Free ASCII Converter — Convert Text to ASCII Codes & ASCII to Text Online

What Is an ASCII Converter?

An ASCII converter is a free online tool that translates between plain text characters and their corresponding ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) numeric codes. ASCII assigns a unique number (0–127) to every letter, digit, punctuation mark, and control character used in English text. Our converter makes it easy to encode text into ASCII values or decode ASCII codes back to readable text.

Why ASCII Conversion Matters

ASCII is the foundation of modern text encoding. Understanding ASCII conversion is critical for:

• Programming — character manipulation, string operations, and data validation
• Data transmission — serial communication, protocol headers, and file formats
• Cybersecurity — analyzing encoded payloads, obfuscation techniques, and steganography
• Web development — HTML entities, URL encoding, and character escaping
• Education — learning the relationship between characters and their numeric representations

Understanding the ASCII Table

Printable Characters (32–126)

These include uppercase letters (A = 65 to Z = 90), lowercase letters (a = 97 to z = 122), digits (0 = 48 to 9 = 57), and common symbols like @ (64), # (35), and ! (33).

Control Characters (0–31)

Non-printable control codes include newline (10), tab (9), carriage return (13), and null (0). These control text formatting and data flow in communications.

Extended ASCII (128–255)

Extended ASCII adds special characters, accented letters, and symbols beyond the original 128-character set. Different code pages exist for various languages and regions.

How to Use Our ASCII Converter

1. Open the ASCII Converter tool above
2. Enter your text or ASCII numeric codes
3. Select the conversion direction — text to ASCII or ASCII to text
4. Click Convert to see the result instantly
5. Copy the output for your project or analysis

Common Use Cases

• Encoding messages — represent text as numeric codes for puzzles or data transfer
• Debugging — check the exact ASCII value of characters in strings
• Input validation — verify character ranges (e.g., only allow printable ASCII)
• File analysis — inspect non-printable characters in raw file data
• Cross-platform compatibility — ensure text encodes correctly across systems

Best Practices

• Remember that ASCII only covers English characters — use UTF-8 for international text
• Separate ASCII codes with spaces or commas for clarity when encoding
• Use decimal values (most common) unless your use case requires hex or octal
• Watch for control characters — they won't display as visible text but can affect formatting

Related Tools

Explore more free converter and text tools:

• Binary Converter — convert between binary and other number systems
• Hex Converter — translate hexadecimal values
• Character Counter — count characters, words, and sentences in text
• Case Converter — change text case (uppercase, lowercase, title case)
• Morse Code Converter — encode and decode Morse code

Frequently Asked Questions

What is ASCII?

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) is a character encoding standard that assigns numeric values to 128 characters — including letters, digits, punctuation, and control codes. Published in 1963, it remains the basis for modern text encoding systems like UTF-8.

What is the ASCII value of 'A'?

The uppercase letter A has an ASCII value of 65. Lowercase a is 97. The difference of 32 between uppercase and lowercase letters is consistent across the entire alphabet.

What's the difference between ASCII and Unicode?

ASCII covers only 128 characters (English letters, digits, basic symbols). Unicode extends this to over 149,000 characters from all writing systems worldwide. UTF-8 — the most common Unicode encoding — is backward-compatible with ASCII.

Can I convert special characters to ASCII?

Standard ASCII only includes characters in the 0–127 range. Characters like é, ñ, or emoji require extended ASCII or Unicode encoding. Our tool handles standard ASCII conversions; for international characters, consider UTF-8 encoding tools.