Text to binary
Convert UTF-8 text to binary byte groups and back, with live output and a byte-by-byte hexadecimal inspector.
How it works & useful details
How to use this tool
Type text to see 8-bit UTF-8 byte groups. Switch direction or Swap to decode the bits back into text.
Details and limits
Binary input must contain complete groups of 8 bits, with optional ASCII spaces, tabs, or line breaks. Unicode characters can occupy multiple bytes. Invalid UTF-8 bytes are rejected.
Up to 100,000 input code units and 1,000,000 output characters; live preview up to 8,000 input characters.
About this tool
Text to binary converts UTF-8 text into binary byte groups and back, with a byte-by-byte hexadecimal inspector. Seeing the three representations together makes character encoding concrete rather than abstract.
Conversion is exact for UTF-8, including multi-byte characters, and happens locally. The inspector shows how a single visible character can span several bytes.
How to use it
- Choose the direction: text to binary, or binary to text.
- Paste the input, entering binary as byte groups.
- Inspect the byte-by-byte breakdown with hexadecimal values.
- Copy the converted output.
Worked example
Hi é → 01001000 01101001 00100000 11000011 10101001H is 72, i is 105, and the space is 32. Each fits in one byte. é is outside ASCII, so UTF-8 encodes it as two bytes, 0xC3 0xA9. The leading 110 of the first byte announces a two-byte sequence, and the 10 prefix marks a continuation byte. Emoji and many Asian scripts take three or four bytes per character.
Why bytes and characters differ
Text length and byte length are different things. "café" is 4 characters but 5 bytes in UTF-8. Database column limits, SMS segment sizes, file sizes, and network protocols usually count bytes, which is why a limit can be reached earlier than the character count suggests.
Converting binary back to text only works when the bits form valid UTF-8. A byte like 11000011 must be followed by a continuation byte, so stray or truncated sequences are rejected rather than displayed as replacement characters. The byte inspector shows each byte in hexadecimal alongside the binary, which makes it quick to spot encoding problems such as text that was decoded twice (mojibake like "café").
Frequently asked questions
How are multi-byte characters represented?
Each UTF-8 character is shown as its bytes, so a character can occupy two, three, or four groups rather than one.
Does it accept spaces or only continuous digits?
Byte groups are read with or without separators as long as each group contains eight bits.
What is the limit?
Up to 100,000 characters of input, with output limited to the same bound.
Do I have to separate the bytes with spaces?
No. Spaces, tabs, and line breaks are optional when decoding, but the total number of bits must be a multiple of eight.