Computers do not store letters – they store numbers, and every number is ultimately a pattern of bits. To turn text into binary, each character is first given a number (its Unicode code point, such as 72 for “H”), then a character encoding decides how that number is written as one or more bytes, and finally each byte is written as eight binary digits.
For plain English text, the result looks the same in nearly every encoding because the first 128 code points are plain ASCII: “H” is 01001000 in UTF-8 and in Windows-1252. Differences appear with accented letters, symbols and emoji. In UTF-8 “ñ” takes two bytes (11000011 10110001) and the euro sign three, while Windows-1252 squeezes both into a single byte and cannot store emoji at all. UTF-16 uses two bytes for most characters and may add a byte order mark at the start.
Use the converter to see exactly how a string is stored, to build binary puzzles and greetings, or to check a protocol or file format byte by byte. Switch the direction to decode binary back into readable text.
How to use the Text to Binary Converter
- Direction
- Text
- Character encoding
- Separator between bytes
- Custom separator
Everything is calculated in your browser, so results appear instantly and nothing you type is sent to a server.
How it works
Each character is encoded with the chosen character set, every resulting byte is written as an 8-digit binary number with leading zeros, and the bytes are joined with your separator. The table lists every character with its code point and its own bytes, so you can see which characters need more than one byte.
Worked example
Encode Hi ñ€ in UTF-8. H = 72 = 01001000, i = 105 = 01101001, the space = 32 = 00100000. The letter ñ is U+00F1, which UTF-8 writes as two bytes 11000011 10110001 (C3 B1). The euro sign U+20AC becomes three bytes 11100010 10000010 10101100 (E2 82 AC). Five characters therefore need 8 bytes, or 64 bits.
How many bytes per character?
| Characters | UTF-8 | UTF-16 | Windows-1252 |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASCII letters, digits, punctuation | 1 byte | 2 bytes | 1 byte |
| Accented Latin (é, ñ, ü) | 2 bytes | 2 bytes | 1 byte |
| Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic | 2 bytes | 2 bytes | not available |
| €, Chinese, Japanese, most symbols | 3 bytes | 2 bytes | € only (1 byte) |
| Emoji and rare scripts | 4 bytes | 4 bytes (surrogate pair) | not available |
Formula
Character → code point → bytes (UTF-8: 1–4 bytes per character) → each byte as 8 bits
Byte value = Σ bitᵢ × 2ⁱ (i = 0 for the rightmost bit)
Worked example
Inputs — Direction: Text → binary; Text: Hi ñ€; Character encoding: UTF-8 (Unicode – recommended); Separator between bytes: Space.
Results — Result = 01001000 01101001 00100000 11000011 10110001 11100010 10000010 10101100; Same bytes in hexadecimal = 48 69 20 C3 B1 E2 82 AC; Bytes in decimal = 72 105 32 195 177 226 130 172; Number of bytes = 8; Number of bits = 64; Number of characters = 5.
Key terms
- Bit
- A binary digit, 0 or 1.
- Byte
- A group of 8 bits, the basic unit of storage; values 0–255.
- Code point
- The number Unicode assigns to a character, written U+0041 for “A”.
- Character encoding
- The rule that turns code points into bytes, such as UTF-8 or Windows-1252.
Frequently asked questions
How do you write “A” in binary?
“A” has code 65, which is 01000001 in binary – the same in ASCII, UTF-8 and Windows-1252.
Why do some letters use 16 or 24 bits?
In UTF-8 only the 128 ASCII characters fit in one byte; “é” or “ñ” need two bytes, most other scripts and symbols such as € need three, and emoji need four.
Is the number 12 converted as a number or as text?
As text: the characters “1” and “2” become 00110001 00110010. To convert the value twelve to binary (1100), use a decimal-to-binary converter.
What does the UTF-16 byte order mark do?
The bytes FE FF at the start tell the reader that the following 16-bit units are big-endian; FF FE would mean little-endian.
Which encoding should I choose?
UTF-8. It is used by about 98% of websites, is compatible with ASCII and can store every Unicode character.
How many bits are in a byte?
Eight. One byte can hold 2⁸ = 256 different values, from 00000000 (0) to 11111111 (255).
Can I convert binary back to text here?
Yes – switch the direction to “Binary → text” and paste the bits; spaces between bytes are optional.