Hex to Text Converter
Decode hexadecimal into readable text. Paste hex bytes separated by spaces, or one continuous string (an optional 0x prefix is fine), to get the ASCII text, the character count, and each byte in decimal.
Example: with Hexadecimal 48 69 → Decoded text: Hi.
- Characters2 characters
- Decimal codes72 105
Computed by the calculator below using its default values. Change any input to see your own numbers.
Each pair of hex digits is one byte, from 00 to FF, read as a number from 0 to 255 and matched to its ASCII character. 48 in hex is 72 in decimal, the letter H.
Base 16, two digits per byte
Hexadecimal is base 16, using the digits 0-9 and A-F. One byte holds a value from 0 to 255, which is exactly two hex digits, so hex is a compact stand-in for binary: 48 in hex is 0100 1000 in binary, or 72 in decimal, the code for the letter H. Decoding hex to text means reading each byte and swapping in the character it represents.
Spaced bytes are easy to split, but a solid run of hex works too, cut into pairs from the left; an odd leftover digit is padded with a leading zero. An optional 0x prefix and any stray punctuation are ignored, so the same tool handles memory dumps, color-code-style strings, and puzzle ciphers alike.
How it’s calculated
The 0x prefix and any non-hex characters are stripped. Spaced tokens are each read as one byte; a single continuous string is split into two-digit pairs (a trailing odd digit is zero-padded). Each byte is parsed as base 16 into a code point 0-255 and mapped with String.fromCharCode. Decimal codes are listed for reference.
Assumes single-byte ASCII / Latin-1 values. Multi-byte UTF-8 characters are decoded byte by byte and may not reproduce the original glyph.
Common characters in hex
| Character | Hex | Decimal |
|---|---|---|
| A | 41 | 65 |
| H | 48 | 72 |
| a | 61 | 97 |
| 0 | 30 | 48 |
| (space) | 20 | 32 |
ASCII code points shown in hexadecimal.
Common mistakes
- Splitting hex into single digits instead of two-digit byte pairs.
- Confusing the hex digits A-F with text letters to decode.
- Forgetting an odd number of digits needs a leading zero to form whole bytes.
- Assuming every byte is printable — some codes are control characters with no visible glyph.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert hex to text?
Break the hex into two-digit bytes, read each byte as a base-16 number, and match it to its ASCII character. 48 is 72, which is H.
What does the 0x prefix mean?
It is a common marker that a value is hexadecimal. This tool ignores it, so 0x48 and 48 decode the same way.
Does the hex need spaces between bytes?
No. Spaced bytes are clearest, but a continuous string works because it is split into two-digit pairs from the left.
Why did some bytes turn into strange symbols?
Those codes fall outside normal printable text, often control characters, or the data is not single-byte ASCII. Only valid code points show as familiar characters.