How to use the morse code translator
- 1Type text, or paste Morse code, into the box. The direction is detected automatically; set Translate to fix it.
- 2Read the translation in the result box, then press Copy if you need it.
- 3Under Listen, set Character speed (WPM) and press Play; press Stop to end early.
- 4Open International Morse code chart below the tool to look up any letter.
Example
SOS. Help is on the way!
... --- ... .-.-.- / .... . .-.. .--. / .. ... / --- -. / - .... . / .-- .- -.-- -.-.--
Letters are separated by one space and words by “ / ”. The full stop and exclamation mark have their own codes.
Text to Morse code
Each letter, digit and supported punctuation mark becomes its International Morse code, as defined in ITU-R Recommendation M.1677-1. Case doesn't exist in Morse, and accents are dropped first (é is sent as E). Characters with no Morse code are shown as # and listed under the result.
To send a prosign as one unbroken sequence, write it in angle brackets: <SOS> gives ...---..., while SOS gives three separate letters, ... --- ....
Morse code to text
Paste dots and dashes with a space between letters and a slash between words. The decoder also accepts |, three or more spaces, or a new line as word breaks, and it reads look-alike characters such as •, ·, −, – and _, which often appear in Morse copied from web pages. A sequence that isn't valid Morse is shown as # and listed, so you can spot a missing space.
Listening: speed and Farnsworth spacing
Speed is measured in words per minute (WPM) using the standard word “PARIS”, which is 50 dot-lengths long. One dot lasts 1.2 ÷ WPM seconds, so at 20 WPM a dot is 60 ms. A dash is three dots, the gap inside a letter one dot, between letters three, and between words seven.
Overall speed (Farnsworth) keeps each character at full speed but stretches the gaps between characters and words, so the code sounds right while leaving time to think. Many learners hear characters at 15–20 WPM with an overall speed of 5–10 WPM. Tone (Hz) sets the pitch; 600 Hz is a common choice. Audio is generated in your browser with the Web Audio API.
International Morse code chart
The full chart of letters, digits and punctuation is under the tool. The most frequent letters have the shortest codes:
| Letter | Code | Letter | Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| E | . | T | - |
| A | .- | N | -. |
| I | .. | M | -- |
| S | ... | O | --- |
Digits all have five symbols: 1 is .----, 5 is ..... and 0 is -----.
Prosigns and punctuation
Prosigns are procedure signals sent as one character without letter gaps. SOS is ...---...; AR (.-.-.) means end of message, SK (...-.-) end of contact, BT (-...-) a break or new paragraph, and AS (.-...) wait.
The ITU list covers the full stop, comma, colon, question mark, apostrophe, hyphen, slash, brackets, quotation marks, equals, plus and @. The exclamation mark (-.-.--), dollar sign and underscore are widely used but not part of the ITU recommendation, so not every operator will recognize them.
Is my text private?
This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your text is not uploaded to our servers.