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Emoji to Shortcode Converter

Convert 50 common emoji to shortcodes like :fire: or :rocket: for Markdown, and turn those shortcodes back into emoji.

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About this tool

The Emoji to Shortcode Converter replaces emoji in your text with their shortcode names, such as 🔥 → :fire:, 👍 → :thumbsup: or 🚀 → :rocket:, and can also run the other way, turning those shortcodes back into emoji. Shortcodes are the text form used by Slack, GitHub, Discord and many Markdown sites to insert emoji. The tool has a built-in list of 50 common emoji, including 😀 :grinning:, 😂 :joy:, ❤️ :heart:, ✅ :white_check_mark:, 🎉 :tada:, 💡 :bulb:, 💯 :100: and 🐛 :bug:. Each one is replaced wherever it appears, and everything else, including emoji outside the list, is left unchanged. It is useful for writing GitHub issues, release notes and Markdown posts with the most common emoji, or for turning shortcode-style chat text back into emoji.

Why use it

  • Converts the most common emoji to shortcode format in one step.

  • Shortcodes such as :tada: and :rocket: render in Slack, GitHub Markdown and Discord.

  • Works in both directions: Emoji → Shortcode and Shortcode → Emoji.

  • Runs entirely in the browser with no data sent to a server.

  • Lets you store emoji-rich text safely in code repositories without binary-character risk.

  • Makes diff-friendly version control of emoji content possible — shortcodes are plain text.

How to use

  1. Choose a direction: Emoji → Shortcode or Shortcode → Emoji.
  2. Paste your text into the Input box.
  3. Click Convert to fill the Output box.
  4. Click Copy to copy the result to your clipboard.
  5. Check the output for emoji or shortcodes that were not in the 50-item list; they are left unchanged.

When it helps

  • Preparing Markdown documents that use shortcode-style emoji notation.
  • Migrating chat exports from one platform to another with different emoji formats.
  • Converting emoji in blog post content to Slack or GitHub Markdown shortcodes.
  • Creating emoji-annotated code comments that render on GitHub.
  • Authoring GitHub issues or pull request descriptions where shortcodes render as emoji.
  • Migrating WhatsApp or Telegram chat logs to a Jekyll-based static site.

Examples

Markdown post

Input

Loving this feature 🔥 and 100% recommend 👍

Expected result

Loving this feature :fire: and 100% recommend :thumbsup:

GitHub release notes

Input

🚀 Major release — see the changelog 📝

Expected result

:rocket: Major release — see the changelog :memo:

Shortcode → Emoji

Input

Ship it :rocket: :tada: :smile:

Expected result

Ship it 🚀 🎉 :smile:

Tips

  • Test pasted shortcodes in your target platform first — Slack and GitHub use slightly different aliases for some emoji.
  • When documenting in Markdown, shortcodes are easier to type from a keyboard than copy-pasting actual emoji characters.
  • Use this with the Emoji Extractor to first see which emoji a text contains, then check which of them are in the 50-item list.
  • If you collaborate with people on different OSes, shortcodes render consistently while raw emoji can look different per system.
  • Remove skin tones before converting, or the modifier square stays after the shortcode.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which platforms are the shortcodes compatible with?
The names follow the common GitHub (gemoji) style, such as :thumbsup:, :tada: and :white_check_mark:, which Slack, GitHub and Discord also accept for these emoji. Some platforms use different aliases for a few of them, so test in your target app.
How many emoji does it support?
50 common emoji, including 😀 😂 ❤️ 👍 🔥 ✅ ⚡ 🎉 💡 🚀 👀 💪 ✨ 🙏 💯 🤝 🏆 💻 🐛 🤖 👋 and 🎨. Popular ones such as 😄 :smile:, 👏 :clap: and 😢 :cry: are not in the list and are left as emoji.
What happens if an emoji has no known shortcode?
Emoji without a recognized shortcode mapping are left as-is in the output.
Does it convert in both directions?
Yes. Pick Shortcode → Emoji to turn shortcodes from the same 50-item list back into emoji; other shortcodes, like :smile:, are left as text.
Are skin-tone emoji converted correctly?
No. Skin-tone modifiers are not mapped. If the base emoji is in the list it becomes a shortcode and the modifier stays after it as a colour square (💪🏼 → :muscle:🏼); otherwise the whole emoji is left unchanged.
Does it convert the entire text or just selected emoji?
It converts all emoji in the entire text block, replacing each inline while preserving all surrounding content.
Does it support custom or platform-only emoji?
No. Custom Slack or Discord emoji are not Unicode characters and have no standard mapping. The tool covers the standard Unicode emoji set.
Does ❤ without the emoji style convert?
Only ❤️ written with the emoji variation selector (U+FE0F) is in the list. A plain text-style ❤ is left unchanged, as are symbols like ™ and ©.

Explore the category

Emoji Extractor Extract the emoji from a block of text and see how many times each one appears, with total and unique counts. Emoji Remover Strip pictographic emoji from text or replace each one with your own text, with a count of emoji found. Hidden Character Detector Detect invisible characters like NBSP, zero-width spaces, bidi controls, BOM, tabs, CR/LF, and control chars, then clean safely. Diacritic & Accent Remover Strip accents, umlauts, and diacritical marks from text, converting characters like é, ü, ñ to plain ASCII. Pluralizer & Singularizer Convert English nouns between singular and plural forms using simple suffix rules plus a short list of irregular words. Markdown to PDF Converter Convert Markdown to a styled PDF with live preview. Choose GitHub, Minimal, or Dark theme.

Glossary

Shortcode
A text alias starting and ending with colons (e.g. :smile:) that platforms convert to emoji when rendering.
Gemoji
GitHub's open-source emoji shortcode reference, widely adopted as the de facto standard.
Twemoji
Twitter's open-source emoji set and naming conventions, compatible with most shortcode parsers.
Markdown
A lightweight markup language for formatting text using simple symbols; many flavors support emoji shortcodes.
Skin-tone modifier
A suffix like :skin-tone-3: appended to a base emoji shortcode to set the skin tone.
Codepoint mapping
The lookup table connecting Unicode code points (e.g. U+1F600) to their shortcode names (e.g. :grinning:).
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