Text to binary converter
See any text as binary, hex or octal bytes.
Runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
- Binary, hex or octal
- Choice of separator
- Works offline
How to convert text to binary
- Type or paste your text.
- Pick binary, hex or octal and a separator.
- Copy the result.
Example conversions
| Character | Binary | Hex |
|---|---|---|
| A | 01000001 | 41 |
| a | 01100001 | 61 |
| space | 00100000 | 20 |
| ! | 00100001 | 21 |
Why some characters take more than one byte
- ASCII letters, digits and punctuation take 1 byte each in UTF-8.
- Accented letters and most non-Latin scripts take 2 or 3 bytes.
- Emoji and many rarer symbols take 4 bytes, so a single emoji prints as 4 separate byte groups here.
Where byte-level views like this help
- Learning how computers store text, a common exercise in intro programming courses.
- Comparing expected and actual bytes when debugging a text encoding issue.
- Hobby projects and puzzles that hide a message as binary or hex.
Text to binary FAQ
Why is each letter 8 digits in binary?
Each character is one byte in UTF-8 for common English text, and a byte is 8 bits, so it prints as 8 binary digits.
Does it support emoji and accented letters?
Yes. Text is encoded as UTF-8, so a character can use more than one byte, and each byte gets its own group.
What is the difference between binary, hex and octal here?
They are the same byte values shown in base 2, base 16 or base 8. Hex is the shortest and most common in programming.
What is the difference between ASCII and UTF-8 for plain English text?
For English letters, digits and punctuation, ASCII and UTF-8 give the exact same single-byte values. UTF-8 only needs more than one byte for characters outside that range, like accented letters or emoji.
Why does the hex output always use 2 digits per byte?
A byte holds a value from 0 to 255, and 2 hex digits, 00 through FF, cover that entire range exactly, so every byte lines up the same width.
Does it convert spaces and punctuation too?
Yes. Every character in the text, including spaces, gets its own byte group in the output, the same as a letter would.
Can I convert the output back to text?
Yes, paste it into the binary to text converter and pick the matching format. The byte widths this tool produces, 8 binary digits, 2 hex digits or 3 octal digits, line up exactly with what that converter expects.
Does the separator choice change the byte values themselves?
No, it only changes how the groups are joined together. The underlying binary, hex or octal value of each byte stays the same either way.