Morse Code Translator — Free Online Text to Morse Code
Convert text to Morse code (dots and dashes) and decode Morse code back to text — supports the full ITU Morse alphabet including punctuation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Morse Code: The Original Digital Communication
Morse code, developed in the 1830s by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail for the electric telegraph, was arguably the world's first digital communication protocol. It encodes text as sequences of short signals (dots, dit) and long signals (dashes, dah), separated by pauses of varying length. It transmitted the first long-distance messages and remained the primary form of long-distance communication for over a century.
The code is designed for efficiency: the most common letters in English have the shortest codes. 'E' (the most common letter) is a single dot. 'T' (second most common) is a single dash. Less common letters like 'Q' (--.-) and 'Y' (-.--) have longer codes. This frequency-based design minimizes transmission time.
This tool uses the International Morse Code (ITU) standard, which is the current standard used in amateur radio. Words are separated by a slash (/) in the output. Letters within a word are separated by spaces, and dots/dashes within a letter have no separator.