Stax
Tools

Unicode Converter

Convert text to Unicode code points and back. Inspect UTF-8/UTF-16 bytes.

U+0048 U+0065 U+006C U+006C U+006F U+0020 U+1F30D
\u{48}\u{65}\u{6C}\u{6C}\u{6F}\u{20}\u{1F30D}

Unicode Converter & Character Inspector — Decode Any Character to Code Points and Escape Sequences

Unicode is the universal standard that makes international text, emoji, mathematical symbols, and every writing system on earth work consistently across all software. But working with Unicode in code often requires knowing the exact code point (U+XXXX), the UTF-8 byte sequence, or the correct escape format for your programming language. This tool covers all three workflows: converting text to Unicode code points, decoding code points back to text, and inspecting the full details of every character.

How to use this converter

In Text → Unicode mode, type or paste any text and the tool immediately shows each character's Unicode code point in U+XXXX format, along with its decimal value, UTF-8 byte sequence, and Unicode block category. Switch escape formats using the buttons to get JavaScript (\u{XXXX}), CSS (\XXXX), HTML (&#xXXXX;), or Python (\uXXXX) escape sequences ready to copy. In Unicode → Text mode, enter code points separated by spaces or commas in any format (U+0041, 0041, or just 41) and decode them back to readable characters.

Practical use cases for Unicode inspection

Developers working on internationalisation (i18n) use it to verify that a string contains the right Unicode characters and not look-alikes from a different block — a common source of bugs when copying text from PDFs or documents. Security researchers use it to inspect homoglyph attacks where visually similar characters from different Unicode blocks are used to create deceptive URLs or usernames. Front-end developers use it to get the correct CSS content value for inserting special characters in pseudo-elements. Python and JavaScript developers use it when they need to safely embed non-ASCII characters in source code without relying on the file's encoding.

Who uses this tool

Software engineers use it when debugging encoding issues where characters appear garbled due to incorrect UTF-8/UTF-16 assumptions. Localisation specialists use it to verify that translated text contains properly encoded characters for target languages. Web developers use it to get the HTML entity or CSS escape code for special symbols like arrows, currency signs, or mathematical operators they want to use without relying on a font that might not have the glyph.

Privacy and data handling

All Unicode analysis and conversion happens entirely in your browser using JavaScript's built-in string APIs — no text input or character data is sent to any server.

Frequently asked questions

What is a Unicode code point?
A Unicode code point is a unique number assigned to every character in the Unicode standard. It is written +XXXX (e.g., U+0041 for 'A'). There are over 1.1 million possible code points.
How do I convert Unicode code points back to text?
Switch to 'Unicode → Text' mode and enter code points separated by spaces or commas. You can use U+0041, 0041, or just 41 — the tool accepts all formats.
What escape formats are supported?
The tool outputs JavaScript (\u{XXXX}), CSS (\XXXX), HTML (&#xXXXX;), and Python (\uXXXX or \UXXXXXXXX) escape sequences. Select the format with the buttons next to the Escaped field.
What does the character inspector show?
For each character in your text, the inspector shows the glyph, Unicode code point (U+XXXX), decimal value, UTF-8 byte sequence (hex), and Unicode block/category.
Does this support emoji and non-BMP characters?
Yes. The tool handles the full Unicode range including emoji, CJK characters, Devanagari, Arabic, and supplementary plane characters (U+10000 and above) using JavaScript's codePointAt API.

Related tools