How this instrument works
Computers store every character as a number, and that number is ultimately held as binary — a string of 0s and 1s. This instrument converts text to binary in two steps: first it turns your text into UTF-8 bytes (the standard way computers represent Unicode characters as bytes), then it writes each byte as its 8-digit binary form, padding with leading zeros so every byte is exactly 8 digits long. A byte's decimal value of 53, for example, is written 00110101 in binary, and 53 happens to be the UTF-8 code for the digit character '5'.
Because binary is just base 2, converting a byte is really the same kind of lookup as converting it to hex or decimal — only the base changes. Plain ASCII text like English letters, digits, and common punctuation fits in a single byte each, so "Hi" (2 characters) becomes exactly 2 binary bytes: 01001000 01101001. Characters outside the ASCII range take more than one UTF-8 byte, so they produce more than one 8-digit group in a row.
This site also has a Binary to Text Converter that runs the opposite direction — binary digits in, text out. For plain ASCII text the two tools line up byte for byte, since every ASCII character is exactly one UTF-8 byte. They diverge only past the ASCII range: the older Binary to Text Converter reads each entry as a single numeric code point up to 65535, while this tool encodes through true multi-byte UTF-8, so a character needing more than one UTF-8 byte won't round-trip through that other tool the same way it does through this one.
- Type or paste the text you want converted into the Text field.
- Read Binary for the result — one 8-digit binary byte per UTF-8 byte, separated by spaces.
- Letters, numbers, spaces, and punctuation are all supported; each converts to its own byte or bytes.
- Leading zeros are always included, so every byte in the output is exactly 8 digits long.
- For the reverse direction (binary digits typed as numbers, decoded to text), see this site's Binary to Text Converter.
Worked example — converting "5" and "Hi" to binary
Type the single character "5" into the Text field. As UTF-8, the digit character '5' is byte value 53 in decimal. Converting 53 to base 2: 53 = 32+16+4+1 = 2^5+2^4+2^2+2^0, which is 110101 in binary — padded out to a full 8-digit byte, that's 00110101. The character '5' converts to 00110101.
Multi-character text produces one 8-digit group per byte. "Hi" is two bytes: H is decimal 72, which is 01001000 in binary, and i is decimal 105, which is 01101001 in binary. "Hi" converts to 01001000 01101001 — two space-separated 8-digit groups, one per letter.
Punctuation converts the same way as letters. "AI!" is three bytes: A is decimal 65 (binary 01000001), I is decimal 73 (binary 01001001), and ! is decimal 33 (binary 00100001), giving 01000001 01001001 00100001 — proving the conversion treats symbols exactly like letters, since every character is just a byte value underneath.
Questions
Why is every binary byte padded to exactly 8 digits?
Because a byte can represent any value from 0 to 255, and 255 needs 8 binary digits (11111111) to write out. Padding every byte to 8 digits, even small values like 5 (00000101 rather than just 101), keeps every byte the same fixed width, which makes it possible to tell where one byte ends and the next begins when you're reading a long string of binary digits.
Why does one character sometimes produce more than one binary byte?
Because that character takes more than one byte in UTF-8. Plain ASCII characters (English letters, digits, and common punctuation) each fit in a single byte, but accented letters, symbols, and most non-Latin script characters need two to four bytes to represent in UTF-8, so each of those shows up as two to four 8-digit binary groups in a row rather than just one.
How is this different from the site's Binary to Text Converter?
They run opposite directions and use slightly different conventions past plain ASCII. This tool takes text and produces UTF-8 binary bytes; the Binary to Text Converter takes binary digit groups you type as numbers and decodes them as single Unicode code points up to 65535. For everyday English and European-language text the two line up byte for byte, since every ASCII character is exactly one UTF-8 byte — they only diverge on characters that need more than one UTF-8 byte, like many non-Latin scripts and most emoji.
Do I need to add spaces between bytes myself?
No, this tool inserts a single space between every 8-digit byte automatically, so "Hi" produces 01001000 01101001 without you needing to format anything. If you need the binary run together with no spaces for another tool or format, you can remove them after copying the result.
Can this convert emoji or non-English text to binary?
It converts any text representable in UTF-8, which includes the vast majority of world scripts and many symbols, using one to four binary bytes per character depending on how many UTF-8 bytes that character needs. Note this is a one-way, text-to-binary tool only — it doesn't decode binary back into text; use this site's Binary to Text Converter for that direction, keeping in mind the scope difference noted above for non-ASCII characters.