Morse Code Translator

How it works

Morse code writes each letter, digit and punctuation mark as a short pattern of dots and dashes. The translator uses International Morse code (the ITU standard) and a few common extras like ! and &.

Detect works out the direction: input made only of dots, dashes, spaces and slashes is read as Morse, and anything else becomes Morse. Choose Text → Morse or Morse → text to force one way.

Everything runs in your browser, including the sound. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.

Writing Morse code

• Letters are separated by one space: ... --- ... is SOS.
• Words are separated by a slash: .... .. / - .... . .-. . is HI THERE. A vertical bar or two spaces work too.
• Dots and dashes can be typed as . and -, or pasted as •, ·, —, – or _.
• Line breaks stay line breaks, so you can translate a list or a poem line by line.
• Capital and small letters are the same in Morse, so translated text comes out in capitals.
• Accented letters without their own code are sent as the plain letter (ñ as N). É has its own code, ..-...

If a part of the Morse isn’t a letter, it shows as � in the text. That usually means a space is missing between two letters.

Playing it as sound and light

Press Play Morse to hear the Morse on the screen, whichever side it is on. Speed is in words per minute (WPM), measured with the word PARIS:

At 20 WPM, the usual speed for tests and practice, one unit is 60 milliseconds. Learners often start at 5 to 13 WPM. Choose a tone between 400 and 1000 Hz: 600 Hz is easy on the ears.

Flash light blinks a small light with each dot and dash, for practicing reading Morse by sight. It flashes quickly at higher speeds, so leave it off if flashing light affects you. The .wav button saves the sound as an audio file you can play anywhere.

The Morse code alphabet