Unicode Converter
Convert between text and Unicode code points (U+XXXX). Encode and decode Unicode characters in decimal, hexadecimal, binary, octal, and HTML entities. Perfect for developers, designers, and anyone working with character encoding.
What Is Unicode?
Unicode is an international character encoding standard that assigns a unique number (called a code point) to every character across every writing system in the world. Unlike ASCII, which only covers 128 characters, Unicode supports over 149,000 characters — including letters, digits, punctuation, emojis, mathematical symbols, and scripts from virtually every language.
Each Unicode character is represented by a code point in the range U+0000 to U+10FFFF. For example:
- 'A' = U+0041 (decimal 65)
- '€' = U+20AC (decimal 8364)
- '😊' = U+1F60A (decimal 128522)
How Does the Unicode Converter Work?
This converter supports two directions:
Encode Mode (Text → Unicode):
Each character in your text is looked up in the Unicode standard. Its code point is then displayed in decimal, hexadecimal, binary, octal, and HTML entity formats.
Decode Mode (Unicode → Text):
Each Unicode code point (in decimal, hex, binary, octal, or HTML entity format) is converted back to its corresponding character. Code points should be separated by spaces.
The per-character breakdown table shows exactly how each character is represented in all five formats, making it easy to understand the relationship between text and its underlying Unicode representation.
Why Use This Unicode Converter?
- Bidirectional: Encode text to Unicode code points and decode code points back to text.
- Five Formats: View results in decimal, hexadecimal, binary, octal, and HTML entity simultaneously.
- Per-Character Breakdown: See exactly how each character is represented.
- Customizable: Choose separators, binary padding, and decimal precision.
- Free & Private: No registration, no data storage.
Unicode vs ASCII
- ASCII: Uses 7 bits to represent 128 characters, covering English letters, digits, and common symbols. Developed in the 1960s.
- Unicode: A much larger standard that encodes over 149,000 characters from virtually all writing systems worldwide, including Chinese, Arabic, emoji, and mathematical notation.
- Compatibility: ASCII characters occupy exactly the same positions (0-127) in Unicode, so all ASCII text is valid Unicode. UTF-8 is the most common encoding, where ASCII characters use 1 byte.
❓ Unicode Converter FAQ
What is Unicode?
Unicode is an international character encoding standard that assigns a unique code point (number) to every character across all writing systems. It supports over 149,000 characters, including emojis, mathematical symbols, and scripts from virtually every language.
What is a Unicode code point?
A Unicode code point is a unique number assigned to each character in the Unicode standard. Code points are written in hexadecimal with the prefix "U+" (e.g., U+0041 for the letter "A").
How do I convert text to Unicode?
Enter your text in the input field, select "Encode" mode, and click Convert. Each character will be displayed as its decimal, hexadecimal, binary, octal, and HTML entity code.
How do I decode Unicode code points to text?
Select "Decode" mode, choose the format of your input (hex, decimal, binary, octal, or HTML entity), enter the codes separated by spaces, and click Convert. The tool will reconstruct the original text.
What is the Unicode code point for the letter 'A'?
The Unicode code point for 'A' is U+0041 (decimal 65, binary 1000001, octal 101, HTML entity A).
What is the Unicode code point for the euro sign?
The Unicode code point for the euro sign '€' is U+20AC (decimal 8364, binary 10000010101100, octal 20254, HTML entity €).
What is the difference between Unicode and ASCII?
ASCII uses 7 bits to represent 128 characters (English letters, digits, and common symbols). Unicode is a much larger standard that encodes over 149,000 characters from virtually all writing systems, including emojis and mathematical symbols.
What is UTF-8?
UTF-8 is a variable-length encoding for Unicode that uses 1 to 4 bytes per character. It is the most common Unicode encoding on the web and is backward compatible with ASCII.
What is the difference between UTF-8 and UTF-16?
UTF-8 uses 1-4 bytes per character and is backward compatible with ASCII. UTF-16 uses 2 or 4 bytes per character and is commonly used in Windows and Java. This converter works with Unicode code points, not specific encodings.
What is an HTML entity?
An HTML entity is a way to represent special characters in HTML using a code. For example, the entity for 'A' is A (decimal) or A (hexadecimal). This converter shows both decimal and hex HTML entities.
How do I convert hex Unicode to text?
Select "Decode" mode, choose "Hexadecimal (U+XXXX)" as the input format, enter the hex codes separated by spaces (e.g., "U+0048 U+0065 U+006C"), and click Convert. The tool will decode them to text.
How do I convert decimal Unicode to text?
Select "Decode" mode, choose "Decimal" as the input format, enter the decimal codes separated by spaces (e.g., "72 101 108 108 111"), and click Convert. The tool will decode them to text.
How do I convert binary Unicode to text?
Select "Decode" mode, choose "Binary" as the input format, enter the binary codes separated by spaces (e.g., "1000001 1100101 1101100"), and click Convert. The tool will decode them to text.
What is the range of Unicode code points?
Unicode code points range from 0 to 1,114,111 (U+0000 to U+10FFFF). This covers all current and future characters in the Unicode standard.
What are surrogate pairs in Unicode?
Surrogate pairs are a way to represent code points above U+FFFF in UTF-16. They use two 16-bit values (high and low surrogates) to represent characters in the range U+10000 to U+10FFFF, such as emojis.
How do I convert emojis to Unicode?
Enter the emoji in the text input in Encode mode. The calculator will show its code point. For example, '😊' is U+1F60A (decimal 128522).
What is the Unicode code point for a space?
The Unicode code point for a space character is U+0020 (decimal 32).
How do I convert HTML entities to Unicode text?
Select "Decode" mode, choose "HTML Entity" as the input format, enter the HTML entities separated by spaces (e.g., "A H"), and click Convert. The tool will decode them to text.
Is this calculator accurate for all Unicode characters?
Yes. This calculator uses JavaScript's built-in String methods and supports the full Unicode range up to U+10FFFF.
What is the difference between Unicode and a character encoding?
Unicode is a character set that assigns a unique number to each character. A character encoding (like UTF-8, UTF-16) defines how those numbers are stored in bytes. This converter works directly with Unicode code points.