logos crafted pixel-by-pixel by scene artists — that whole world lives on at 16colo.rs, the largest ANSI/ASCII art archive on the internet.

AnsiSaver pulls art directly from 16colo.rs packs and scrolls it across your screen, rendered with the same libansilove library the archive uses. It's like leaving your terminal connected to a BBS you never logged off from.

▶ Watch the demo video

What it does

• Downloads ANSI art packs from 16colo.rs and caches them locally
• Renders .ANS, .ICE, .ASC, .BIN, .XB, .PCB, and .ADF files with authentic CP437 fonts
• Scrolls art across your screen with smooth 60fps animation
• Continuous scroll mode: art files stack vertically into an endless stream, like a never-ending BBS file listing
• Crossfade transitions: smooth fade between pieces in standard mode
• Optional separator between files showing the filename — just like browsing a pack in ACiDView
• Configurable scroll speed and render scale (2x–4x for sharp output on Retina displays)
• Works with local folders too — point it at your personal ANSI art collection

Installation

Requirements: macOS Sequoia (15.0) or later. Supports both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.

Download

Grab the latest release from the Releases page:

• Apple Silicon: AnsiSaver-arm64.saver.zip
• Intel: AnsiSaver-x86_64.saver.zip

1. Unzip the file
2. Double-click AnsiSaver.saver
3. macOS will ask if you want to install it — click Install

macOS security notice: Since the screensaver is not signed with an Apple Developer certificate, macOS will block it on first launch. Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click Open Anyway next to the AnsiSaver message. You only need to do this once.

Build from source

If you prefer to build it yourself, you need Homebrew and Xcode:

brew install libgd git clone --recursive https://github.com/lardissone/ansi-saver.git cd ansi-saver xcodebuild -project AnsiSaver.xcodeproj -target AnsiSaver -configuration Release build cp -R build/Release/AnsiSaver.saver ~/Library/Screen\ Savers/

Note: Builds link statically against Homebrew's libgd. Requires macOS Sequoia (15.0) or later.

Configuration

Open System Settings > Screen Saver, select AnsiSaver, and click Options... to configure:

Art sources

16colo.rs Pack URLs — Add pack URLs to pull art from the archive. Browse packs at 16colo.rs and paste the URL:

https://16colo.rs/pack/acid-100/
https://16colo.rs/pack/mist0222/
https://16colo.rs/pack/blocktronics-space/

Local Folder — Point to a directory on disk containing .ANS files. Great for your personal collection or artpacks you've downloaded.

Display options

Option	Description
Transition	Scroll Up, Scroll Down, or Crossfade between pieces
Scroll Speed	10–200 px/s — how fast art scrolls across the screen
Render Scale	1x–4x — higher values produce sharper output on Retina displays
Continuous Scroll	Stack all art into one endless vertical stream
Show Separator	Display a decorative divider with the filename between pieces (continuous mode)

Cache

Art files are cached in ~/Library/Caches/AnsiSaver/. Hit Refetch Packs in the config panel to clear the cache and re-download everything.

How it works

16colo.rs packs ──→ Download & cache ──→ libansilove ──→ Core Animation ──→ Screen
Local .ANS files ─────────────────────↗   (CP437 render)   (60fps scroll)

1. Art sources provide file paths (from network or disk)
2. libansilove renders each file to a PNG using authentic CP437 bitmap fonts — the same rendering 16colo.rs uses
3. Core Animation displays and scrolls the rendered images at 60fps
4. Files are rendered one at a time on demand, so even packs with thousands of files use minimal memory

Recommended packs

A few packs to get you started:

Pack	Era	Style
ACiD 100	1995	The legendary ACiD Productions centennial pack
Mist 0222	2022	Mistigris — still going strong after 28 years
Blocktronics: Space	2014	Cosmic ANSI art from the modern scene
iCE 9601	1996	iCE Advertisements — peak 90s ANSI
Fire 01	1996	Fire artpack from the golden era

Browse the full archive at 16colo.rs — there are thousands of packs spanning from 1990 to the present day.

Credits

• libansilove by the Ansilove team — the definitive ANSI art rendering library
• 16colo.rs — preserving the artscene since the early days
• The BBS artscene — ACiD, iCE, Fire, Mistigris, Blocktronics, and every group and artist who kept the art alive

License

MIT