Text to Binary Converter
Free online text to binary converter that translates any text into binary code (0s and 1s) and back. Choose 8-bit, 16-bit or 32-bit width, pick a separator, and copy or download the result. Full UTF-8 support — accented letters, non-Latin scripts and emojis all work. No signup, runs entirely in your browser.
Input
Type or paste — output updates liveCtrl+Enter (or Cmd+Enter) to convert instantly. The output updates live as you type, so you don't even need to click the button unless you want to.
Output
Ready when you areYour output will appear here
Start typing in the input box or click Example to see how it works.
What does this Text to Binary Converter do?
This free online text to binary converter translates any text into binary code — a sequence of 0s and 1s — and back. Every character you type (letters, digits, punctuation, emojis) has a numeric value called a code point, and this tool shows you exactly what that value looks like in binary. For example, the letter A has code point 65, which is 01000001 in 8-bit binary.
The tool works in both directions. Type or paste text into the input box and the output updates in real time with the binary representation. Switch to the Binary → Text tab to reverse the process — paste a binary string and the tool decodes it back to readable text.
Everything runs locally in your browser. Whatever you type never leaves your device, there is no signup, and there are no usage limits. Convert as much text as you want, as many times as you want.
How to convert text to binary
- Enter your text. Type or paste anything into the input box — a word, a sentence, a password, or a whole paragraph.
- Choose the bit width. 8-bit is the standard choice for ASCII and normal text. 16-bit or 32-bit give you the raw Unicode code point in binary (useful for programming exercises).
- Pick a separator. Space is the default and easiest to read. "None" gives the most compact form. Comma and New line are handy for pasting into code or spreadsheets.
- Watch the output. It updates as you type — no button press needed. Use the Copy Output button to grab the binary, or Download to save it as a text file.
- Need to reverse it? Click the Binary → Text tab, paste your binary, and it decodes back to text automatically.
Why use this Text to Binary Converter?
Live conversion
Output appears the instant you type. No button press needed — everything runs in your browser.
Multiple bit widths
Choose 8-bit for standard text, or 16-bit / 32-bit to see the raw Unicode code point in binary.
Two-way conversion
Convert text to binary or binary back to text with a single click. Same tool, both directions.
Full Unicode support
Accented letters, Chinese, Arabic, Hindi, Cyrillic and emojis all work — the tool uses UTF-8 encoding.
100% private
Everything runs locally. Your text never leaves your device — no server, no logs, no tracking.
Works offline
Once the page loads, you can convert text and binary without an internet connection.
ASCII character reference
Here are a few common characters and what they look like in 8-bit binary. The tool handles all 128 ASCII characters plus the full Unicode range.
| Character | Decimal | Binary (8-bit) | Hex |
|---|---|---|---|
A | 65 | 01000001 | 0x41 |
B | 66 | 01000010 | 0x42 |
a | 97 | 01100001 | 0x61 |
z | 122 | 01111010 | 0x7A |
0 | 48 | 00110000 | 0x30 |
9 | 57 | 00111001 | 0x39 |
| Space | 32 | 00100000 | 0x20 |
! | 33 | 00100001 | 0x21 |
? | 63 | 00111111 | 0x3F |
Newline \n | 10 | 00001010 | 0x0A |
Bit width: 8, 16, or 32 — which should you pick?
The bit width determines how many binary digits represent each character. It doesn't change what the character is, only how many leading zeros are shown.
| Bit width | Bits per character | Max value | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8-bit | 8 | 255 | ASCII text, file encoding, teaching binary basics. This is the standard choice for text like "Hello" or "abc123". |
| 16-bit | 16 | 65535 | Basic Multilingual Plane characters, showing raw Unicode code points. Useful for languages like Chinese, Japanese or emoji. |
| 32-bit | 32 | ~4.3 billion | Full Unicode including rare symbols and higher emojis. Rarely needed for everyday text. |
For most text conversions, 8-bit is what you want. It matches how characters are stored in UTF-8 files on disk — for instance, the file "hello.txt" really does contain 01101000 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111.
Common uses for text to binary conversion
Learning how computers store text
Every character you see on screen is really just a number, and every number is really just a bunch of 1s and 0s. Converting text to binary makes this concrete — the letter "A" really is 65, which really is 01000001. It's one of the best ways to build intuition for how files, memory and encoding actually work.
Teaching and coursework
Computer science courses, coding bootcamps and school curricula frequently ask students to convert text to binary by hand. This tool makes it easy to check your work and see patterns in real time.
Debugging encoding issues
When a file shows up with garbled characters (mojibake) or a database stores strings incorrectly, looking at the raw bytes often reveals the problem. Converting the text to binary shows exactly what's stored.
Creative and educational projects
Binary strings are sometimes used in puzzles, escape rooms, art projects, ASCII art and even jewellery. Having a quick way to translate between text and binary is handy for these.