Binary Translator – Convert Text to Binary Code
Convert any text to binary (base 2), hexadecimal, octal and decimal character codes. Each character becomes its Unicode code point – the same numbers a computer stores.
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Binary (8-bit per character)
Binary (8-bit per character): Hi
Hexadecimal
Hexadecimal: Hi
Decimal (character codes)
Decimal (character codes): Hi
Octal
Octal: Hi
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A binary translator shows how a computer represents your text. Every character has a number in the Unicode standard – "H" is 72 – and the binary translator writes that number in base 2 (01001000), base 16 (48), base 8 (110) or base 10 (72). For ordinary English letters the binary form is the same as ASCII, which is why "text to binary" and "ASCII to binary" give identical results.
The output is grouped one character at a time with spaces, so it is easy to read, decode by hand, or paste into a puzzle, a T-shirt design or a programming exercise.
How to Use This Generator
- 1
Type or paste your text.
- 2
Copy the binary (or hex/decimal/octal) from the box you need.
- 3
To decode, split on spaces and convert each group back to a number, then to a character.
How Text Becomes Binary
Computers store text as numbers. The Unicode standard assigns each character a code point: A is 65, a is 97, space is 32, and so on. Binary is just those numbers written in base 2 using only 0 and 1. Eight binary digits (one byte) can represent 0–255, which covers every ASCII character; characters above 255 (accented letters, symbols, emoji) produce longer groups, which this tool shows in full rather than truncating.
- H = 72 = 01001000 (binary) = 48 (hex) = 110 (octal)
- i = 105 = 01101001 = 69 = 151
- Space = 32 = 00100000 = 20 = 40
- € = 8364 = 10000010101100 (14 bits – above the 8-bit range)
Binary vs Hex vs Decimal
Binary is what hardware uses but it is long: one character takes eight digits. Hexadecimal packs the same information into two digits per character and is what you see in colour codes, memory dumps and CSS escapes. Decimal is the plain number, useful in spreadsheets and HTML entities (H). Octal is rare today but still appears in Unix file permissions and older C code.
Where People Use Binary Text
Beyond programming classes, binary text shows up in puzzle hunts and escape rooms, in "hidden message" social posts, in nerd-culture merchandise (a name or date in binary), and in CTF (capture-the-flag) security challenges where a flag is hidden in a byte string. Hex output is handy for developers checking exactly which Unicode characters a string contains – for example spotting a non-breaking space or a zero-width character.
Decoding Binary Back to Text
Take each 8-digit group, convert it to decimal (01001000 → 72), then look up the character (72 → H). Any programming language can do this in one line; in JavaScript, String.fromCharCode(parseInt("01001000", 2)) returns "H". If a group is longer than 8 digits it represents a character outside ASCII and should be converted with code-point aware functions such as String.fromCodePoint.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is text to binary the same as ASCII to binary?
For English letters, digits and common punctuation, yes – Unicode code points 0–127 are identical to ASCII.
Why is one group longer than 8 digits?
That character has a code point above 255 (an accented letter, symbol or emoji). The tool shows its full binary value.
Can I convert binary back to text here?
This page converts text to binary. Decoding is described above and takes one line in any programming language.
Which format should I use for a colour code or CSS?
Hexadecimal – it is the format CSS, HTML and most tools expect.
Is the binary translator free?
Yes. Conversion happens in your browser; the site’s analytics and other data practices are described in the Privacy Policy.
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