Hex to ASCII

What the Hex to ASCII tool does

This turns hexadecimal codes back into readable text. Paste in the hex, press Convert, and copy or download the text. For example, 48 69 comes back as "Hi", because 48 is the hex code for H and 69 is the code for i. It is the reverse of the ASCII to Hex tool, which is also where the fuller explanation of what hex is and why it is used lives.

It runs in your browser, so nothing you enter is uploaded.

How to use it

1. Paste your hex. Enter the hex codes for the text you want back.
2. Choose an encoding if needed. The default suits ordinary text, but you can pick another to match how the hex was produced.
3. Press Convert. The decoded text appears, ready to Copy or Download.

How it reads your hex

The work happens two hex digits at a time, because each pair stands for one byte. The tool reads each pair, works out the value it represents, and turns that value into a character through the same code table the text was built from. Pair by pair, the characters line up into the original text. Since hex is base 16, every pair runs from 00 up to FF, covering the full range a single byte can hold, so any byte that went in comes back out as the character it stood for.

A worked example with real codes

Take 48. Read as base 16, the 4 means four sixteens, which is 64, and the 8 adds eight, making 72. Code 72 is the character H. The next pair, 69, is six sixteens, 96, plus nine, which is 105, the character i. Put them together and 48 69 reads back as "Hi". A pair like 41 works the same way: four sixteens plus one is 65, which is a capital A. That is all decoding is, each pair turned back into its number and then its character.

Going the other way

If you have text and want its hex codes instead, that is the opposite direction, handled by the ASCII to Hex tool. This one turns hex into characters; that one turns characters into hex.

Questions people ask

How do I turn hex into text?

Paste the hex codes here and press Convert. The tool reads them two digits at a time, turning each pair into a character and joining them into the text.

Does it matter if my hex has spaces or not?

The tool works through the hex in pairs either way. Keeping the pairs clear helps avoid mistakes, especially if you are checking the result by hand.

How do I get hex from text in the first place?

Use the ASCII to Hex tool, which reverses this one, taking your text and giving the hex code for each character.

References

1. Cerf, V. (1969). RFC 20: ASCII format for Network Interchange. Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc20
2. The Unicode Consortium. The Unicode Standard. https://www.unicode.org/standard/standard.html