How to use it
- Pick an encoding: use the Binary, Octal or Hex chips above the input box. All three convert the same underlying bytes, just printed in a different base.
- Text to binary/octal/hex: type or paste your text in the input box and press Text → Binary (the button relabels to match the active chip). Each character becomes one byte, shown in the chosen base.
- Binary/octal/hex to text: paste space-separated byte groups (like
01001000 01101001in binary,110 151in octal, or48 69in hex) and press the reverse button to decode them. - Copy the result with one click and paste it wherever you need it.
What does "text to binary" actually mean?
Computers store everything as numbers, and at the lowest level those numbers are written in binary, a base-2 system that uses only the digits 0 and 1. When you convert text to binary, each character is first turned into a number using a character encoding. This tool uses UTF-8, the standard encoding of the modern web. Plain English letters take one byte each, so the capital letter H becomes the byte 72, which is 01001000 in 8-bit binary. Emoji and many accented characters take several bytes, and the tool handles those automatically so the round trip from text to binary and back is lossless.
Grouping the output into 8-bit chunks (called octets or bytes) is the convention almost everyone expects, which makes the result easy to read, share in homework, or feed into other programs. To decode, the tool splits your input on spaces, checks that every group is exactly eight 0s and 1s, turns each group back into a byte, and then reads the byte sequence as UTF-8 text. If any group is the wrong length or contains a character other than 0 or 1, you get a clear error message instead of a garbled result.
Octal and hex mode
The same byte 72 (capital H) that reads 01001000 in binary is 110 in octal and 48 in hex. Nothing about the underlying text encoding changes between modes, only the base used to print each byte and how many digits it's padded to: binary uses 8 bits, octal uses 3 digits, and hex uses 2 digits, since those are the shortest fixed widths that cover every byte value from 0 to 255 in each base. Hex mode prints uppercase letters (A through F) for digit values 10 to 15, but accepts lowercase too when decoding.
Octal and hex decoding is just as strict as binary decoding: a group that isn't exactly the expected number of digits, or one that parses to a value above 255 (like octal 400, which is valid octal but too large for a single byte), gets rejected with a message naming the exact group that failed. If you need to convert a number directly between bases instead of going through text, the separateNumber Base Converter tool handles binary, octal, decimal, hex and any custom base from 2 to 36.
Frequently asked questions
Why is each character 8 bits?
Eight bits make one byte, and a single byte can represent 256 values, enough for every basic Latin character. UTF-8 uses one byte for common English text and more bytes for other characters, and this tool pads each byte to a full 8 bits so the output lines up neatly.
Can I paste binary without spaces?
For decoding, separate each 8-bit group with a space (for example 01001000 01101001). Spaces tell the tool exactly where one byte ends and the next begins, which avoids ambiguity.
What happens with invalid binary?
If a group is not exactly eight 0s and 1s, the tool stops and shows an error pointing to the bad group, so you can fix it instead of getting a wrong answer.
How do octal and hex mode differ from binary mode?
All three modes convert the exact same UTF-8 bytes, only the base used to print each byte changes. Binary shows each byte as 8 bits, octal shows it as 3 digits (0-7), and hex shows it as 2 digits (0-9 and A-F). Switch modes with the chips above the input and the buttons relabel to match.
Can I convert between binary, octal and hex directly?
Not in one step, this tool converts text to and from a chosen base. To move straight between number bases without going through text, use the separate Number Base Converter tool.