Text to Binary Converter

About the Text to Binary Converter

What is a text to binary converter?

A text to binary converter turns each character of text into the binary code a computer stores for it.

Each character usually becomes eight 0s and 1s, one byte. The link between a letter and its bits is a character encoding. ASCII gives 128 characters one byte each, and UTF-8 extends that to every alphabet and emoji by spending two to four bytes on anything outside ASCII. This tool writes UTF-8 unless you pick another encoding.

Facts worth knowing before you convert

• Capital A is 65 in decimal and 01000001 in binary.
• Lowercase sits 32 above uppercase, so a is 97, which is 01100001.
• A space is 00100000, and every ASCII character fits in the values 0 to 127.
• Characters outside ASCII take two to four bytes in UTF-8. é is 11000011 10101001 and the waving hand emoji needs four bytes.
• The number 666 is 1010011010 in binary, which is a different question from the text 666, where each digit is its own byte.

How to convert text to binary

1. Type or paste your text. The binary appears on the right as you type, with a space between bytes.
2. Pick an encoding if you need one. UTF-8 is the default and handles every character. ASCII suits 7-bit systems and flags anything it cannot hold instead of guessing.
3. Choose a separator. Space is the usual layout. None gives one unbroken stream for a puzzle or a program, and Custom takes a string of your own.
4. Read the character table. Each row shows the code point, decimal, hex and binary, so you can check any single character.
5. Copy, download or swap. Swap feeds the binary back into the decoder, which is a quick way to prove the result.

To do it by hand, look up the character's decimal code in an ASCII table, divide by 2 repeatedly and read the remainders from last to first. H is 72, which gives 1001000, padded with a leading zero to 01001000 to make a full byte.

Example

This text will be converted to 13 bytes of binary code. The options are the defaults, UTF-8 with 8 bits per byte and a space between bytes:

Hello, World!

01001000 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111 00101100 00100000 01010111 01101111 01110010 01101100 01100100 00100001

Set the separator to None and Hi becomes one stream, 0100100001101001. Type Café and the é becomes two bytes, 11000011 10101001, so four characters produce five bytes.

Common words in binary

These are the words people search for in binary. Each one is UTF-8 with a space between bytes, exactly as the tool writes it.

Text to binary table

A short ASCII reference. Digits start at 48, capitals at 65 and lowercase at 97, so a few anchors let you work out the rest.

Common mistakes

• Dropping the leading zero. 1001000 and 01001000 are the same value, but a decoder may expect eight bits, so keep the zero unless you are writing for a 7-bit system.
• Assuming one byte per character. Accents, CJK text and emoji take two to four UTF-8 bytes, which is why the byte count can be higher than the character count.
• Mixing up decimal and binary. 65 and 01000001 are the same number in different bases, while the text 65 is two characters, 00110110 00110101.
• Writing Latin-1 and calling it UTF-8. Some converters give é as a single byte, 11101001. That is Latin-1, and a UTF-8 decoder cannot read it.

Common Use Cases

Binary text turns up in a few places where a quick conversion helps:

• Learning how computers store text. Seeing 01001000 next to H makes bytes concrete.
• Homework and exams. The table shows the decimal code and the bits for each character, so you can check your working.
• Puzzles, escape rooms and geocaching. Messages hidden as 0s and 1s are common, and Swap decodes them on the spot.
• Debugging encodings. Comparing the UTF-8 and Latin-1 output shows why a file displays é where it should show é.

To go the other way, paste the result into the Binary to Text Converter or press Swap. The Text to ASCII Code Converter gives the decimal codes instead of bits.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is hi in binary?

In UTF-8 and ASCII, hi is 01101000 01101001, and Hi with a capital H is 01001000 01101001. Case matters because uppercase and lowercase letters have different codes.

How do I convert text to binary manually?

Find the character's decimal code in an ASCII table and divide it by 2 until you reach 0. Write down each remainder, read them from last to first, and pad the result to eight digits.

Can words and emoji be converted to binary?

Yes. Every character has a code, so whole sentences convert one character at a time, and emoji work too, taking two to four bytes each in UTF-8.

What letter is 01100001 in binary?

01100001 is 97 in decimal, which is lowercase a in ASCII and UTF-8. Capital A is 01000001, exactly 32 lower.

Why does my binary have 7 digits per letter?

Some converters drop the leading zero because ASCII only needs 7 bits. Set Bits per byte to 7 to match that output, or leave it at 8 for the standard form.

How can I write my name in binary code?

Type your name into the converter and copy the result. Each letter becomes one byte, so Ana is 01000001 01101110 01100001, and the capital A differs from a lowercase a.