diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index d845750718e9b..c34584934a941 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -157,6 +157,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/opensearch-project/opensearch-go/v2 v2.3.0
 	github.com/parquet-go/parquet-go v0.23.0
 	github.com/pavlo-v-chernykh/keystore-go/v4 v4.5.0
+	github.com/pborman/ansi v1.0.0
 	github.com/pelletier/go-toml v1.9.5
 	github.com/pkg/sftp v1.13.6
 	github.com/pquerna/otp v1.4.0
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index f83eb553e710d..54292184ce9dd 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -1995,6 +1995,8 @@ github.com/paulmach/orb v0.11.1/go.mod h1:5mULz1xQfs3bmQm63QEJA6lNGujuRafwA5S/En
 github.com/paulmach/protoscan v0.2.1/go.mod h1:SpcSwydNLrxUGSDvXvO0P7g7AuhJ7lcKfDlhJCDw2gY=
 github.com/pavlo-v-chernykh/keystore-go/v4 v4.5.0 h1:2nosf3P75OZv2/ZO/9Px5ZgZ5gbKrzA3joN1QMfOGMQ=
 github.com/pavlo-v-chernykh/keystore-go/v4 v4.5.0/go.mod h1:lAVhWwbNaveeJmxrxuSTxMgKpF6DjnuVpn6T8WiBwYQ=
+github.com/pborman/ansi v1.0.0 h1:OqjHMhvlSuCCV5JT07yqPuJPQzQl+WXsiZ14gZsqOrQ=
+github.com/pborman/ansi v1.0.0/go.mod h1:SgWzwMAx1X/Ez7i90VqF8LRiQtx52pWDiQP+x3iGnzw=
 github.com/pborman/uuid v1.2.1 h1:+ZZIw58t/ozdjRaXh/3awHfmWRbzYxJoAdNJxe/3pvw=
 github.com/pborman/uuid v1.2.1/go.mod h1:X/NO0urCmaxf9VXbdlT7C2Yzkj2IKimNn4k+gtPdI/k=
 github.com/pelletier/go-toml v1.9.5 h1:4yBQzkHv+7BHq2PQUZF3Mx0IYxG7LsP222s7Agd3ve8=
diff --git a/tool/tsh/common/play.go b/tool/tsh/common/play.go
index 14900ce485871..0387a13d0abcf 100644
--- a/tool/tsh/common/play.go
+++ b/tool/tsh/common/play.go
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/ghodss/yaml"
 	"github.com/gravitational/trace"
+	"github.com/pborman/ansi"
 
 	"github.com/gravitational/teleport"
 	apievents "github.com/gravitational/teleport/api/types/events"
@@ -115,7 +116,7 @@ func exportSession(cf *CLIConf) error {
 	}
 
 	switch format {
-	case teleport.JSON, teleport.YAML:
+	case teleport.JSON, teleport.YAML, teleport.Text:
 	default:
 		return trace.Errorf("Invalid format %s, only json and yaml are supported", format)
 	}
@@ -144,6 +145,8 @@ func exportSession(cf *CLIConf) error {
 		exporter = jsonSessionExporter{}
 	case teleport.YAML:
 		exporter = yamlSessionExporter{}
+	case teleport.Text:
+		exporter = textSessionExporter{}
 	}
 
 	exporter.WriteStart()
@@ -233,6 +236,31 @@ func (yamlSessionExporter) WriteEvent(evt apievents.AuditEvent) error {
 	return err
 }
 
+type textSessionExporter struct{}
+
+func (textSessionExporter) WriteStart() error     { return nil }
+func (textSessionExporter) WriteEnd() error       { return nil }
+func (textSessionExporter) WriteSeparator() error { return nil }
+
+func (textSessionExporter) WriteEvent(evt apievents.AuditEvent) error {
+	printEvent, ok := evt.(*apievents.SessionPrint)
+	if !ok {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	var writeErr error
+
+	// strip ANSI control characters
+	if stripped, err := ansi.Strip(printEvent.Data); err != nil {
+		// best we can do is just write the original data
+		_, writeErr = os.Stdout.Write(printEvent.Data)
+	} else {
+		_, writeErr = os.Stdout.Write(stripped)
+	}
+
+	return writeErr
+}
+
 // exportFile converts the binary protobuf events from the file
 // identified by path to text (JSON/YAML) and writes the converted
 // events to standard out.
diff --git a/tool/tsh/common/tsh.go b/tool/tsh/common/tsh.go
index 500dcab53c79f..79bf18f491934 100644
--- a/tool/tsh/common/tsh.go
+++ b/tool/tsh/common/tsh.go
@@ -983,8 +983,8 @@ func Run(ctx context.Context, args []string, opts ...CliOption) error {
 	play.Flag("speed", "Playback speed, applicable when streaming SSH or Kubernetes sessions.").Default("1x").EnumVar(&cf.PlaySpeed, "0.5x", "1x", "2x", "4x", "8x")
 	play.Flag("skip-idle-time", "Quickly skip over idle time, applicable when streaming SSH or Kubernetes sessions.").BoolVar(&cf.NoWait)
 	play.Flag("format", defaults.FormatFlagDescription(
-		teleport.PTY, teleport.JSON, teleport.YAML,
-	)).Short('f').Default(teleport.PTY).EnumVar(&cf.Format, teleport.PTY, teleport.JSON, teleport.YAML)
+		teleport.PTY, teleport.JSON, teleport.YAML, teleport.Text,
+	)).Short('f').Default(teleport.PTY).EnumVar(&cf.Format, teleport.PTY, teleport.JSON, teleport.YAML, teleport.Text)
 	play.Arg("session-id", "ID or path to session file to play").Required().StringVar(&cf.SessionID)
 
 	// scp