Text to Binary Converter

How text becomes binary

Computers store each character as one or more bytes, and each byte is 8 binary digits (bits). The letter H is byte 72, which is 01001000 in binary and 48 in hex. This converter uses UTF-8, the encoding of the web. English letters take one byte, Urdu letters two bytes (ا = D8 A7) and most emoji four.

Decoding

Switch to "Code → text" and paste binary, hex, octal or decimal bytes separated by spaces. Binary and hex can also be written without spaces. Bytes that don't form valid UTF-8 appear as �.

Uses

• Computer science classes and exams on number systems and character encoding
• Puzzles, secret messages and binary-code gifts
• Debugging encoding problems (for example "é" instead of "é")

For converting single numbers between bases, use the Number Base Converter.