Kitty graphics protocol — Inline pixel images (ESC _ G … ESC \)

Modern alternative to Sixel: stream PNG / RGBA bytes to the terminal via the Kitty APC frame, with sane chunking and a placement protocol.

Byte forms

Every common string-literal form so you can paste-and-search either direction.

\\x1b[\x1b_Ga=T,f=100,m=1;BASE64_CHUNK\x1b\\

\\033[\033_Ga=...;PAYLOAD\033\\

\\e[\e_G a=...;PAYLOAD \e\\

ESC [ESC _ G key=value,... ; BASE64 ESC \

hex1b 5f 47 ... 1b 5c

Description

The Kitty graphics protocol — designed by kitty.sh as a saner alternative to Sixel/iTerm-img — uses the APC (Application Program Command) frame: introducer `\x1b_` (ESC _ ), the literal `G` to mark a graphics command, a comma-separated key=value control header (`a=T` transmit + display, `f=100` PNG, `f=24` RGB, `f=32` RGBA, `s` `v` width/height in pixels, `m=1` more chunks coming / `m=0` last chunk, `i=ID` image ID for re-placement), `;`, then a base64 payload of up to 4096 bytes per chunk, terminated by ST (`\x1b\\`). Supported natively by kitty + ghostty + wezterm; konsole has partial support. iTerm2's own `\x1b]1337;File=...` proprietary protocol is an alternative; both are converging on Kitty's design. Sixel (DCS `Pq`) is the legacy fallback for terminals without either.

Spec citation: Kitty Graphics Protocol (sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/graphics-protocol/)

Examples

bash

# Display a PNG file inline (one-shot, no chunking):\nb64=$(base64 -w0 cat.png)\nprintf '\033_Ga=T,f=100;%s\033\\' "$b64"

python

import base64, sys\npng = open('cat.png','rb').read()\nsys.stdout.write('\x1b_Ga=T,f=100;' + base64.b64encode(png).decode() + '\x1b\\')

data, _ := os.ReadFile("cat.png")\nfmt.Printf("\x1b_Ga=T,f=100;%s\x1b\\\\", base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(data))

javascript

import fs from 'node:fs';\nconst b64 = fs.readFileSync('cat.png').toString('base64');\nprocess.stdout.write('\x1b_Ga=T,f=100;' + b64 + '\x1b\\')

/* read PNG into buf, base64-encode, then: */\nprintf("\x1b_Ga=T,f=100;%s\x1b\\\\", b64);

Terminal support

xterm: no
Linux console (fbcon): no
macOS Terminal.app: no
iTerm2: partial
Windows Terminal: no
cmd.exe / ConPTY: no
kitty: yes
alacritty: no
WezTerm: yes
Ghostty: yes
GNOME Terminal: no
Konsole: partial
tmux: no
GNU screen: no

xterm	Linux console (fbcon)	macOS Terminal.app	iTerm2	Windows Terminal	cmd.exe / ConPTY	kitty	alacritty	WezTerm	Ghostty	GNOME Terminal	Konsole	tmux	GNU screen
no	no	no	partial	no	no	yes	no	yes	yes	no	partial	no	no

Related sequences

In the family cookbook

DCS cookbook · 2. Pictures inside the stream — Sixel and Kitty graphics