Convert between binary, decimal, octal, hex, and text — both directions, live.
QUICK REFERENCE
How computers turn 0s and 1s into letters — and how to move between binary, decimal, octal, hex, and text with confidence.
The Binary Translator is a converter that reads a value in one numeral system — binary, decimal, octal, or hexadecimal — and rewrites it in another, including plain text. Rather than treating each format as a one-way export, every pane in the tool is a live input: change either side, and the conversion runs instantly in the direction you're typing. It exists because raw binary is how computers store everything, but it's rarely how humans want to read it.
Pick your formats
Set the FROM and TO selectors — binary, decimal, octal, hex, or text. Pick a character encoding if you're working outside plain ASCII.
Paste or type
Drop your value into either pane. Binary, octal, and hex values should be space-separated; text goes in as-is.
Read the live result
The opposite pane updates as you type — no convert button, no page reload. Edit either side and the other follows.
Copy or swap
Grab the output with one click, or hit ⇄ to flip direction and keep working from the result.
Every character your computer displays maps to a number, called a code point, defined by a character encoding such as ASCII or UTF-8. Converting text to binary means looking up each character's code point and writing that number in base-2, padded into 8-bit bytes. Converting the other way reverses the lookup: each binary group is read back as a number, then matched to the character it represents. Decimal, octal, and hex are just alternate ways of writing that same underlying number — base-10, base-8, and base-16 respectively — so the translator really only does one job: move a number between bases and, when needed, attach a character to it.
True bidirectional sync
Either pane is the source. Type binary on the left or text on the right — both stay in sync.
Five number systems
Binary, decimal, octal, and hexadecimal all convert against text and against each other.
31 character encodings
From ASCII/UTF-8 through Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic, and CJK encodings, for working beyond the Latin alphabet.
Zero-latency conversion
No server round-trip. Every keystroke resolves locally, instantly.
Error-aware parsing
Malformed tokens are flagged inline instead of silently producing garbage output.
One-click swap
Reverse the conversion direction without retyping or reselecting formats.
Learning binary
Students and self-learners checking their by-hand binary math against a reliable source.
Debugging low-level code
Developers inspecting byte values, flags, or buffer contents while working close to the hardware.
Decoding puzzles & CTFs
Solving binary- or hex-encoded challenges in capture-the-flag exercises and escape-room style puzzles.
Networking & protocols
Reading raw packet bytes, MAC addresses, or status flags during network troubleshooting.
Data recovery & forensics
Translating raw byte dumps back into readable text during investigation work.
Teaching computer science
Instructors building examples that show how text really maps to the bits a computer stores.
A selection of common ASCII characters with their hexadecimal and 8-bit binary equivalents.
| HEXADECIMAL | BINARY | ASCII |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | 00100000 | Space |
| 21 | 00100001 | ! |
| 22 | 00100010 | " |
| 26 | 00100110 | & |
| 27 | 00100111 | ' |
| 28 | 00101000 | ( |
| 29 | 00101001 | ) |
| 2B | 00101011 | + |
| 2C | 00101100 | , |
| 2D | 00101101 | - |
| 2E | 00101110 | . |
| 2F | 00101111 | / |
| 30 | 00110000 | 0 |
| 31 | 00110001 | 1 |
| 32 | 00110010 | 2 |
| 39 | 00111001 | 9 |
| 3F | 00111111 | ? |
| 40 | 01000000 | @ |
| 41 | 01000001 | A |
| 42 | 01000010 | B |
| 43 | 01000011 | C |
| 48 | 01001000 | H |
| 49 | 01001001 | I |
| 4F | 01001111 | O |
| 5A | 01011010 | Z |
| 5F | 01011111 | _ |
| 61 | 01100001 | a |
| 62 | 01100010 | b |
| 63 | 01100011 | c |
| 68 | 01101000 | h |
| 6F | 01101111 | o |
| 7A | 01111010 | z |