This free binary translator converts text to binary and binary to text in real time. It also shows hex, decimal and octal, so you can see how a word is stored as bytes, decode a puzzle or check a value without writing code.
- How to use the binary translator
- What each box shows
- How text becomes binary
- ASCII and UTF-8
- The alphabet in binary
- Hex vs binary
- Tips for clean results
- FAQ
- Related tools
How to use the binary translator
- Type or paste plain text into the Text box. The Binary, Hex, Decimal and Octal boxes fill in at once.
- To go the other way, paste binary into the Binary box. The Text box shows the decoded words as you type, so there is no convert button to press.
- Pick the byte separator you prefer, such as a space between each group of eight bits.
- Press the copy button under any box to copy just that one value.
- Edit any box you like. The other four follow, because all five are views of the same bytes.
The tool uses UTF-8, so letters, numbers, accented characters and symbols all convert. Nothing is uploaded. The work happens in your browser, which is handy when you are decoding a puzzle, a homework answer or a string from a log file.
What each box shows
The readable version. Type here to encode, or read here after you paste binary, hex, decimal or octal into another box.
Every byte as eight zeros and ones. This is the box people mean when they say text to binary or binary to text.
The same bytes as two hexadecimal digits each, for example 48 69 for the word Hi. Developers use hex because it is shorter and easier to read.
Each byte as a number from 0 to 255. For plain English text these are the familiar ASCII codes.
Each byte in base 8. You will see it in older Unix tools and file permission codes.
How text becomes binary
A computer stores everything as bits, and a bit is either 0 or 1. Eight bits make a byte, and one byte can hold 256 different values. To store a letter, computers agree on a number for it. For English letters that agreement is ASCII, which gives A the number 65, B the number 66 and so on. The number is then written in base 2.
Take the capital letter A. Its number is 65. In binary the place values from left to right are 128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2 and 1. Sixty-five is 64 plus 1, so the bits for 64 and 1 are switched on and the rest are off. That gives 01000001.
A short word shows the pattern. The word Hello is five letters, so it is five bytes:
| Letter | Decimal | Binary |
|---|---|---|
| H | 72 | 01001000 |
| e | 101 | 01100101 |
| l | 108 | 01101100 |
| l | 108 | 01101100 |
| o | 111 | 01101111 |
Put them together and Hello in binary is 01001000 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111. Binary to text simply reverses the steps: split the string into groups of eight, turn each group into a number and look the number up as a character.
ASCII and UTF-8: why some characters need more bytes
ASCII only covers 128 characters, enough for English letters, digits and basic punctuation. The world needs far more, so modern systems use Unicode, and the web stores Unicode as UTF-8. UTF-8 is clever because the first 128 characters are identical to ASCII, one byte each. Other characters take two, three or four bytes.
The letter e with an acute accent is a good test. It is stored as two bytes, C3 and A9 in hex, which is 11000011 10101001 in binary. If you type it into the Text box you will see sixteen bits appear, not eight. This is normal, and it is the reason a binary string does not always have exactly eight times as many bits as there are visible characters.
If your decoded text shows odd symbols, the binary probably came from a different encoding or was cut off mid-character. Check that the number of bits is a multiple of eight and that no group is missing a digit.
The alphabet in binary
Here are the capital letters with their ASCII binary and hex values. Lower case letters follow the same pattern with one extra bit switched on: a is 01100001, which is 32 more than A.
| Letter | Binary | Hex |
|---|---|---|
| A | 01000001 | 41 |
| B | 01000010 | 42 |
| C | 01000011 | 43 |
| D | 01000100 | 44 |
| E | 01000101 | 45 |
| F | 01000110 | 46 |
| G | 01000111 | 47 |
| H | 01001000 | 48 |
| I | 01001001 | 49 |
| J | 01001010 | 4A |
| K | 01001011 | 4B |
| L | 01001100 | 4C |
| M | 01001101 | 4D |
| N | 01001110 | 4E |
| O | 01001111 | 4F |
| P | 01010000 | 50 |
| Q | 01010001 | 51 |
| R | 01010010 | 52 |
| S | 01010011 | 53 |
| T | 01010100 | 54 |
| U | 01010101 | 55 |
| V | 01010110 | 56 |
| W | 01010111 | 57 |
| X | 01011000 | 58 |
| Y | 01011001 | 59 |
| Z | 01011010 | 5A |
Hex vs binary: which should you use?
Hex and binary describe the same data, so the choice is about readability. One hex digit stands for exactly four bits, so one byte is always two hex digits. The byte 01001000 becomes 48. That makes hex far shorter, and it is why colour codes, memory addresses and file signatures are written in hex.
Use binary when you want to see individual bits, for example to understand flags, masks or why one character differs from another. Use hex when you only need to read or compare byte values. Because the five boxes here stay linked, you can move between them and watch the same bytes change shape.
Tips for clean results
Keep the byte separator consistent. If you paste groups of eight bits separated by spaces, the decoder has an easy job. If you strip the spaces, make sure the length still divides by eight. A missing zero at the start of a byte is the most common reason for broken output, because 1001000 and 01001000 are the same number but only the second is a full byte.
When you are decoding a puzzle, work in the Decimal box first if the clue is a list of numbers, and in the Binary box if it is zeros and ones. For messages that mix both, convert each part separately and join the text at the end. If you need to tidy the result afterwards, the case converter can fix capitalization in one click.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert text to binary?
Type or paste your text into the Text box and the Binary box fills in straight away. Each character becomes one or more bytes, written as eight zeros and ones. Pick a byte separator if you want groups split by spaces, then use the copy button under the Binary box.
How do I convert binary to text?
Paste your zeros and ones into the Binary box. The tool splits them into bytes, reads each byte as a UTF-8 character and shows the words in the Text box. If the output looks wrong, check that every group has eight digits and none are missing.
What is the binary for the letter A?
Capital A is 01000001, which is decimal 65 and hex 41. Lower case a is 01100001, decimal 97 and hex 61. The two differ by one bit, the value 32, which is why you can switch a letter between cases by flipping a single bit.
Does it support more than English letters?
Yes. The tool uses UTF-8, so accented letters, symbols and many other scripts convert correctly. Characters outside basic ASCII take two to four bytes, so their binary is longer than eight bits. The Text, Binary, Hex, Decimal and Octal boxes all update together.
What is the difference between binary and hex?
Both show the same bytes. Binary uses eight digits per byte, hex uses two, so hex is shorter and easier to read. One hex digit equals four bits. Binary is better for studying individual bits, while hex is better for reading or comparing values.
Is the text I enter sent to a server?
No. The conversion runs in your browser, so what you type stays on your device and nothing is saved or uploaded. Reloading the page clears every box. You should still avoid pasting passwords or private keys into any online tool.
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