How to convert text to binary and back: complete guide with free converter

The binary system uses only 0 and 1. Computers use it because circuits have two states: on (1) and off (0). Everything — text, images, video — is sequences of 0s and 1s.

Example: "A" = 65 in ASCII = 01000001 in binary. "Hi" = 01001000 01101001.

Common sizes: 1 bit = 2 values. 1 byte = 8 bits = 256 values. 1 KB ≈ 1,000 characters.

Convert with the NexTools text-binary converter.

Step 1: Each character has a number in a character encoding table (ASCII, UTF-8).

Step 2: That number is converted to base 2 (binary).

The NexTools converter does this instantly in both directions.

ASCII (1963): 128 characters (7 bits). English only.

UTF-8 (1993): Modern standard. ALL characters from ALL languages + emojis. Compatible with ASCII.

English: 1 byte. Accents: 2 bytes. CJK: 3 bytes. Emojis: 4 bytes.

For other encoding methods, see our Base64 guide.

1. Education: Understanding computer internals.

2. Debugging: Encoding bugs (mojibake).

3. Secret messages: Binary is unreadable at a glance.

4. Networking: Data transmits as bit sequences.

5. Compression: Huffman coding uses fewer bits for frequent characters.

For hashing, use the NexTools hash generator.

Convert hex colors with the NexTools color converter.

Step 1: Split binary into 8-bit groups (bytes).

Step 2: Convert each to decimal: 01001000 = 72.

Step 3: Look up in ASCII table: 72 = "H".

Shortcut: Memorize powers of 2: 128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1. Each "1" bit adds its power.

Or paste in the NexTools converter for instant results.

JS text→binary:

"Hello".split('').map(c => c.charCodeAt(0).toString(2).padStart(8,'0')).join(' ')

JS binary→text:

"01001000 01101001".split(' ').map(b => String.fromCharCode(parseInt(b,2))).join('')

Python text→binary:

' '.join(format(ord(c),'08b') for c in "Hello")

Python binary→text:

''.join(chr(int(b,2)) for b in "01001000 01101001".split())

First binary computer: Konrad Zuse's Z1 (1938).

Why not ternary (base 3)? Ternary computers were researched (Setun, USSR, 1958). Theoretically more efficient but harder to build.

Is Morse code binary? Almost. Dots and dashes ≈ 0 and 1. But pauses of different lengths make it technically multi-state.

Programmer joke: "There are 10 types of people: those who understand binary and those who don't." (10 in binary = 2 in decimal.)