Advanced Video Attribute Terminal Assembler and Recreator
The Advanced Video Attribute Terminal Assembler and Recreator (AVATAR) protocol is a system of escape sequences occasionally used on bulletin board systems (BBSes). It has largely the same functionality as the more popular ANSI escape codes, but has the advantage that the escape sequences are much shorter. AVATAR can thus render colored text and artwork much faster over slow connections.
The protocol is defined by FidoNet technical standard proposal FSC-0025.[1]
Avatar was later extended in late 1989 to AVT/0[2] (sometimes referred to as AVT/0+) which included facilities to scroll areas of the screen (useful for split screen chat, or full screen mail writing programs), as well as more advanced pattern compression.
Avatar was originally implemented in the Opus BBS, but later popularised by RemoteAccess. RemoteAccess came with a utility, AVTCONV that allowed for easy translation of ANSI documents into Avatar helping its adoption.