Morse Code Translator

How to use the Morse code translator

1. Type text, or paste Morse code, in the input box. With Automatic (detect Morse), the tool translates Morse to text when the input contains only dots, dashes and separators, and text to Morse otherwise. You can force Text → Morse or Morse → text under Direction.
2. Choose how Accented letters are handled (see below), then read the result. Click Copy to copy it, or Use the result as input to translate it back.
3. In Sound and light, set the Speed (words per minute) and the Tone (Hz), then click Play. Stop ends playback at any time, and Download WAV saves the same sound as an audio file.

When decoding, letters are separated by a space and words by a slash, a vertical bar or two spaces or more. Middle dots (·), bullets (•) and long dashes (— −) are accepted as dots and dashes, so code copied from other sites usually works as is. A code that matches no character appears as �, and the codes involved are listed under the result.

The ITU standard and accented letters

The tool follows ITU-R M.1677-1, the international Morse code recommendation: the 26 letters, the 10 digits and the punctuation . , : ? ’ - / ( ) ” = + @. The only accented letter it defines is É (..-..). The Accented letters option decides what happens to the others:

• ITU: É has its own code, other accents removed: é uses its own code, while à, ç or ü are sent as a, c, u;
• Remove all accents (É → E): every accent is removed, including on é;
• Extended: À Ä Ç È É Ñ Ö Ü codes (not ITU): adds the continental codes still used by some clubs. The person receiving must know them.

The signs ! ; & _ $ are not in the ITU recommendation but are widely used, so the tool encodes them too. Characters with no code at all, such as emoji or €, are skipped and listed.

Timing, speed and Farnsworth spacing

Morse speed is measured with the word PARIS, which is exactly 50 units long including the gap after it. One unit (a dot) lasts 1.2 ÷ WPM seconds: 60 ms at 20 WPM. A dash is 3 units, the gap inside a letter 1 unit, between letters 3 units and between words 7 units.

With Farnsworth spacing: letters at full speed, longer gaps between them, each letter keeps its fast rhythm but the gaps between letters and words are stretched so the text as a whole arrives at the Overall speed (WPM). The stretching uses the ARRL formula. Learners often use 18–20 WPM letters with a 5–10 WPM overall speed: they learn each letter as a sound pattern instead of counting dots.

The tones have 5 ms soft edges to avoid clicks. The WAV file is 16-bit mono at 22,050 Hz; up to 10 minutes of audio can be rendered.

The light and flashing safety

Flash a light with the sound switches a lamp on for each dot and dash while the current letter is displayed. Flashing content can trigger seizures, so while the light is on, playback is limited to 7 WPM: that keeps the lamp under 3 flashes per second, the WCAG threshold. If your device is set to reduce motion, the light is switched off and only the current letter is shown. The WAV download always uses the speed you chose.