How the decoder parses your input
Morse has three meaningful gap lengths: 1 unit between the dots/dashes within one letter, 3 units between letters, and 7 units between words. In written form, those collapse to: no gap inside a letter, one space between letters, one forward slash between words. The decoder understands both strict /-separated input and the looser convention of “triple space = word break.”
We also forgive common typing habits: extra whitespace around slashes, mixed use of long dashes (—) instead of hyphens, and trailing spaces. If something doesn't parse, the decoder skips that one sequence and keeps going — you'll usually still get 90% of the message back.
Decoding a photograph or screenshot
A common use: someone posts a morse-code tattoo or bracelet and you want to know what it says. Quick workflow:
- Transcribe the dots and dashes from the photo into the input above.
- Use
.for small beads (dots) and-for bar beads (dashes). - Put a single space between each letter's symbols and a forward slash (
/) wherever you see a distinct spacer bead or wider gap. - Hit enter and read the English output. If it's gibberish, try adjusting the word breaks.
Limitations worth knowing
- Ambiguous spacing can mislead. If two letters' morse patterns concatenate naturally into a third letter (e.g.
.. + .-could look like...-), a missing gap corrupts the decode. Always match the spacing you see in the original. - No support for non-ITU variants. American morse, Japanese Wabun code, and Cyrillic morse aren't in our table. For those, use a specialist tool.
- Prosigns decode as their constituent letters.
...---...with no gaps reads as SOS, same as... --- .... If you need the prosign name, see SOS.