Binary ↔ text

Example

Hi

01001000 01101001

H corresponds to decimal 72 and i to 105.

Technical details & limits

Every group of eight bits forms a byte from 0 to 255, which is then decoded as UTF-8. Only 0, 1 and whitespace are accepted, and the bit count must be divisible by eight. Output represents bytes rather than Unicode code points.

About this tool

Convert text to groups of eight UTF-8 bits and decode binary bytes back to text. Explore byte representation and non-ASCII encoding with concrete examples.

Use cases

• Illustrate character encoding while teaching.
• Debug a byte sequence that looks off on the wire.

How to use

1. Paste text (or 0/1 bits) into the input.
2. Click Encode for binary or Decode to restore text.

Notes

Only 0, 1 and whitespace are accepted. Other characters are rejected and the bit count must be divisible by eight.

FAQ

Why does Chinese text become several groups of eight binary digits?

Binary text output represents UTF-8 bytes, so a common Chinese character appears as 3 groups of 8 bits. An ASCII letter usually needs only 1 such group. The grouping describes the encoded byte sequence, not the binary integer value of a Unicode code point. When comparing examples, keep the encoding fixed and count complete byte groups rather than assuming every visible character occupies the same space.

How many bits are required for binary-to-text decoding?

Binary-to-text decoding requires a total bit count divisible by 8, because every 8 bits form 1 byte. This tool accepts only zeroes, ones, and whitespace, without commas or a binary prefix. Even correctly grouped bytes must represent valid UTF-8 to become text. If decoding fails, check both the complete byte grouping and the source encoding instead of adding or deleting arbitrary digits from the input.

What text does the binary byte 01000001 represent?

The binary byte 01000001 decodes to the uppercase letter A in UTF-8. Its 8 bits represent decimal 65, or hexadecimal 41. Preserve leading zeroes when preparing byte-oriented input, because removing them leaves an incomplete group. If several bytes are supplied, separate them with whitespace or keep them continuous while preserving the full bit count, and confirm that the complete sequence is valid UTF-8 text.

Related tools

• Hex ↔ text Convert UTF-8 text and hex byte sequences both ways
• Base64 encode / decode Convert UTF-8 text to and from Base64, standard or URL-safe