Binary Translator

How binary code is read

Bytes

Every 8 bits make one byte, and spaces, line breaks and commas between bytes are optional: 01001000 01101001 and 0100100001101001 both read as Hi. A 0b prefix, as in 0b01001000, is ignored.

Groups of 1, 2 or 4 bits

Equal groups of 1, 2 or 4 bits are joined back into bytes: 0100 1000 0110 1001 reads as Hi.

Leading zeros left out

A group shorter than 8 bits that starts with 1 is a byte with its leading zeros left out: 1001000 01101001 reads as Hi.

7-bit groups

When two or more groups all have exactly 7 bits, each one is a 7-bit ASCII character, even one that starts with 0: 1001000 1101001 0100001 reads as Hi!

A byte still being typed

If the binary ends partway through a byte, with nothing after it and whole bytes or equal groups of 1, 2 or 4 bits before it, the translation shows the text so far and Copy waits for the rest. Type a space after the last group to have it read by the rules above.

UTF-8 and ASCII

In UTF-8, the letters, digits and symbols on a US keyboard take one byte each, é typed as one character takes two, curly quotes ’ “ ” take three, 👋 takes four, and 👩🏽‍💻, built from four parts, takes 15. ASCII has only the one-byte characters, 00000000 to 01111111; choose it to check that your text or binary uses nothing else.

Mistakes

The translation stays empty if the binary has a character other than 0, 1, a space, a line break, a comma or a 0b prefix; bits these rules can’t make into whole bytes; or bytes that aren’t UTF-8 text.

Binary code chart

Capital letters start with 010, lowercase letters with 011 and digits with 0011. Each is one byte in UTF-8 and ASCII.