Morse Code Translator
Type text to get Morse code, or paste Morse code to read it back as text. You can also hear it: the dots and dashes are played as tones at a speed you set, which is how Morse is actually sent.
No data needed
How to use
- Choose the direction, or just paste Morse — the direction switches on its own.
- Type or paste into the first box; the result appears as you type.
- Press Play as sound to hear it, and set the speed in words per minute.
- Copy the result.
How it works
The letters, digits and punctuation follow International Morse code as defined in ITU-R M.1677-1, together with the accented letters (à, ä, é, ñ, ö, ü) that have long-standing codes of their own. Inside a word, letters are separated by a space; between words a slash is used, which is the usual way to write a word gap. When reading Morse back, a middle dot, an en dash and an em dash are accepted as well as the plain dot and hyphen, because that is what people paste, and a vertical bar is read as a word gap.
The sound follows the standard timing: a dash lasts three times a dot, the gap between symbols inside a letter is one dot, between letters three dots, and between words seven. Speed is given in words per minute against the reference word PARIS, which is exactly fifty dot units long — so 20 wpm means PARIS sent twenty times in a minute. The tone is a 600 Hz sine wave, close to the pitch used on the air, and it fades in and out over two milliseconds so the start of each dot does not click.
A character with no Morse equivalent is left out rather than guessed at, and it is listed below the result so you can see what was dropped. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere.
Examples
- SOS
- The distress signal is ... --- ... — sent as one unbroken string, with no letter gaps, which is why it is not quite the letters S, O and S.
- Learning to hear it
- Set the speed to 5 wpm to pick out individual letters, then raise it as your ear catches up.
- Reading a message from a photo or a film
- Type the dots and dashes you can see and switch to Morse → text.
Common uses
- Learning Morse code by ear
- Decoding a message found in a game, a puzzle or a film
- Preparing a message for amateur radio practice
- Scout and cadet training activities
Privacy & security
This tool does not take any personal data or files. Results are generated on your device. How each tool handles files
Frequently asked questions
Why is SOS written without gaps?
SOS is a prosign: a single nine-element signal, ...---..., not three separate letters. It was chosen because that pattern is unmistakable even through heavy interference, and it does not stand for “save our ship” — the words came later.
What does words per minute mean here?
Morse speed is measured against the word PARIS, which takes exactly fifty dot units to send. At 20 words per minute, PARIS is sent twenty times a minute, so one dot lasts 60 ÷ (50 × 20) = 0.06 seconds. A beginner reads around 5 wpm; licensed operators often work at 20 to 30.
Can it translate numbers and punctuation?
Yes — the digits 0 to 9 and the common punctuation marks (full stop, comma, question mark, apostrophe, exclamation mark, slash, brackets, ampersand, colon, semicolon, equals, plus, hyphen, underscore, quotation mark, dollar, at) all have codes. Anything else is left out and listed below the result.
Why does my decoded text contain question marks?
A question mark marks a group of dots and dashes that is not a valid Morse character — usually a missing or extra space. Check the spacing: one space between letters, a slash between words.
Is there sound on a phone?
Yes, through the Web Audio API, but iOS stays silent while the phone is on the silent switch, and some browsers only allow sound after you have tapped the page — which pressing Play does.
Is my text sent anywhere?
No. The translation and the sound are generated in your browser, so nothing is uploaded or stored.
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