Morse Code Translator

About this tool

Morse code is a character encoding that represents letters, digits, and punctuation as sequences of dots (short signals) and dashes (long signals), separated by spaces. Originally designed for telegraph communication in the 1830s, it is still used in amateur radio and remains a fascinating encoding system for educational and puzzle purposes. This Morse Code Translator converts plain text to International Morse Code and decodes Morse code back to readable text. Type in the Text box and click Text → Morse, or paste Morse into the Morse box and click Morse → Text. Letters A–Z, digits 0–9 and 16 common punctuation marks are supported. The encoder puts a space between characters and a slash (/) between words, and any character it cannot encode, including line breaks and the apostrophe, becomes '?'. The decoder reads ASCII periods and hyphens, treats any run of spaces as a character gap and '/' as a word gap, and shows '?' for unknown codes. Everything runs in your browser.

Why use it

• Bidirectional Translation: Encode plain text to Morse and decode Morse back to text — both directions in the same tool.

• Standard ITU Morse Code: Uses the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) standard mapping, the same used globally in amateur radio.

• Supports Letters, Digits & Punctuation: Encodes A–Z, 0–9, and common punctuation like periods, commas, and question marks.

• Simple Morse Input Format: Accepts period and hyphen characters, with spaces between characters and a slash between words.

• Unknown Characters Flagged: Anything without a Morse code, in either direction, shows as '?' so nothing is silently dropped.

• Educational & Accessible: Ideal for learning Morse code, HAM radio study, educational projects, and puzzle creation.

How to use

1. Type or paste plain text into the Text box, or Morse code into the Morse box.
2. Click Text → Morse to encode the text, or Morse → Text to decode the Morse.
3. For Morse input, use periods (.) for dots and hyphens (-) for dashes.
4. Separate Morse characters with a space and words with a slash (/).
5. Select and copy the result from the other box; Clear empties both boxes.

When it helps

• When studying for an amateur radio (HAM) license that requires Morse code knowledge.
• When creating puzzles, escape room challenges, or encoded messages for games.
• When decoding a Morse code sequence found in a book, movie, or educational resource.
• When demonstrating Morse code in a classroom or educational presentation.
• When converting text to Morse for use in audio beep sequences or blinking light signals.
• When verifying the correct Morse encoding for a specific letter or symbol.

Examples

Tips

• The Morse code for SOS ('... --- ...') is the most recognizable emergency signal — encode it and memorize it.
• Use a forward slash (/) as a word separator when typing Morse code input to clearly delimit word boundaries.
• The letters E (.) and T (-) are the simplest — start learning Morse code with high-frequency letters like E, T, A, O, I, N.
• To verify your own Morse code practice, encode a word, try to decode it manually, then run it through the decoder to check.
• Create escape room puzzle clues by encoding a hint phrase to Morse and including dot/dash symbols for players to decode.

Frequently Asked Questions

Glossary

Dot (Dit)

The short signal in Morse code, represented by a period (.) in text notation. In audio, it is a short beep of one unit duration.

Dash (Dah)

The long signal in Morse code, represented by a hyphen (-) in text notation. In audio, it is a beep three units long.

Prosign

A special Morse code symbol that is two letters sent without the inter-character space, used to convey procedural signals. SOS is a well-known prosign.

International Morse Code

The ITU-standardized version of Morse code adopted in 1865, which replaced the original American Morse Code and is now used worldwide.

Word space

The gap between Morse code words, equal to seven units of silence. In text notation, represented by three spaces or a slash (/).

CW (Continuous Wave)

The radio transmission mode used for Morse code, where a carrier wave is switched on and off to create the dot-dash pattern.