Octal to Text

Decode octal (base-8) codes back to readable text.

Octal Input

Output

How to convert octal to text?

Paste space, comma, or newline-separated octal values and each is decoded to its Unicode character. For example, 110 → 'H' (decimal 72), 60 → '0' (decimal 48). The tool uses parseInt(value, 8) to parse base-8 and String.fromCodePoint to reconstruct the character. Values above U+10FFFF or non-octal characters will show an error.

Built and maintained by Meet Shah · Last updated 19 July 2026

What this tool is used for

Reading a legacy dump or a permissions listing that reports character values in base eight.
Decoding octal escapes copied out of C source or a shell script to see the literal they actually produce.
Recovering text from a system that logged its bytes in octal rather than hex.
Solving a puzzle whose values are deliberately expressed in an unfamiliar base.
Checking whether a numeric sequence is octal at all by seeing whether it decodes to sensible text.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is octal text laid out?: Three digits per byte, since a byte reaches 377 octal (255 decimal). 'A' is 101 and 'a' is 141. That fixed width is what lets a decoder split the stream without separators.
Why does a leading digit never exceed 3?: Because three octal digits span 9 bits and a byte is only 8, so the leading digit uses just two of them. Seeing 4-7 in the first position means the value is out of byte range or is not octal at all.
Where does octal text actually appear?: In C, Python and shell string escapes (\101 for 'A'), in od -c output, and in old tar headers. Modern code prefers \x hex escapes, so octal escapes usually signal older sources.
How does this handle non-ASCII characters?: Each UTF-8 byte is encoded separately, so a multi-byte character becomes several octal groups. 'é' is two bytes (303 251), not one — assuming one group per character is the usual decoding error.
Is it a form of encryption?: No. It is a change of notation with no key, fully reversible by anyone. Like binary or hex text, it obscures nothing from anyone who recognises the format.
How do I tell octal from decimal in a dump?: By the digits and the grouping. Octal bytes are three digits with no 8 or 9 and never exceed 377; decimal reaches 255 and uses all ten digits. A stream containing an 8 or 9 is not octal, which is the quickest disambiguation.
Why did octal fall out of use?: Because it maps cleanly onto 12-, 24- and 36-bit machine words, and modern hardware is built on 8-bit bytes — which divide evenly into hexadecimal nibbles and not into octal digits. Hex won because it matches the byte.
Where does octal still survive?: Unix file permissions, where each digit encodes read, write and execute as three bits, and C-family escape sequences such as `\101`. Both predate the shift to hex and are too entrenched to change.

Common errors and gotchas

Mistaking decimal for octal. Any 8 or 9 proves it is not octal, and everything decoded up to that point is wrong.
Assuming three digits always fit a byte. Only values up to 377 do, and 400 or above is a different character entirely.
Feeding in values without separators, where a run of digits can be grouped several equally valid ways.
Expecting non-ASCII characters to appear. Above 127 the result depends on the encoding you assume, and octal does not record it.
Treating the leading zero in `0755` as part of the value rather than the marker saying the rest is octal.