--- title: "Morse Code Translator - Text to Morse & Back | CanDoYa" description: "Free Morse code translator. Convert text to Morse code and Morse to text instantly, with a full alphabet chart. Runs in your browser - nothing uploaded." url: https://candoya.com/tools/morse-code-translator/ locale: en type: browser-tool --- # Morse Code Translator Category: Text & Writing ## What is a Morse code translator? A Morse code translator converts plain text into International Morse Code and decodes Morse back into readable text. Each letter, digit or punctuation mark becomes a unique pattern of dots and dashes: letters are separated by spaces and words by a slash. This translator works both directions live as you type, entirely in your browser. Type text and get standard International Morse Code (ITU-R M.1677-1) instantly, or paste dots and dashes and read them back as text. The translator understands the common ways people write Morse: **.** and **-** for the signals, a space between letters, and **/** (or **|**, or a wide gap) between words. It even normalizes lookalike characters such as underscores and bullet dots that other apps paste in. Anything it cannot translate is clearly marked instead of silently dropped, and the full alphabet chart below the tool shows the exact table it uses. Everything runs locally - your message never leaves your device. ## How to use it 1. **Choose a direction** - Pick Text to Morse to encode a message, or Morse to text to decode dots and dashes. Swap flips the result back for an instant round-trip check. 2. **Type or paste your message** - The translation appears live in the panel beside it. When decoding, separate letters with spaces and words with a slash (/). 3. **Check the status bar** - It confirms the translation, and lists any characters or sequences that have no Morse equivalent - they are marked with # or ? instead of vanishing. 4. **Copy the result** - Copy the output with one click, and use the alphabet chart below to learn or verify individual letters. ## Who it's for - **Students and scouts** learning Morse code who want to check their practice messages against the official ITU table. - **Puzzle, geocaching and escape-room fans** decoding dots and dashes found in a clue, or encoding their own secret messages. - **Amateur radio (ham) operators** preparing CW abbreviations and call signs, or verifying a copied transmission. - **Writers and game designers** adding authentic Morse code to fiction, ARGs or video games without memorizing the alphabet. ## Expert note Written Morse is really a notation for timing: a dash lasts three dots, the gaps inside a letter last one dot, gaps between letters three, and gaps between words seven. The spaces and slashes this translator prints are the standard stand-ins for those three- and seven-unit silences, which is why a decoded message depends as much on the gaps as on the dots and dashes themselves. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is this Morse code translator free? Yes - it's completely free with no sign-up and no limits. Both directions, text to Morse and Morse to text, run entirely in your browser. ### Is my message uploaded anywhere? No. Translation happens locally in your browser and nothing is sent to a server, so even private messages stay on your device. ### How do you write SOS in Morse code? SOS is ... --- ... - three dots, three dashes, three dots. It is sent as one continuous sign with no letter gaps, chosen in 1906 because the pattern is unmistakable, not as an abbreviation of any phrase. ### What does the slash (/) mean in Morse code? In written Morse a slash marks the gap between words. A single space separates letters within a word, and / stands for the longer seven-unit silence between words. This translator inserts it automatically when encoding and accepts / or | when decoding. ### Does Morse code have numbers and punctuation? Yes. International Morse Code defines all ten digits (1 is .---- through 0 as -----) and punctuation such as the period (.-.-.-), comma (--..--) and question mark (..--..). This translator supports the full ITU set plus common extras like ! and $. ### Does Morse code work in other languages? International Morse covers the Latin alphabet A-Z, so it works for any language written in Latin script, and common accented letters like É, Ñ, Ö and Ü have standard extensions this tool supports. Other scripts such as Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic and Japanese use their own national Morse variants, which are not included here. ### Why do some characters come out as # or ? A # means a character in your text has no Morse code (an emoji, for example), and a ? means a group of dots and dashes does not match any character. The status bar lists exactly which ones, so nothing is dropped without you knowing. ## Related tools - [NATO Phonetic Alphabet Converter](https://candoya.com/tools/nato-phonetic-alphabet/) - [Rail Fence Cipher](https://candoya.com/tools/rail-fence-cipher/) - [Base64 Encode and Decode](https://candoya.com/tools/base64-encode-decode/) --- *Markdown edition of , published for AI agents and other automated readers. Index of key pages: .*