CP437 to UTF-8 - DOS ANSI Art Text Converter

Convert CP437 (Code Page 437) DOS encoding to UTF-8. Preserve ANSI art, box-drawing characters, and BBS content. Client-side, secure.

CP437 Input

0 bytes, 0 characters

UTF-8 Output

0 bytes, 0 characters

About CP437 / Code Page 437

CP437, the original IBM PC character encoding from 1981, is famous for its box-drawing characters, block elements, and special symbols. It was the foundation of DOS text mode, ANSI art, and BBS culture throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Character highlights: Box-drawing (─│┌┐└┘├┤┬┴┼═║╔╗╚╝), block elements (░▒▓█▄▀), symbols (☺☻♥♦♣♠•◘○◙♂♀♪♫☼►◄↕‼¶§▬↨↑↓→←∟↔▲▼)

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Frequently Asked Questions

CP437, also known as DOS-US or OEM-US, is the original character encoding of the IBM PC from 1981. It's an 8-bit encoding that includes ASCII characters (0-127) plus 128 additional characters (128-255) featuring box-drawing symbols, mathematical operators, Greek letters, and iconic symbols like ☺☻♥♦♣♠. It was the foundation of MS-DOS text mode and ANSI art.

CP437 became the standard for ANSI/ASCII art because it included extensive box-drawing characters (─│┌┐└┘├┤┬┴┼), block elements (░▒▓█), and special symbols perfect for creating visual art in text mode. BBS (Bulletin Board System) artists in the 1980s-90s used these characters to create elaborate graphics, logos, and animations. The encoding's unique character set made it ideal for text-based user interfaces and artistic expression.

CP437 remains relevant in: legacy DOS software and games, retro computing and emulation, text-based user interfaces (TUIs), ANSI art galleries and archives, embedded systems and industrial equipment, mainframe terminal emulators, BBS revival communities, roguelike games (NetHack, Dwarf Fortress), and vintage file format preservation. Many museum archives and digital preservation projects deal with CP437-encoded content.

Box-drawing characters (─│┌┐└┘├┤┬┴┼═║╔╗╚╝╠╣╦╩╬) are special Unicode glyphs designed for creating borders, frames, tables, and user interface elements in text mode. CP437 included single-line and double-line variants because early PCs lacked graphical capabilities. These characters enabled programmers to create professional-looking menus, dialog boxes, and forms using only text mode, making them essential for DOS applications.

ASCII only defines characters 0-127 (letters, numbers, basic punctuation). CP437 extends ASCII with characters 128-255 that include box-drawing, block elements, and symbols like ☺♥↑↓. Windows-1252 (Western European) uses characters 128-255 for accented letters (é, ñ, ü) and currency symbols, replacing CP437's graphic characters. CP437 prioritizes visual/graphical elements while Windows-1252 prioritizes linguistic characters.

BBS (Bulletin Board System) culture thrived in the 1980s-90s before the modern internet. Users dialed into BBSs via modem to read messages, download files, and play games. CP437 was the universal encoding for BBS interfaces, menus, and ANSI art. Artists created elaborate welcome screens, logos, and animations using CP437's box-drawing and block characters. BBS culture pioneered digital communities, ASCII/ANSI art movements, and shareware distribution.

Yes, this tool can convert the text content of ANSI art files encoded in CP437 to UTF-8, preserving the special characters. However, it doesn't interpret ANSI escape codes (color/cursor positioning). For viewing full ANSI art with colors, use dedicated ANSI art viewers. This tool is perfect for converting the character encoding while preserving box-drawing, block elements, and special symbols from DOS-era artwork.

CP437 includes iconic symbols that became part of early computing culture: ☺☻ (smiley faces), ♥♦♣♠ (card suits), •◘○ (bullets/circles), ♂♀ (gender symbols), ♪♫ (music notes), ►◄↕‼ (arrows/punctuation), ☼ (sun), and mathematical symbols. These characters were used in DOS games, application interfaces, and decorative text. They're now preserved in Unicode but originated in CP437 as part of IBM's extended character set.

Common indicators include: .ANS, .ASC, or .TXT files from DOS/BBS archives, presence of box-drawing characters appearing as garbled symbols in UTF-8 editors, files from systems dated 1981-2000, ANSI art that looks corrupted, DOS game save files or documentation, retro computing archives, and file headers mentioning 'IBM PC', 'OEM', or 'DOS'. If you see repetitive garbage characters in patterns (like table borders), it's likely CP437.

Modern browsers' TextDecoder API focuses on common web encodings (UTF-8, ISO-8859-*, Windows-125*) and doesn't include legacy PC encodings like CP437. CP437 is considered obsolete for web content since it lacks support for international characters and is specific to DOS/IBM PC hardware. This tool implements a custom CP437 to Unicode mapping table to handle the conversion in browsers where native support is absent.

About CP437 / Code Page 437

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