Binary to Text
Convert binary (base-2) code back into readable text.
How to use the Binary to Text
- Paste binary, with each byte separated by a space.
- Copy the decoded text.
About the Binary to Text
Paste space-separated groups of 0s and 1s and each group becomes the character with that code point. 01001000 is 72, which is “H”. The spacing is essential: it is what tells the tool where one character ends and the next begins. A single unbroken run of sixty-four digits is read as one enormous number rather than as eight characters, so if your binary arrived without spaces you will need to insert them in groups of eight first.
Groups do not have to be exactly eight digits long. Anything shorter is read as the number it represents, so 1001000 without its leading zero still gives “H”. Longer groups work too — a fifteen-digit group produces the character at that code point, which is how characters outside ASCII come back intact. This tool is the exact inverse of the text to binary converter, so anything encoded there decodes cleanly here. Binary produced elsewhere as genuine UTF-8 bytes will not decode correctly, though: each byte of a multi-byte UTF-8 sequence would be read as its own separate character, giving you mojibake rather than the original letter.
Anything other than 0s, 1s and whitespace produces an error instead of a garbled result — a stray comma, or a capital “O” typed where a zero belongs, are the usual culprits. Everything runs in your browser. Bear in mind this is decoding, not decryption: binary is simply a representation of text and is freely readable by anyone who cares to convert it. To convert numbers between bases rather than text, use the number base converter.
Frequently asked questions
Why am I getting an error?
The input contains something other than 0s, 1s and whitespace. The usual causes are commas or other separators between groups, and a capital letter O typed in place of a zero. Strip everything except the digits and spaces.
Do the binary groups have to be 8 digits?
No. Each whitespace-separated group is read as a binary number of any length, so 1001000 and 01001000 both give "H". What matters is that groups are separated by spaces so the tool knows where each character ends.
My binary has no spaces in it. What do I do?
Insert a space every 8 digits before pasting. Without separators the whole string is read as one huge number rather than as a sequence of characters, so it cannot decode correctly.
Why does binary from another tool decode to gibberish?
That tool probably emitted real UTF-8 bytes, which split each non-ASCII character across several bytes. This decoder treats every group as one whole character, so those bytes come back as separate wrong characters. Plain English text decodes correctly either way.
Is decoding binary the same as breaking a code?
No. Binary is a public, standard representation of text, not a cipher. There is no key and nothing secret about it — anyone can convert it back in seconds.