Binary Encoder / Decoder

Runs in browser Encoding

Encode UTF-8 text into 8-bit binary groups and decode binary strings back, with automatic detection of the direction.

Privacy: This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your input never leaves your device.

What are hexadecimal and binary representations?

Binary writes a value in base 2 and hexadecimal in base 16, where one hex digit stands for exactly four bits, so a byte is always two hex characters (0x00–0xFF). Hex is how hashes, colours, memory addresses and raw bytes are usually shown, and Base16 encoding (RFC 4648) is simply hex applied to a byte sequence.

How to use Binary Encoder / Decoder

  1. Paste text or a binary string.
  2. Let auto-detect choose the direction, or press Encode / Decode.
  3. Pick the group size and separator for encoding.
  4. Copy the result.

Binary Encoder / Decoder features

  • Text → 8-bit UTF-8 groups or 16-bit UTF-16 units
  • Binary → text with automatic direction detection
  • Space, newline, comma or no separator
  • Handles continuous bit strings and short groups (left-padded)
  • Warns about non-binary characters and invalid UTF-8

Binary Encoder / Decoder example

Encode and decode "Hi"

Input:

Hi

Output:

01001000 01101001

Frequently asked questions about Binary Encoder / Decoder

How does auto-detection work?

If the input consists only of 0s, 1s and separators (with at least 8 bits), it is treated as binary and decoded; otherwise it is encoded. You can force a direction with the Encode/Decode buttons.

Why does an emoji produce four groups?

Text is encoded as UTF-8 bytes and each byte is shown as 8 bits. 🚀 is four bytes in UTF-8, so it becomes 32 bits. Choose the 16-bit option to see UTF-16 code units instead.

Can I decode binary without spaces?

Yes. A continuous bit string is split into 8-bit groups from the left. Groups shorter than 8 bits (for example "1000001" for "A") are left-padded with zeros and reported.

Is this the same as a file's binary?

It is the exact byte content of the text in UTF-8 — the same bits a text file would contain. Binary files (images, executables) are better inspected in hex.

Technical notes

Encoding converts the text to bytes (UTF-8 by default) and prints each byte as eight binary digits. Decoding splits on separators — or every 8 digits for continuous input — parses each group as a byte and decodes the byte sequence as UTF-8.

References