Instrument · Text to Morse and back
Morse code translator
This Morse code translator turns text into Morse code, and Morse code back into text, as you type. Dots are written as periods and dashes as hyphens, with a space between letters and a slash between words. Any result can be played as audio or as a flashing signal lamp at 5 to 40 words per minute.
Dots and dashes, a space between letters, / between words.
How to read the output
Morse is written with three levels of separation, and getting them right is the difference between readable and meaningless.
| Separator | Means | Silence |
|---|---|---|
| (nothing) | Between the dots and dashes of one character | 1 unit |
| space | Between two characters | 3 units |
| / | Between two words | 7 units |
A unit is the length of one dot. At 20 words per minute that is 60 milliseconds, from the PARIS standard: the word PARIS is exactly 50 units long including its trailing word space, so one unit is 1200 milliseconds divided by the speed in words per minute. The dot length at every speed from 5 to 40 WPM is on the Morse code speed and timing page.
Hear it: Morse code audio from 5 to 40 WPM
Press play and the translation is sent as a clean CW tone, timed by the same engine that runs the trainer, so a dash is exactly three times as long as a dot at every speed. Turn on the lamp to watch the same timing as light, the way ships signal with an Aldis lamp, or turn the sound off and read it by eye alone.
If you are learning to copy by ear, slow speeds teach a bad habit: counting beeps. The trainer uses Farnsworth timing instead, with full-speed characters and longer gaps between them.
Common questions
- How do you write Morse code?
- Write a dot as a period and a dash as a hyphen, with no space between the elements of one character. Put a single space between characters and a forward slash between words. So SOS is "... --- ..." and HI THERE is ".... .. / - .... . .-. .".
- Why does the translator use a slash between words?
- A slash survives copy and paste, URLs and chat apps, all of which collapse repeated spaces. The older convention of a double space is still accepted as input here, but it silently breaks the moment the text is pasted anywhere.
- Can Morse code handle punctuation and numbers?
- Yes. ITU-R M.1677-1 defines all 10 digits and 13 punctuation marks, including the full stop, comma, question mark, slash and at sign. The exclamation mark is not in the standard, though -.-.-- is widely used and this translator accepts it. Morse has no upper and lower case.
- Is this translator accurate?
- The codes follow ITU-R M.1677-1, the international standard, apart from five common marks it does not define, and timing follows the PARIS convention where one unit lasts 1200 milliseconds divided by the speed in words per minute. The same engine generates the audio, so what you hear is correctly timed rather than approximated.
- Can this translator decode Morse code from audio?
- No. It translates typed text and typed dots and dashes. MorseForge does not listen through a microphone. To read Morse by ear, train with the practice modes or the 7-day plan, which teach each character as a sound.
- How do I type Morse code on a phone?
- Type a full stop for a dot and a hyphen for a dash, with a space between letters and a slash between words. If your keyboard turns hyphens into long dashes, or you paste middle dots, the translator still reads them correctly.