Morse Code Translator
Translate text to Morse code and Morse code to text instantly, both directions. It uses the full International Morse Code standard — every letter, digit and common punctuation mark — separating letters with a space and words with a /. Play the result as audio beeps right in your browser. Everything runs client-side; nothing is uploaded.
Letters are separated by a single space and words by /. Characters with no Morse equivalent are shown as ?. Input is case-insensitive.
Translated entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded, and the audio is generated locally.
What this tool is
- A free, in-browser Morse code translator: convert text to Morse code and Morse code back to text, both directions, instantly.
- Uses the full International Morse Code standard — all 26 letters, the digits 0–9 and the common punctuation marks.
- Letters are separated by a space and words by a “/”; any character with no Morse equivalent is shown as “?”, and input is case-insensitive.
- Play the result as audio: the dots and dashes are turned into beeps right in your browser using the Web Audio API (no file is downloaded or streamed).
- Everything runs client-side — nothing you type is ever sent to a server, so it is safe to use offline once the page has loaded.
What is Morse code?
Morse code encodes text as sequences of two signal lengths — a short dot and a long dash. Each letter, digit and common punctuation mark maps to a unique pattern of dots and dashes. Because the signal is simply on or off, a message can be sent as sound, a flashing light, a radio tone or any switchable channel — which is what has kept the code useful across so many media.
Dot, dash and the timing
All of Morse timing is measured in one unit — the length of a dot. A dash is three units long. Inside a single character, the gap between elements is one unit. Between letters the gap is three units, and between words it is seven units. This translator writes those breaks as a single space between letters and a / between words, and the audio player uses exactly these ratios when it beeps the code out.
International Morse Code
The variant implemented here is International Morse Code, the standardized form used worldwide for the Latin alphabet, the digits 0–9 and a set of punctuation marks. It is what you want in almost every case. (An older American Morse Code used slightly different patterns and spacing and is now largely historical.) The well-known distress signal SOS is ... --- ... — chosen for being short and unmistakable rather than as an abbreviation.
Unknown characters and prosigns
Any character this translator does not have a code for is rendered as a ? so the output stays aligned with your input, and decoding is equally forgiving — an unrecognized dot/dash group also becomes ?. Beyond the letters and digits, Morse also defines prosigns — procedural signals that run several letters together as one symbol with no internal gap, such as the error/correction signal (eight dots) or the end-of-message signal. This tool translates the standard characters and punctuation; it does not expand named prosigns, which are typically written out by operators by convention.
International Morse Code alphabet chart
The complete reference — letters, numbers and punctuation. Hover-free, printable and the exact mapping this translator uses.
Letters A–Z
Digits 0–9
Punctuation
Where Morse code is used today
- Amateur (ham) radio. Known as CW (continuous wave), Morse remains popular because it is intelligible in weak-signal and noisy conditions and uses very little bandwidth.
- Navigation aids. Aviation and marine beacons identify themselves by transmitting their call sign in Morse.
- Accessibility. Because it needs only a simple on/off input, Morse lets people who can produce just one or two switch actions spell out text, and some assistive input methods support it directly.
Privacy note: this translator is not encryption. Morse code is a public, well-known encoding — anyone can read it off a chart — so it offers no confidentiality and should never be used to hide a secret. Its value is reliable transmission over simple channels, not secrecy. The translation itself runs entirely in your browser, so nothing you type leaves your device.
Frequently asked questions
What is Morse code?
Morse code is a method of encoding text as a series of two signal durations, conventionally called dots (short) and dashes (long, three times the length of a dot). Each letter, digit and common punctuation mark is assigned a unique sequence of dots and dashes. Within a character the elements are separated by a gap one dot long, letters are separated by a gap three dots long, and words by a gap seven dots long. Because it needs only an on/off signal, it can be sent by sound, light, radio tone or any channel that can be switched on and off.
What is International Morse Code?
International Morse Code is the standardized version used worldwide, covering the Latin letters A–Z, the digits 0–9 and a set of punctuation and procedural signals. It is the standard this translator implements. (An older variant, American Morse Code, used slightly different patterns and internal spacing and is now largely historical.) International Morse defines fixed dot/dash patterns — for example A is dot-dash, and the digit 5 is five dots — so the same message encodes identically everywhere.
How do I write SOS in Morse code?
SOS is “... --- ...” — three dots, three dashes, three dots. It was chosen as an international distress signal precisely because the pattern is simple, unmistakable and symmetric, not because the letters stand for a phrase. In this translator, typing SOS in Text → Morse produces “... --- ...”, and pasting “... --- ...” into Morse → Text returns SOS.
How does the translator handle characters it does not recognize?
In Text → Morse, any character that is not a supported letter, digit or punctuation mark is replaced with a “?” so the output stays aligned with your input. In Morse → Text, a sequence of dots and dashes that does not match a defined character is likewise shown as “?”. The translator is case-insensitive, treats one space between codes as a letter break, and accepts either a “/” or a run of two or more spaces as a word break, so it is forgiving of how the Morse was spaced when you pasted it.
What is Morse code still used for?
It is still widely used in amateur (ham) radio, where its narrow bandwidth and intelligibility in weak-signal conditions keep it popular, and the ability to send and receive it (often referred to as CW, for continuous wave) is a point of pride and a practical skill. It also appears in aviation and marine navigation aids, which identify themselves with Morse call signs, and in accessibility — people who can produce only a simple on/off input can spell out text in Morse, and some assistive software and input methods support exactly that.