# Hex to Text Decoder

> Convert hexadecimal bytes to readable text. Spaces, colons and 0x prefixes are handled for you.

- Page: https://decoder.tools/hex-decoder
- Category: Data, Radix & String
- Status: live, runs in the browser
- Last reviewed: 2026-10-23

A hex decoder turns pairs of hexadecimal digits back into bytes and shows those bytes as text. `48` is the byte 72, which is the letter `H`.

## Example

```text Input
48 65 6c 6c 6f 2c 20 77 6f 72 6c 64
```

```text Output
Hello, world
```

Separators don't matter. `48656c6c6f`, `48:65:6c:6c:6f` and `0x48 0x65 0x6c 0x6c 0x6f` all decode the same way.

## What is hexadecimal?

Hexadecimal (base 16) writes numbers with the digits `0–9` and `a–f`. One hex digit is exactly 4 bits, so one byte is always exactly two hex digits, from `00` to `ff`. That fixed width is why hex is the standard way to show raw bytes: in debuggers, packet captures, hash values, color codes and memory dumps.

Converting hex to text is two steps. First each pair of digits becomes a byte. Then the bytes are read as text using a character encoding. This tool uses UTF-8, which matches ASCII for the first 128 values, so English text decodes directly, and multi-byte sequences such as `c3 a9` (é) come out correctly too.

## Common hex values

| Hex | Character | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| `20` | space | |
| `30`–`39` | `0`–`9` | digits |
| `41`–`5a` | `A`–`Z` | uppercase |
| `61`–`7a` | `a`–`z` | lowercase |
| `0a` / `0d` | line feed / carriage return | `0d 0a` is a Windows line ending |
| `00` | null | often padding or a string terminator |

## How to use the hex decoder

1. Paste the hex. Any separator works, and `0x` prefixes are removed.
2. Read the decoded text in the output panel.
3. If you get an "odd number of hex digits" error, a digit is missing or an extra one slipped in, since every byte needs exactly two.

## Convert hex to text in code

```python Python
print(bytes.fromhex("48 65 6c 6c 6f 2c 20 77 6f 72 6c 64").decode("utf-8"))  # Hello, world
```

```js JavaScript (Node.js)
console.log(Buffer.from("48656c6c6f2c20776f726c64", "hex").toString("utf8")); // Hello, world
```

```sh Command line
echo '48656c6c6f2c20776f726c64' | xxd -r -p
```

## Hex at a glance

| | |
|---|---|
| Base | 16 (`0–9`, `a–f`, case-insensitive) |
| Digits per byte | 2 |
| Text encoding used | UTF-8 (ASCII-compatible) |
| Size overhead | 100% (2 characters per byte) |

## FAQ

### Why does my decoded hex show strange symbols?

The bytes aren't text in UTF-8. They might be a number, compressed data, a hash or text in another encoding such as Latin-1 or UTF-16. UTF-16 is easy to spot: every other byte is `00`, as in `48 00 69 00`.

### Is hex encryption?

No. Hex is just a way of writing bytes. If the decoded result looks random, the bytes themselves are probably encrypted or hashed, and hex decoding can't undo that.

### How do I convert text to hex?

Use the [Hexdump viewer](/hexdump-parser). It shows the UTF-8 bytes of any text as hex, with offsets and an ASCII column.