Morse code translator
Convert text to Morse code or decode Morse code back to text. Play audio to hear the beeps.
Ctrl + L clear | Ctrl + Shift + C copy output
The history of Morse code
Morse code was developed in the 1830s and 40s by Samuel Morse — a portrait painter turned inventor — and his collaborator Alfred Vail for the electric telegraph. Vail cleverly assigned the shortest patterns to the most common English letters by counting the type in a printer's case: E, the most frequent letter, became a single dot. The first official telegraph message, "WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT", travelled from Washington to Baltimore in 1844. An international version standardized in 1865 became the world's first global digital communication code, and although commercial telegraphy ended in the 1990s, the code itself never died.
How Morse code works
Morse code represents letters and numbers as sequences of short and long signals called dots and dashes. A dot is a short signal and a dash is a long signal — three times the length of a dot. Letters within a word are separated by a pause equal to three dots. Words are separated by a pause equal to seven dots. The rhythm is the code: skilled operators read Morse entirely by ear, hearing letter shapes rather than counting signals.
In this translator dots are shown as a period character and dashes as a hyphen. Letters within a word are separated by spaces and words are separated by a forward slash. For example "Hello World" becomes ".... . .-.. .-.. --- / .-- --- .-. .-.. -.. ".
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert text to Morse code?
Select Text to Morse mode, type or paste your text, and the code appears instantly using standard notation — a period for each dot, a hyphen for each dash, spaces between letters and a forward slash between words. The translator works in both directions: switch to Morse to Text mode and paste dots and dashes to decode a message back into readable text, which makes it handy for solving puzzle clues as well as creating them.
What is SOS in Morse code?
SOS is ... --- ... — three dots, three dashes, three dots, sent as one continuous pattern. It was adopted as the international distress signal in 1906 purely because the pattern is unmistakable under bad conditions, not as an abbreviation: "Save Our Souls" and "Save Our Ship" are backronyms invented afterwards. The Titanic's operators famously sent SOS in 1912, alternating it with the older CQD distress call, and the signal remained the maritime standard until satellite systems replaced it in 1999.
How long does it take to learn Morse code?
Most learners can master the full alphabet in a few weeks of short daily practice, and reach conversational receiving speed (around 15–20 words per minute) in a few months. The key is learning by sound, not sight — memorizing the rhythm of each letter rather than counting printed dots. Start with the shortest, most common letters (E, T, I, A), use the Play audio button here to hear any word's true rhythm at slow speed, and increase the tempo as recognition becomes automatic.
Can I listen to the Morse code audio?
Yes. After converting, click Play audio and the code plays as tones generated in your browser — short beeps for dots, long beeps for dashes, with correct spacing pauses between letters and words. The Slow, Normal and Fast speed settings make it a practice tool: slow speed for learning individual letters, faster speeds for building real receiving skill, since hearing Morse at rhythm is how operators have always learned it.
Is Morse code still used today?
Yes, in more places than most people expect. Amateur radio operators keep it alive as an efficient long-distance mode that cuts through noise where voice fails. Aviation navigation beacons identify themselves in Morse, which pilots verify against their charts. Militaries retain it as a low-tech backup, and it has found a modern accessibility role: people with limited mobility can type using Morse input switches, a feature Google built into Android's keyboard. Escape rooms and puzzle hunts round out its second life.
What characters are supported?
The full international standard: all 26 letters, digits 0–9, and common punctuation including the period, comma, question mark, exclamation mark and apostrophe. Characters with no Morse equivalent — emojis, most symbols, accented letters — are skipped rather than guessed, so the output always decodes cleanly. Case does not exist in Morse: "hello" and "HELLO" produce identical code, and decoded text comes back in one case.