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Big Ugly ASCII Font (BUAF) is a term for visual text fonts that are generated using ASCII characters. These fonts are different than conventional fonts, because the conventional fonts in a word processor, for example, change the appearance of individual ASCII letters and characters. By contrast, Big Ugly ASCII Fonts are made using a collection of symbols to essentially draw giant letters and characters on the screen.
The heyday of the Big Ugly ASCII Font was in the 1990s. In the earlier days of the Internet, as localized bulletin board systems began to feed into a more sophisticated World Wide Web, users participated in groups and venues where they would show off ASCII art. The use of Big Ugly ASCII Font often involved digital signatures – stock ASCII images that users would attach to posts or other messages. As Internet technology advanced, and computer graphics became more sophisticated, Big Ugly ASCII Font and ASCII art in general eventually became somewhat obsolete.