Convert Text to Binary
Convert any text to 8-bit binary code.
Your data is never sent to any server.
The text to binary converter writes any text in ones and zeros, one 8-bit byte for every basic character. The result appears as you type, with the bytes separated by spaces or run together, as you prefer.
The word “Hello” in binary
| Character | Number | Binary |
|---|---|---|
| H | 72 | 01001000 |
| e | 101 | 01100101 |
| l | 108 | 01101100 |
| l | 108 | 01101100 |
| o | 111 | 01101111 |
Look at the third bit: it is 0 in the capital H and 1 in the lowercase letters. That is the whole difference between upper and lower case in ASCII, one bit worth 32.
Accents and emoji
This is where many converters go wrong. If a character is not in ASCII, this tool
encodes it in UTF-8, just as your computer would store it in a text file. “é”
becomes two bytes, 11000011 10101001, and anyone who decodes it with a
UTF-8-aware converter gets the é back. Converters that rely on old code pages
give a single byte for “é”, and that byte reads wrong in any program that expects
UTF-8, which today is almost all of them.
How to use Text to Binary
- 1
Type or paste your text
The conversion runs as you type, without pressing any button.
- 2
Choose whether you want spaces
By default each byte is followed by a space, which is easiest to read. Turn off Spacing if you need the bits run together.
- 3
Copy the binary
Press the copy button to take the sequence of ones and zeros.
Frequently asked questions
How is a letter converted to binary?
Its character number is written in base 2 with 8 digits. A is 65, which is 01000001 in binary; lowercase a is 97, 01100001.
Why do some characters give two or more bytes?
Because they are encoded in UTF-8, the web's standard. English letters, digits and basic punctuation take one byte; accented letters take two; the euro sign takes three, and most emoji take four.
Why does every byte start with 0?
Because basic characters only need 7 bits, from 0 to 127, and the eighth stays at zero. In UTF-8 a byte that starts with 1 is always part of a multi-byte character.
Is there a length limit?
There is no set limit. Bear in mind that the result is about nine times longer than the original text, because each letter becomes eight digits and a space.