Morse Code Translator

What is Morse code?

Morse code turns letters and numbers into short and long signals — dots and dashes, also called dits and dahs — that you can send as sound, light, radio pulses, or taps of a key. Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail built it for the electric telegraph in the late 1830s and 1840s, and the version in use today, International Morse Code, was standardized in Europe in 1865. For the next century it carried news, business, and distress calls around the world.

English to Morse code, and Morse code to English

The translator above works in both directions from a single box. Type English and you get Morse code, with a space between letters and a slash between words. Paste Morse code and you get English back — separate the letters with spaces and the words with a slash (/), a vertical bar (|), or a double space. Fancy dots and dashes copied from elsewhere (·, •, –, —) are understood too.

Hit Play sound to hear the message, set the speed with the slider, and use Download WAV to keep it as an audio file.

How Morse code timing works

Everything in Morse code is measured in one unit — the length of a dot. A dash is 3 units, the silence between the dots and dashes of one letter is 1 unit, the gap between letters is 3 units, and the gap between words is 7. Speed is given in words per minute (WPM), using the word PARIS, which is exactly 50 units long. At 15 WPM a dot lasts 80 milliseconds; at 20 WPM, 60.

The player above sticks to these timings exactly, so what you hear is real Morse code rhythm — the same thing a radio operator would send.

Morse code alphabet chart

The 26 letters of the Morse code alphabet:

Morse code numbers

Numbers are the most regular part of the code — every digit has exactly five signals, and the dots and dashes shift one step at a time:

Punctuation

SOS in Morse code

The best-known signal of all is SOS: ... --- ... — three dots, three dashes, three dots. It’s sent as one unbroken signal, without the usual gaps between letters, and it became the international distress call in 1908 because anyone can send it and no one can mistake it. The letters don’t stand for anything; “Save Our Souls” is a story people added later.

You can signal SOS with anything that makes short and long signals: a flashlight, a whistle, a car horn, or a mirror. Three short, three long, three short — then pause and repeat. Try it in the player above; it’s a rhythm worth knowing by heart.

Common words and phrases in Morse code

Radio operators have number shorthands of their own: 73 means “best regards” and 88 means “love and kisses.”

How to learn Morse code

Learn it by sound, not by sight. If you memorize the chart, you end up counting dots and dashes in your head, which stalls at a few words per minute. Instead, get used to each letter as a rhythm: dit-dah is A, dah-dit-dah-dit is C.

• Start with the short letters — E (.), T (-), I (..), A (.-), N (-.), and M (--).
• Keep the letters themselves fast (15–20 WPM) and add new ones only once you get the current set right about 90% of the time — the idea behind the popular Koch method.
• Practice 10–15 minutes a day rather than an hour once a week.
• Translate words you care about — your name, a friend’s name, a favorite quote — and play them back.

Don’t mix it up with the tap code prisoners used to knock through walls — that’s a different system, which spells letters by their position in a 5 × 5 grid.

Where Morse code is still used

The telegraph is long gone, but Morse code isn’t. Amateur radio operators still send it (they call it CW), even though the FCC stopped requiring it for a license in 2007. Aviation navigation beacons identify themselves in Morse, so pilots can confirm they’re tuned to the right station. It works as a last-resort signal in emergencies, and it’s an accessibility tool too — Google’s Gboard keyboard can type in Morse for people who can only press one or two switches. And it turns up everywhere from escape rooms to bracelets with a hidden message.

Converting something else? The Roman numeral converter turns 2026 into MMXXVI and a birthday into a Roman numeral date.