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Binary to Text
Use this free binary to text converter to decode binary code into readable words, or to turn plain text into binary. Paste a string of 0s and 1s — spaced in groups of eight or one continuous run — and read the message instantly. Everything happens in your browser; nothing is uploaded. Students, programmers and puzzle fans use it to check homework, debug data and decode messages.
How to use this converter
- Choose the direction: Binary to Text to decode, or Text to Binary to encode.
- Paste or type your input. Binary can be spaced in groups of 8 or written as one long run.
- Press Convert.
- If a group is not valid binary, the error message names it so you can fix that exact group.
- Copy the result with the Copy result button.
How binary text encoding works
Every character you can type has a number. In ASCII and UTF-8 the capital letter H is number 72, and a computer stores that number in binary — base 2 — as one byte of eight bits:
Reading a binary message is simply doing that sum for every group of 8 bits and looking up each character:
| Character | Decimal code | Binary |
|---|---|---|
| H | 72 | 01001000 |
| i | 105 | 01101001 |
| A | 65 | 01000001 |
| a | 97 | 01100001 |
| 0 (the digit) | 48 | 00110000 |
| Space | 32 | 00100000 |
Plain English letters, digits and punctuation all fit in one byte. Characters from other scripts and emoji use UTF-8's multi-byte form — two to four bytes per character — and this converter decodes those byte runs back into whole characters rather than mangling them.
Worked example
Decode the message 01001000 01101001.
Step 1: first group — 01001000 = 64 + 8 = 72, and character 72 is H.
Step 2: second group — 01101001 = 64 + 32 + 8 + 1 = 105, and character 105 is i.
Step 3: join them — the message reads Hi.
That is the input this page opens with, so the first conversion you run reproduces the example exactly. Now switch the direction and turn your own name into binary.
FAQ
How does binary turn into text?
Computers store every character as a number, and binary is that number written in base 2. In the encoding used here, each character is one byte — 8 bits. The byte 01001000 is the number 72, and character number 72 in ASCII and UTF-8 is the letter H. Converting binary to text means reading each group of 8 bits as a number and looking the character up. This converter also understands multi-byte UTF-8, so accented letters and emoji survive the round trip.
What does 01001000 01101001 mean?
It spells Hi. The first byte, 01001000, is 72 in decimal, which is the code for capital H. The second byte, 01101001, is 105, the code for small i. It is the example this page opens with — press Convert and watch it decode. Short greetings like this are the classic first exercise in computing courses because they show the whole idea with just two bytes.
Why do the binary groups have to be exactly 8 digits?
Because one character is stored in one byte, and a byte is 8 bits. A group of 7 or 9 digits cannot be one character — it means a digit was lost or added while copying. When you paste spaced binary, this converter checks every group and names the first one that is not exactly eight 0s and 1s, so you can fix it. A continuous string with no spaces is split into groups of 8 automatically, and its length must be a multiple of 8.
Can this converter handle emoji and other languages?
Yes. Text is encoded as UTF-8 before being turned into binary, and decoded as UTF-8 on the way back. Characters outside plain ASCII use two, three or four bytes each — an emoji becomes 32 bits of binary — and the decoder joins those bytes back into the right character. Hindi, Arabic and Chinese text all work the same way. Only the display font on your device limits what you can see.
Is my text uploaded anywhere?
No. The conversion runs entirely in your browser with JavaScript — nothing you type or paste is sent to a server, stored or logged. That makes the tool safe for anything you would not want to share, and it also means it works offline once the page has loaded. The same applies to every converter on this site.
How do I convert text to binary instead?
Switch the direction to Text to Binary, type or paste your text, and press Convert. Every character becomes its UTF-8 byte or bytes, each written as 8 binary digits with a space between bytes so the result stays readable. The output can be copied straight into the Binary to Text direction to check it decodes back to exactly what you started with.