Morse Code Converter

Choose the tool that matches your starting point

Morse conversion has two directions. If you already know the message, the text-to-Morse page creates its written signal. If you have dots and dashes, the decoder turns separated groups into characters. The audio page generates tones from either of those inputs; the word translator in its name does not mean it listens to recordings. A microphone, radio receiver or automatic speech-like recognition step is not part of these tools.

The chart is better for a single disputed character than for a whole sentence. Select a group, find the symbol and play it. For learning, move from that reference to listening and then to a quiz or practice prompt. For reuse, choose the format your recipient needs: editable text, a static image, a WAV signal or a message link. These are different representations of the same checked message, not interchangeable evidence that it was understood.

The focused pages share mapping and playback controls. You do not need to learn a new alphabet on each page, but each route has a different first task. Keep your original text or clue alongside the result when moving between tools. A successful round trip can reveal missing characters or damaged separators; it cannot repair a misspelled source message.

Random replaces the current input; it does not append a new word or save the previous message. Normalize spacing changes whitespace and accepted Morse notation, not unsupported letters into supported spellings. In Morse-to-text mode, Hide answer lets you attempt the reading before revealing the transcript. Use these controls for a deliberate self-check, and keep the original elsewhere before switching modes or opening another tool page: navigation is not a saved workspace.

Marks, spaces and the information between them

A dot and a dash describe short and long signal durations, not two different notes. At ordinary spacing, a dot is one unit, a dash three, the silence inside a character one, the silence between letters three and the silence between words seven. These relationships are specified in ITU-R M.1677-1. In written output, a space represents a character boundary and a slash represents a word boundary. That printed slash is an annotation for silence, not a slash tone.

Compare ..., . . . and . / . / .. They decode as S, EEE and E E E respectively. The marks are identical, but the grouping is not. Removing spaces to make a design look tidier removes part of the message. Likewise, inserting a line break while editing a Morse clue creates a word boundary in this decoder, rather than merely wrapping the display.

For a literal slash, such as in A/B, text input produces .- -..-. -...: three characters in one group of text. Keep that distinct from A B, whose written code is .- / -.... This small comparison is useful before preparing fractions, dates or a clue that contains punctuation.

Read the result before choosing an output

HELLO becomes .... . .-.. .-.. ---. There are five character groups and 16 individual marks. The displayed character count measures input characters; the signal count measures dots and dashes. Neither is a word count. At 20 WPM with Farnsworth also 20, this signal takes 49 dot units, or 2.94 seconds, ending with the last dash. Its duration excludes a final word gap and does not measure when a listener actually hears the speakers.

Try AB9 next. The number 9 is ----., a five-mark digit rather than an abbreviation or spoken number. A mixed identifier should preserve every character and its order. The converter uppercases supported letters, but it does not decide whether AB9, AB 9 or A B9 is the identifier you intended. Spaces in the source matter.

Warnings deserve attention even when the remaining output looks plausible. Unsupported text is omitted during encoding; an unknown Morse group becomes [?] during decoding. Those are different failure states. A message containing an omitted name character may still play, whereas an invalid written Morse group prevents a valid playback timeline. Check the warning and the original, not only whether the Play button produced sound.

Set rhythm deliberately rather than changing everything

The available character speed is 5 to 40 WPM. Farnsworth spacing ranges from 5 WPM up to the current character speed. At the default 18/14 setting, each character keeps an 18 WPM shape while the longer gaps give more time between characters. For a first comparison, 18/10 is a reasonable experiment, not a prescribed learning level. If the whole character is unclear, lower character speed; if you recognize it but cannot keep up with the next one, adjust spacing first.

Pitch can be set from 300 to 1000 Hz and volume from 0 to 100. Pitch changes the tone, not the Morse mapping or duration. Choose a comfortable volume on both the page and your device before repeating anything. Repeat plays the same message with a pause between cycles; it does not create a new exercise. Changing the input or settings stops the current playback, so restart deliberately after making a comparison.

Light and vibration are optional ways to demonstrate the same marks. A screen indicator is not the camera flashlight, vibration may not be supported, and screen timing can differ from audio timing. Keep such output voluntary and do not rely on a sleeping or hidden tab: playback stops when the page becomes hidden. The point of a demonstration is to inspect the signal, not establish a dependable emergency channel.

From recorded marks to shared operating rules

The Library of Congress's 1844 message tape preserves the message sent by Samuel Morse to Alfred Vail in Baltimore on 24 May 1844. The apparatus recorded raised marks on paper for an operator to read. That artifact is a useful reminder that a message could be recorded first and interpreted afterward. A modern generated line of code recreates a representation of text; it is not a facsimile of that historical apparatus or its original alphabet.

Sound changed the operator's task. The Smithsonian's telegraph sounder describes electrical pulses moving a lever through electromagnets so that the receiver could hear the message as clicks. The tone generated here is a different sound, but the comparison explains why duration and gaps carry more information than a row of punctuation suggests. The display tells you the mapping; listening exposes the time needed to distinguish it.

The 1865 Paris conference addressed a network problem as well as a code problem. ITU’s account of the 1865 conference explains that participating countries agreed on international service regulations and tariffs, including adoption of Morse instruments. A common signal did not by itself make messages interoperable: handling rules and compatible equipment mattered too. Today a puzzle sender and solver face a smaller version of that problem when they agree on separators, supported symbols and how to interpret procedure signals.

Historical signals need context, not just a dramatic label

The 1909 Republic rescue and Titanic's 1912 distress traffic are useful teaching topics because they show operators exchanging messages, not merely emitting a famous pattern. The 1909 Congressional Record on Jack Binns records contemporary recognition of Jack Binns and the CQD calls from Republic. The Science Museum's account of Titanic wireless describes both CQD and SOS in Titanic's wireless traffic and the importance of a receiving operator being on watch. Titanic was not the event that invented SOS.

Use SOS to compare letters and procedure, but label the exercise accurately. Typed SOS produces three separated characters, ... --- .... Typed <SOS> produces the joined ...---... signal. They contain the same nine marks but different inner silences. This is a timing lesson, not a claim that playing a browser signal will contact anyone. For a fuller history lesson, ask what additional information a receiving station needed: an identity, a position and an intelligible message.

Morse has also carried information visually. The National Archives' Denton interview record documents Jeremiah Denton's 1966 interview, during which he blinked the word TORTURE. The important distinction is between a human interpreting a timed visual message and software translating already written groups. This site does the latter and generates demonstrations; it does not analyze eye movements, video or recorded sound. Keep that boundary clear when using these examples in a classroom.

Frequently asked questions