Binary to Text Converter
Paste binary and read it as text. The byte breakdown under the result shows each byte, its number and its character.
Binary to text
How does binary to text work?
Take 01101000 01101001. Split it into bytes, add up the place values of the 1s in each byte, and look the number up in the ASCII table: 104 is h and 105 is i, so it says "hi".
1. Split into bytes
0110100001101001
2. Place values of 01101000
| Place value | 128 | 64 | 32 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bit | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Byte | Place values of the 1s | Decimal | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01101000 | 64 + 32 + 8 | 104 | h |
| 01101001 | 64 + 32 + 8 + 1 | 105 | i |
Uppercase alphabet in binary
Capital letters run from 65 (A) to 90 (Z). Lowercase letters are 32 higher, which flips the third bit from the left from 0 to 1.
| Character | Binary |
|---|---|
| A | 01000001 |
| B | 01000010 |
| C | 01000011 |
| D | 01000100 |
| E | 01000101 |
| F | 01000110 |
| G | 01000111 |
| H | 01001000 |
| I | 01001001 |
| J | 01001010 |
| K | 01001011 |
| L | 01001100 |
| M | 01001101 |
| N | 01001110 |
| O | 01001111 |
| P | 01010000 |
| Q | 01010001 |
| R | 01010010 |
| S | 01010011 |
| T | 01010100 |
| U | 01010101 |
| V | 01010110 |
| W | 01010111 |
| X | 01011000 |
| Y | 01011001 |
| Z | 01011010 |
Full binary alphabet chart with lowercase, digits and symbols
Common mistakes
When decoded text looks wrong, one of these is usually why.
- A missing or extra bit. Every byte after it shifts and the rest turns to symbols. Count the digits in each group.
- 7-bit groups. Some puzzles drop the leading 0. Spaced groups of 7 decode fine. Without spaces, the converter cuts 8 bits at a time unless the length only divides by 7, so add spaces if it guesses wrong.
- The wrong encoding. Bytes above 127 mean UTF-8 (accents, emoji). In ASCII mode they come out as �, so switch to UTF-8.
- It was never text. Binary can stand for a number or a color. Try the binary to decimal converter if the result is gibberish.
Frequently asked questions
How does binary to text conversion work?
Each group of 8 bits is one byte. The converter turns each byte into a number from 0 to 255 and looks it up in the ASCII or UTF-8 table to get a character.
How many bits are in one character?
Eight for English letters, digits and punctuation. Classic ASCII needs only seven. In UTF-8, accented letters take 16 bits and emoji take 32.
What does 01101000 mean in text?
`01101000` is 104 in decimal, which is the lowercase letter h.
Can I convert binary without spaces?
Yes. Paste one long string and the converter cuts it into 8-bit bytes, or 7-bit if the length only divides by 7.
What is the difference between ASCII and UTF-8 binary?
For English text they give the same bytes. ASCII stops at 127, so it has no accents or emoji. UTF-8 uses two to four bytes for those characters, and the converter decodes them in UTF-8 mode.