Morse Code Translator
Translate text to International Morse code and back as you type, play it as sound or a flashing light at 5 to 40 wpm with Farnsworth spacing, and save a WAV.
The interactive tool loads here when JavaScript runs.
About this toolWhat is the Morse Code Translator?
Type text in the top box and its International Morse code appears below; type dots and dashes in the bottom box and the text appears above. Both directions update as you type, so you can encode a message, check a code you have heard, or learn the alphabet by experimenting.
Press Play to hear the message as a clean sine tone and watch it flash on the light, with the current letter highlighted. Set the character speed from 5 to 40 words per minute, add Farnsworth spacing to slow the gaps while keeping each letter at full speed, change the tone and volume, and download the result as a WAV file for practice or a project.
The code follows ITU-R M.1677-1, the international standard, including the @ sign added in 2004. Common extras outside the standard (!, &, ;, $, _, and letters such as Ä, Ñ and Ü) are supported and marked as such in the chart, and prosigns like <SOS>, <AR> and <SK> are sent run together when typed in angle brackets.
- Two-way, live text to Morse and Morse to text
- ITU-R M.1677-1 alphabet, digits and punctuation plus common extras
- Prosigns typed in angle brackets (<SOS>, <AR>, <SK>, <BT>)
- Audio and flashing light playback with letter highlighting
- Speed 5 to 40 wpm, Farnsworth spacing, tone and volume controls
- WAV download with click-free tone shaping
- Runs in your browser with the Web Audio API
How to use the Morse Code Translator
- Type or paste text in the Text box. Letters, digits and standard punctuation are converted; anything without a code is listed and skipped.
- To decode, type in the Morse box: dots and dashes, one space between letters, and / (or two spaces) between words. You may use · • or _ as well.
- Choose a character speed. Turn on Farnsworth spacing and set a lower overall speed if you are learning.
- Press Play. Switch Sound or Light off if you only want one; the current letter is highlighted as it is sent.
- Download a WAV to use the audio elsewhere, or copy the Morse or the text.
Worked examples
SOS
Input
SOS
Output
... --- ...
Typed as letters you get three separate characters. Type <SOS> to send it as one continuous prosign, the way distress calls are keyed.
I love you
Input
I love you
Output
.. / .-.. --- ...- . / -.-- --- ..-
Each slash is a seven-unit word gap. At 20 wpm the whole phrase is 93 units and takes about 5.6 seconds.
Learning at 5 wpm with 18 wpm letters
Input
PARIS, character speed 18 wpm, Farnsworth overall 5 wpm
Output
Dot 66.7 ms, gap between letters 1.57 s, gap between words 3.66 s, total 12 s
The letters sound exactly as they would at 18 wpm. Only the spaces grow, so the word still takes 60 ÷ 5 = 12 seconds.
Background and insight
Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail developed the first code for Morse's electric telegraph in the late 1830s, and the first long-distance public message, "What hath God wrought", went from Washington to Baltimore on 24 May 1844. That American Morse used spaces inside some letters. The simpler Continental code that Friedrich Gerke devised in 1848 became International Morse in 1865 and is what this tool uses. SOS (... --- ... sent as one signal) was adopted as the distress call by the 1906 Berlin radiotelegraph convention.
Morse timing is defined in units. A dot is one unit and a dash three; the gap inside a letter is one unit, between letters three, and between words seven. Speed is measured with the word PARIS, which takes exactly 50 units including its word gap, so one unit lasts 1,200 ÷ wpm milliseconds: 60 ms at 20 wpm. At 20 wpm PARIS takes 3 seconds, which is the timing the tool's tests check.
Farnsworth timing, named after Donald R. Farnsworth, keeps letters at a fast character speed but stretches the spaces so the overall speed is lower. Learners hear each letter as a whole sound pattern instead of counting dots. The tool uses the formula from Jon Bloom's 1990 QEX paper that the ARRL adopted: total extra delay ta = (60c − 37.2s) ÷ (s × c) seconds for character speed c and overall speed s, with 3/19 of it between letters and 7/19 between words.
Common use cases
Learning Morse
Hear letters at real speed with Farnsworth spacing, then decode what you hear by typing it.
Amateur radio practice
Check procedure signals such as <AR>, <SK> and <BT> and make practice audio at a set speed.
Puzzles and escape rooms
Encode clues, decode beeps or flashes, and export a WAV for a game or video.
Crafts and gifts
Get the dots and dashes for a name or date to stamp on a bracelet, engrave or knit.
Teaching history and signals
Show how a telegraph message was timed and why some letters are shorter than others.
Tips and limitations
- Morse has no lower case. Decoded text is always capitals.
- Characters with no Morse code, such as # or %, are skipped and listed under the box, so check the message before you send it.
- Accented letters without their own code fall back to the plain letter, which is how most operators send them.
- Unknown sequences when decoding show as # so a misheard letter does not shift the rest of the message.
- Browsers only allow sound after a click, so the first Play may take a moment to start on some phones.
- For learning, keep the character speed at 15 to 20 wpm and lower the Farnsworth speed instead of slowing the letters.
Frequently asked questions
What does SOS mean in Morse code?
SOS is not an abbreviation. It was chosen in 1906 because ... --- ... is easy to send and recognise. It is keyed as one continuous signal with no letter gaps, which you can produce here by typing <SOS>.
How long is a dash compared with a dot?
A dash lasts three dots. The gap between the parts of a letter is one dot, between letters three dots and between words seven. At 20 words per minute a dot is 60 milliseconds.
How is Morse speed in words per minute measured?
With the standard word PARIS, which is 50 units long including the space after it. So at 20 wpm you could send PARIS 20 times a minute, and one unit lasts 1,200 ÷ 20 = 60 ms.
What is Farnsworth spacing?
A way to learn Morse at a low overall speed while each letter is sent at a higher speed. Only the gaps between letters and words are lengthened, so you learn letters by their sound instead of counting dots and dashes.
How do I write numbers and punctuation in Morse code?
Digits are five symbols long: 1 is .---- and 0 is -----. Common punctuation includes full stop .-.-.-, comma --..--, question mark ..--.. and @ .--.-., all listed in the chart below the tool.
How do I separate words when typing Morse to decode?
Put one space between letters and a slash between words, for example .... .. / - .... . .-. . for HI THERE. Two or more spaces or a new line also start a new word.
Can I download the Morse audio?
Yes. The WAV button saves a 16-bit mono file at your chosen speed, tone and volume. Each beep is shaped with a 5 ms fade in and out so it does not click.
Is there an in-depth guide to the Morse Code Translator?
Yes. “Morse Code: The Alphabet, Timing Rules and How to Learn It” covers the background, how it works, common pitfalls and worked examples. Read the full guide.
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