Text to Binary Converter — UTF-8 text ↔ binary

1. What does this tool do

This free online text to binary converter converts text to binary (0s and 1s) and binary back to text—UTF-8, 8 bits per byte. Use it for text to binary, binary to text, or encode decode for learning, encoding, or quick conversion. No sign-up, no upload; everything runs in your browser. Encode any text to binary with optional spaces between bytes, or paste binary to decode to plain text. Ideal for learning, encoding, debugging, or education.

2. How to use it

Quick start: Choose Text → Binary or Binary → Text, set separator (encode only), enter input, click Convert, then copy the output. Invalid binary shows an error when decoding.

1. Choose mode — Switch between Text → Binary (encode) and Binary → Text (decode).
2. Set separator (encode only) — Choose "Space between bytes" for readable output, or "No separator" for a continuous string.
3. Enter input — For encode: type or paste text. For decode: paste a binary string (0s and 1s; spaces are ignored).
4. View output — The result appears after clicking Convert. Invalid binary shows an error.
5. Copy — Use the copy button to copy the output to the clipboard.

3. How it works

Encode: The input is encoded to UTF-8 via TextEncoder, then each byte is converted to an 8-bit binary string (zero-padded). Bytes can be joined with or without spaces. Decode: Spaces are stripped from the input, which must contain only 0 and 1. The string is split into 8-bit groups, converted to bytes, then decoded to UTF-8 via TextDecoder. Invalid binary returns an error. All computation runs entirely in your browser. No data is sent to any server.

4. Use cases & examples

• Learning — Understand how text is represented in binary.
• Encoding — Encode messages or data for transmission.
• Debugging — Inspect byte-level representation of strings.
• Education — Teach ASCII/UTF-8 and binary representation.

Example

• Encode Hello → 01001000 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111 (with space)
• Decode 01001000 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111 → Hello

5. Limitations & known constraints

• Input size — Maximum ~500KB (512,000 characters) to prevent browser slowdown.
• Encoding — UTF-8 only; other encodings (e.g. Latin-1) not supported.
• Binary format — 8 bits per byte; variable-length encodings (e.g. UTF-8 multi-byte sequences) are represented byte by byte.
• Empty decode — Empty input in decode mode returns an error.