Binary Translator
Tool is 100% private: operates entirely in your browser. No data ever leaves your device. Your data is safe and private!
Text to Binary
0 characters → 0 bytes (0 bits)
Options
Prefix
Output
Binary
Nothing to show yet
Binary Alphabet: A-Z and 0-9
8-bit ASCII binary value for each letter and digit. Lowercase letters use a different byte value than uppercase (add 32, or set bit 0x20).
Tool Introduction
The Binary Translator converts text to binary and binary back to text, in both directions, as you type. Choose UTF-8 if your text includes emoji, accented letters, or any non-English characters, since UTF-8 is the encoding that actually represents them correctly. Choose ASCII/Latin-1 if you specifically need the older single-byte encoding. Alongside binary, the tool also shows the same bytes in decimal, hexadecimal, and octal, since "binary to text" searches often really need one of those instead.
How to Use the Binary Translator
- Type or paste text into the input box to convert it to binary
- Click "Swap direction" to switch to binary to text, then paste binary instead
- Pick UTF-8 (default) or ASCII/Latin-1 under "Text encoding"
- Adjust bits per group, separator, and the 0b/0x/0o prefix to match how you need the output formatted
- Switch between the Binary, Decimal, Hexadecimal, and Octal tabs to see the same bytes in each base
- Use the copy button on any output box, or Clear to start over
Text to Binary and Binary to Text
Text to binary works by looking up the numeric code point of each character and writing that number in base 2, 8 bits at a time. Binary to text reverses this: it reads the binary 8 bits at a time, turns each group back into a number from 0 to 255, and looks up the matching character. The tool is tolerant of formatting on the way in: spaces, commas, and 0b prefixes are all stripped automatically before decoding. If the binary you paste is not a clean multiple of 8 bits, the tool tells you exactly how many bits are left over instead of silently producing the wrong text.
Binary Alphabet: Letters and Numbers
The table on the tool shows the 8-bit binary value for every uppercase letter A through Z and every digit 0 through 9, using the standard ASCII/UTF-8 byte values. A few examples for reference:
| Character | Binary |
|---|---|
| A | 01000001 |
| B | 01000010 |
| C | 01000011 |
| D | 01000100 |
| E | 01000101 |
| F | 01000110 |
| G | 01000111 |
| H | 01001000 |
| I | 01001001 |
| J | 01001010 |
| K | 01001011 |
| L | 01001100 |
| M | 01001101 |
The full A-Z and 0-9 reference table is built into the tool above.
Related Tools
If you are working with codes rather than raw binary, try the Morse Code Converter, which translates text to dots and dashes and back, with audio playback. You can practice reading and sending Morse with the Morse Code Practice tool. For a different base-conversion problem entirely, the Number to Roman Numerals converter turns regular numbers into Roman numerals and back.
FAQs
What is binary code?
Binary code is a way of representing information using only two digits, 0 and 1. Computers store and move all text, images, and sound as binary underneath, because a transistor or memory cell only needs to represent two states: off (0) or on (1).
How does text turn into binary?
Each character in a piece of text is first mapped to a number using a character encoding standard, most commonly UTF-8 today or ASCII for older or simpler text. That number is then written out in base 2 (binary) instead of base 10. This tool does both steps for you and shows the binary for each byte.
What do "8 bits" and "1 byte" mean?
A bit is a single 0 or 1. A byte is a group of 8 bits, which can represent 256 different values (0 to 255). Standard ASCII and the first 128 UTF-8 code points fit in a single byte. That is why this tool decodes binary in 8-bit chunks by default.
Why does UTF-8 matter for emoji and accented letters?
ASCII and Latin-1 only cover 256 characters, not nearly enough for emoji, accented letters, or non-Latin scripts. UTF-8 encodes any Unicode character using 1 to 4 bytes, so emoji and accented characters round-trip correctly. If you pick ASCII/Latin-1 for text outside that range, this tool replaces unsupported characters with "?" and tells you how many were affected.
How do I decode binary by hand?
Split the binary into groups of 8 bits. For each group, read it as a base-2 number: the rightmost bit is worth 1, the next is worth 2, then 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, and 128 for the leftmost bit. Add up the values where the bit is 1 to get a number from 0 to 255, then look that number up in an ASCII table to get the character. This tool automates exactly that process and also shows the decimal, hex, and octal value of each byte.
What happens if my binary input is not a multiple of 8 bits?
The tool reports how many bits are left over and how many you need to add or remove, instead of guessing and producing garbage output. A valid byte-aligned binary string always has a length that is a multiple of 8.
Does the binary have to include spaces or a 0b prefix?
No. The binary to text converter strips spaces, commas, and 0b/0B prefixes automatically before decoding, so you can paste binary in almost any common format.
Is this tool private?
Yes. The conversion happens entirely in your browser using standard JavaScript text encoding APIs. Nothing you type is uploaded or sent to a server.