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Text to Octal Converter: Text and Octal Both Ways

This free text to octal converter writes any text as octal bytes, three digits each, and decodes octal numbers back into text. It uses UTF-8, and you can choose how the values are separated.

By Debmedia Technologies LLP · Kolkata, India · Updated

What Is a Text to Octal Converter?

A text to octal converter writes each byte of a text as an octal number, using the digits 0 to 7. Octal is a counting system with base 8. Because eight is two to the power of three, one octal digit stands for exactly three bits, and three octal digits stand for a byte. The letter H, with the code 72, is written 110 in octal.

This text to octal converter turns text into octal values and octal values back into text, and it works with UTF-8, so every character converts correctly.

How to Use This Text to Octal Converter

  1. Type or paste your text, or your octal numbers, into the box.
  2. Choose the direction: encode (text to octal) or decode (octal to text).
  3. Choose what separates the values: a space, a comma, a new line or nothing.
  4. Press Convert and copy the result.

A Worked Example

CharacterDecimalOctalBinary
H7211001001000
i10515101101001
!3304100100001
space3204000100000

Octal is one of the positional number systems described in octal numbers on Wikipedia. Each octal digit is the value of three binary digits, which makes conversions between the two easy.

Where Octal Is Still Used

  • Unix and Linux permissions. A mode such as 755 means read, write and execute for the owner, and read and execute for everyone else.
  • Programming languages. Some languages allow octal escapes in strings, such as \101 for the letter A.
  • Older computers. Many early machines had word sizes that divided evenly into octal digits.
  • Teaching. It is a good example of a number system between binary and hex.

Decoding Octal to Text

Paste the octal numbers with spaces, commas or new lines between them, and choose decode. Each value must be between 0 and 377, which is 255 in decimal, since a value must fit in one byte. The tool then joins the bytes and shows the text. A warning appears when they are not valid UTF-8.

For shorter output, use the text to hex converter. To see the bits, try the text to binary converter. To convert plain numbers between binary, octal, decimal and hex, use the number base converter. Everything runs in your browser, and your text stays private.

A Handy Bridge Between Binary and Hex

Octal sits between binary and hexadecimal, and converting text to octal is a good way to practise all three. Each octal digit is exactly three bits, so you can turn binary into octal by cutting it into groups of three. The same trick works the other way round.

It also works for longer messages, and each result can be copied with a single click.

Frequently Asked Questions

Octal is base 8. It uses the digits 0 to 7, and three octal digits describe one byte, so it is a short way to write binary data.
Mostly in Unix file permissions, such as 755, and in older computer systems. Some programming languages also allow octal escapes in text.
The letter H has the code 72, which is 110 in octal. The tool shows each byte as three octal digits.
Yes. It converts the UTF-8 bytes, so a letter like é shows two octal bytes.

Disclaimer: results are calculated in your browser from the numbers you enter. Check important results before you rely on them for money, health, safety or legal decisions.