Orpheus

Morse Code Translator

Both directions, with the timing rules explained.

Options
Direction
Write as
Result

Everything is processed in this tab. Nothing you paste is sent anywhere.

Every tool runs entirely in your browser. Your files are never uploaded to a server.

Each letter is a sequence of dots and dashes. SOS is ... --- ... — three short, three long, three short. Letters are separated by a space and words by a slash.

How to use Morse Code Translator

  1. Choose a direction. Text to Morse, or Morse back to text.
  2. Type or paste. Decoding accepts slashes or wide gaps between words.
  3. Pick a style. Dots and dashes, or the spoken dit and dah form.

About translating Morse code

Morse code is a variable-length encoding, and it was one long before that idea had a name. The letters that appear most often in English were assigned the shortest sequences: E is a single dot and T a single dash, while Q, J and Y take four symbols each. The frequency estimates reportedly came from counting the type in a printer's case, which is a remarkably practical way to arrive at something that Shannon would formalise a century later. What written Morse loses is timing, and timing is most of the code. A dash is three dot-lengths. Within a letter, symbols are separated by one dot-length of silence; between letters by three; between words by seven. Those ratios are what let an operator hear a letter as a shape rather than count individual pulses, and they are why a string of dots and dashes with no spacing is genuinely ambiguous — ...- could be V, or S followed by T, or several other readings. The written convention of a space between letters and a slash between words exists to restore what the timing carried. The most famous sequence is not really three letters. SOS was adopted in 1906 for the practical reason that nine evenly grouped symbols are hard to mistake for anything else and easy to send by someone under pressure, and it is properly transmitted as one continuous signal. The various expansions came later. Commercial maritime use formally ended in 1999, and the code survives in amateur radio, where a narrow continuous-wave signal gets through noise at power levels no voice mode could manage.

Frequently asked questions

What are the timing rules?
A dash is three times the length of a dot. The gap between symbols within a letter is one dot, between letters three dots, and between words seven. Those ratios are what make Morse readable by ear, and they are why written Morse needs spacing to mean anything.
Why is E a single dot?
Because Morse assigned the shortest codes to the most frequent letters in English. Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail reportedly counted type in a printer's case to estimate frequencies. E is one dot, T one dash, and rare letters like Q and J take four symbols — it is a hand-built variable-length code, made a century before information theory formalised the idea.
Does SOS stand for anything?
No. It was chosen in 1906 because ... --- ... is unmistakable and easy to send under stress, and the backronyms came afterwards. It is properly a single continuous signal rather than three separate letters.
Is Morse code still used?
Rarely for commercial traffic — maritime use officially ended in 1999 — but it remains popular in amateur radio, where it cuts through noise and interference far better than voice at very low power. Aviation navigation beacons still identify themselves in Morse.
Why are some characters missing?
International Morse covers the twenty-six Latin letters, ten digits and a limited set of punctuation. Accented letters have regional variants that were never universally agreed, and there is no encoding for most symbols — anything without an equivalent is reported rather than silently dropped.

Last updated