To convert hex to text, paste the hex values into the Input box, for example 48 65 6c 6c 6f. The converter detects hex and shows the decoded text (Hello) in Output as you type. Spaces, commas and 0x prefixes are ignored. To go from text to hex, type plain text instead, or select Convert now if Live Convert is off.
How to convert hex to text
- Paste your hex. Enter it in the Input box or load a .txt, .hex, .csv or .json file with Select file. Separators and 0x prefixes are fine.
- Check the direction. Auto detect treats input as hex when it's made of hex byte pairs and separators and contains at least one digit. Set Conversion to Hex → Text or Text → Hex to force it.
- Pick the encoding. Leave Encoding Mode on UTF-8 for any language, or choose ASCII for strict 7-bit text.
- Copy the result. Select Copy output or Download. Output → Input sends the result back for a round trip.
What hex code means
Hexadecimal is base 16. It uses the digits 0 to 9 and the letters A to F, so one hex digit stands for 4 bits and two digits stand for one byte (00 to FF, or 0 to 255). That makes hex a compact way to show raw bytes: a byte that takes eight characters in binary takes two in hex.
Text becomes hex in two steps. Each character is encoded as one or more bytes, then each byte is written as two hex digits.
| Character | Decimal | Hex (UTF-8) |
|---|---|---|
| H | 72 | 48 |
| e | 101 | 65 |
| space | 32 | 20 |
| é | 233 (U+00E9) | c3 a9 |
| Euro sign | 8364 (U+20AC) | e2 82 ac |
Hello in hex is 48 65 6c 6c 6f. Upper or lower case letters mean the same thing, so 6C and 6c are both a lowercase l. Use the Hex Letters option to choose which case the output uses.
Hex to ASCII vs UTF-8
For plain English, hex to ASCII and hex to UTF-8 give the same result, because UTF-8 uses the same single-byte codes as ASCII for its first 128 characters. They differ above 7f. ASCII mode stops with an error on any byte above 127, while UTF-8 mode reads multi-byte sequences such as c3 a9 as one character, é.
If UTF-8 decoding fails, the hex probably isn't UTF-8 text. It may be a different encoding such as Windows-1252, binary data like an image header, or a cut-off sequence where the last byte of a character is missing. The converter reports the failure instead of showing garbled symbols.
Formats the hex decoder accepts
The hex decoder strips everything that isn't a hex digit before decoding, and removes 0x prefixes, so all of these decode to Hi:
48 69(spaces, the usual hex dump format)4869(no separator)0x48, 0x69(C and JavaScript style)\x48\x69(escape sequences from code and logs)48:69or48-69(MAC address and byte dump style)
The digits must come in complete pairs. An odd number of digits means a byte is missing, and you'll get a message asking you to fix it.
Auto detect only treats input as hex when it's made of whole bytes, contains at least one digit and, unless it's laid out as separate byte pairs, decodes to readable text. Words made only of the letters a to f, such as cafe, face or deadbeef, therefore stay text. If it still guesses wrong, set Conversion to Text → Hex or Hex → Text.
Where you'll see hex text
- Hex dumps and packet captures. Tools like Wireshark and hex editors show payloads as hex bytes. Paste a run of bytes here to read any embedded text.
- Database exports. Binary or BLOB columns are often exported as hex strings that start with 0x.
- URLs. Percent-encoding is hex too:
%20is byte 20, a space. The URL decoder handles whole addresses. - Color codes. A value like #FF5733 is three hex bytes for red, green and blue, not text. Use RGB to hex for colors.
To see the same bytes as 0s and 1s instead, paste them into the binary translator.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert hex to text?
Paste the hex into the Input box. The converter detects it and shows the decoded text in Output. Spaces, commas and 0x prefixes don't matter, but the digits must come in pairs.
How do I convert text to hex?
Type or paste ordinary text and the tool converts it to hex, two digits per byte. Choose a separator and lowercase or uppercase letters in the Conversion options.
What is 48 65 6c 6c 6f in text?
It decodes to Hello. 48 is H, 65 is e, 6c is l (twice) and 6f is o.
Why does my hex show an error?
Usually the hex has an odd number of digits, contains a byte above 7f while ASCII mode is on, or isn't valid UTF-8 text. Check for a missing digit, or switch Encoding Mode to UTF-8.
Is hex the same as ASCII?
No. ASCII is a character set that gives each character a number; hex is just a way of writing numbers. Hex to ASCII means writing each ASCII code in base 16, such as 41 for A.
Is my data uploaded?
No. Conversion happens in your browser, and files you load are read on your device only.