Braille Translator

How to use the braille translator

1. Type or paste your English text. Letters, digits, spaces and the marks . , ; : ! ? ' - ( ) are supported.
2. The braille appears below as Unicode braille patterns.
3. Check the message under the box for any characters that could not be translated. They are left as typed.
4. Use Copy braille or Download .txt to take the result with you.

What this translates

This tool writes uncontracted braille, which is also called Grade 1. Every letter is spelled out in full, with no shortcuts for common words or letter groups. Contracted braille, called Grade 2, is what most experienced readers use for books, and it is not produced here. The tool is not for official or professional transcription, so use a certified transcriber for signs, labels or documents that people will depend on.

The output uses the braille patterns block of Unicode, which starts at U+2800. Each cell is a character, and the dots set in the cell decide which character it is. Dots 1, 2 and 3 run down the left column and dots 4, 5 and 6 down the right. A cell with only dot 1 raised is a, and the cell for h has dots 1, 2 and 5.

The rules it follows

A capital letter gets a capital sign, which is dot 6, in front of it. A word written in capitals, two or more letters, gets two capital signs in front of the whole word. A number gets a number sign, which is dots 3, 4, 5 and 6, once at the start. The digits then use the cells for the letters a to j, so 1 is a and 0 is j. A decimal point or comma between digits stays inside the number. A letter from a to j that follows a digit straight away gets a letter sign, dots 5 and 6, so it is not read as a digit.

The letter, number sign and capital sign patterns were checked against the English Braille article on Wikipedia. The rulebooks of the Library of Congress National Library Service and the Braille Authority of North America were not fetched, so check anything important against them. Related tools are the Morse code translator, the binary translator and the NATO phonetic alphabet.

Fonts and display

Whether the dots show on your screen depends on the font. Most modern systems draw braille patterns, though a few older fonts show empty boxes. The text you copy is real Unicode, so it will display correctly in any program with a braille-capable font. Your text is translated in the browser and is never uploaded.

Assumptions and limits

• Output is uncontracted (Grade 1) braille only.
• Only letters, digits, spaces and the listed marks are translated. Others are left as typed and listed.
• Quotation marks, symbols and accented letters are not translated.
• It is not for official or professional transcription.

Formulas reviewed October 10, 2026. See the calculation methodology for how SumPanda rounds, tests and sources its formulas.

Frequently asked questions