Scan Lines Text Generator

Give your text a retro CRT feel—each character carries a thin bar above and a low bar below, echoing old interlaced scan lines: scan → s̲̅c̲̅a̲̅n̲̅, TEXT → T̲̅E̲̅X̲̅T̲̅, 2025 → 2̲̅0̲̅2̲̅5̲̅.

Scan Lines — interlace rhythm with x̲̅

The mapping adds a macron over each glyph and a low underline beneath it—literal pattern x̲̅—to simulate the stacked bands of a vintage display while leaving letterforms intact.

Use for

• Stream overlays, synthwave headers, and emulator-themed captions.
• UI chips, status labels, and short promo slugs needing tech nostalgia.
• Dates and short codes where a screen-read vibe helps the concept.

How to style it

1. Keep it brief (1–6 words) so the bands stay crisp and readable.
2. ALL-CAPS delivers poster strength; mixed case feels more terminal-like.
3. Increase line-height slightly on stacked lines to avoid bar collisions.

Craft notes

• Pattern is literal x̲̅ for letters/digits; spaces remain spaces and punctuation passes through as typed.
• Bar weight can vary by platform and font—preview tight headings.
• Dense paragraphs of bands reduce scan speed; use as an accent.

Match the CRT or break it

Scan Lines evokes a specific hardware object — the CRT television, roughly 1970 to 1995. Toolbar decoration either matches that era or breaks it. What matches: monospace Mix Font (CRT terminals), box-drawing ═ as bezel framing, low-fi ASCII Symbol. What breaks it: color emoji (wrong era entirely), cursive or serif Mix Font (wrong medium — cathode-ray phosphor couldn’t render those shapes), Bold (the combining underline and overline already carry the line weight). The one-line test: if the decoration wasn’t visible on a 1980s television screen, it doesn’t belong on the phrase. Recipe: ═ 𝚎𝙲𝙨𝙽𝙫𝙾𝙽𝙴𝚂 ═.

Similar tools to explore: Glitch for signal-tear energy, Matrix Style for terminal cascades, Pixelated for blocky 8-bit tiles, and Retro for broader old-school styling.