Binary to Text Converter
Paste binary bytes, pick the character encoding and get readable text. Switch the mode to go from text to binary on the same page.
0 characters
0 characters
Separate each byte with a space, for example 01001000 01100101.
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Need the opposite? Text to Binary
How to convert binary to text
- 01
Paste your binary
Enter 8-bit groups separated by spaces or line breaks, for example 01001000 01101001.
- 02
Choose the encoding
UTF-8 works for most text. Use ASCII or Latin-1 if you know the bytes use that encoding.
- 03
Convert and copy
Copy the text or download it as a .txt file.
Input format
- Each byte must be exactly eight digits of 0 and 1: 01000001 is valid, 1000001 is not.
- Bytes are separated by any whitespace: spaces, tabs or new lines.
- Anything else, such as a missing digit or a stray character, is reported as an error instead of producing partly wrong text.
Encodings
- UTF-8 decodes multi-byte characters, so 11000011 10101001 becomes é. Byte sequences that are not valid UTF-8 are rejected.
- ASCII accepts only bytes up to 01111111.
- Latin-1 (ISO-8859-1) maps every byte directly to one character, so any byte sequence decodes.
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Frequently asked questions
What does 01001000 01101001 mean?
Those two bytes are 72 and 105, which are H and i in ASCII and UTF-8. The text is “Hi”.
Why do I get an error for my binary?
Every group must have exactly eight bits. Binary written without separators, or with 7-bit groups, cannot be split into bytes reliably, so split it into 8-bit groups first.
Which encoding should I choose?
Start with UTF-8; it is the standard on the web and covers ASCII. If you get an invalid UTF-8 error and the data came from an older system, try Latin-1.
Can I convert text back to binary here?
Yes. Switch Mode to Text to binary, or use the Text to Binary page.