Text to Data Converter

What this converter does

This Text to Data Converter turns readable text into its UTF-8 bytes, and then displays those bytes in one of three common representations:

• Binary (8-bit) — 8 bits per byte
• Octal — base-8 values per byte
• Hex — base-16 values per byte

It also works the other way around: paste binary / octal / hex bytes and decode them back into UTF-8 text.

This is ideal when you’re dealing with byte-level data (encodings, protocols, debugging, education), not when you’re doing math with big numbers.

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How to use it

1. Paste your text or your encoded bytes into the left box.
2. Choose Encode (text → bytes) or Decode (bytes → text).
3. Select the output/input format: Binary, Octal, or Hex.
4. Optional switches:
   • Batch by newline — treats each line as a separate conversion
   • Trim lines — removes extra whitespace in batch mode
5. Copy the result from the right box.

Nice detail: in batch mode, each line is processed independently, so one bad row won’t stop the entire conversion.

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What “UTF-8 bytes” means (in plain English)

Computers don’t store characters directly — they store bytes.

• ASCII characters like A, b, ! are 1 byte in UTF-8.
• Many other characters (Greek, emoji, symbols) take 2–4 bytes in UTF-8.

So a “character” is not always equal to a single byte.

Example: ASCII text

"Hi" → 48 69 (hex)

Example: non‑ASCII text

"Ω" → ce a9 (hex)

Example: emoji (multi‑byte)

"🙂" → f0 9f 99 82 (hex)

This is why decoding requires the correct byte sequence — UTF‑8 interprets those bytes into the original characters.

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Format details

Binary (8-bit)

Binary output is shown as 8-bit bytes separated by spaces.

Hello → 01001000 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111

Decoding rule: each group should be exactly 8 bits. If you paste 7-bit chunks, mixed separators, or incomplete bytes, decoding will fail for those chunks.

Octal

Octal output uses base‑8 values per byte.

Hello → 110 145 154 154 157

Decoding rule: each value must represent a byte (0–377 in octal). Values outside the byte range cannot be decoded.

Hexadecimal

Hex output is space-separated, typically shown in lowercase.

Hello → 48 65 6c 6c 6f

Decoding rule: hex bytes are 2 hex characters each (00–ff). If you paste a long hex string without separators, enable trimming/batch settings as needed and ensure it still resolves to even-length byte pairs.

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Batch mode: convert many values at once

Batch mode is perfect when you have a list of strings or byte sequences.

Encode in batch mode:

Hello
World
Γειά
🙂

You’ll get one encoded output row per input row.

Decode in batch mode: paste one sequence per line, for example hex:

48 65 6c 6c 6f
57 6f 72 6c 64
ce 93 ce b5 ce b9 ce ac
f0 9f 99 82

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Common use cases

• Learning & teaching: see how text becomes binary, octal, or hex
• Debugging encodings: spot wrong bytes or invalid UTF‑8 sequences
• Protocols & file formats: inspect byte streams in logs or docs
• CTF / security practice: quickly decode byte sequences to readable text
• Data cleaning: normalize mixed whitespace, process many rows with batch mode

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Troubleshooting

“My decoded text looks wrong (� characters)”

That replacement character usually means the bytes aren’t valid UTF‑8 (or the byte boundaries are wrong). Check:

• You have complete bytes (8 bits for binary, 2 hex digits for hex)
• Your values are in the byte range (0–255 decimal)
• You didn’t accidentally mix formats (hex pasted while binary is selected)

“It decodes some lines but not others”

That’s expected in batch mode: invalid lines are skipped/flagged while valid lines still convert.