Ever Wondered How Computers Store Letters?
Think about this: when you type your name on a keyboard, send a WhatsApp message, or open a Word document — how does the computer know what letters you mean? We humans see letters, words, and sentences. But computers? They don’t “see” letters directly. Just like before, they only understand 0s and 1s.
So how do we get from binary to text? 👉 The answer is encoding systems like ASCII and Unicode.
Think of it like this: We have different human languages in the world, but the idea is the same: people are communicating. Binary and text are like two different languages, too.
- Binary is for computers (just 0s and 1s).
- Text is for us (letters, words, sentences).
Just as we can translate between languages, we can also translate between binary and text. That’s what this post is all about:
- What “text” really means in computer terms.
- How ASCII values give every character a number.
- How to convert binary into text.
- How to convert text into binary.
By the end, you’ll not only understand binary but also be able to do the conversions yourself — and trust me, it’s way simpler than it looks.
What is Text?:
Text is simply a way of representing characters — letters, digits, symbols, and even spaces — so that humans can read and write. Each character has to be stored in the computer as a numeric value first. These numeric values are then translated into binary. When you look at your screen, the computer converts them back into readable text for you.
This is where ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) comes in. It was one of the earliest and most widely used systems to give every character a unique numeric value
ASCII Values (Quick Overview): Here’s how characters are mapped:
- Uppercase A–Z: 65 to 90
- Lowercase a–z: 97 to 122
- Digits 0–9: 48 to 57
- Space: 32
- Common symbols: between 33 and 47 (like !, “, #, $, etc.)
👉 So before a computer writes an A on your screen, it actually stores the number 65 in memory. That number is then written in binary as 01000001
Mini-Tables for Reference
Uppercase Letters (A–Z):
| Character | ASCII (Decimal) | Binary |
|---|---|---|
| A | 65 | 01000001 |
| B | 66 | 01000010 |
| C | 67 | 01000011 |
| … | … | … |
| Z | 90 | 01011010 |
Lowercase Letters (a–z):
| Character | ASCII (Decimal) | Binary |
|---|---|---|
| a | 97 | 01100001 |
| b | 98 | 01100010 |
| c | 99 | 01100011 |
| … | … | … |
| z | 122 | 01111010 |
Digits (0–9):
| Character | ASCII (Decimal) | Binary |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 48 | 00110000 |
| 1 | 49 | 00110001 |
| 2 | 50 | 00110010 |
| … | … | … |
| 9 | 57 | 00111001 |
💡 Note: Instead of memorizing all values, remember the ranges:
- A–Z → 65–90
- a–z → 97–122
- 0–9 → 48–57
What is Binary (Base 2)
Binary is the language of computers. It’s built on only two digits: 0 and 1, which is why it’s called Base 2. 👉 Think of it like a light switch: Instead of counting with 0–9 like us, computers count only with ONs and OFFs
- 1 = ON
- 0 = OFF
How to Read a Binary Number (Step by Step): The trick with binary is simple:
👉 Start from the rightmost digit.
👉 Each place represents a power of 2.
- The rightmost digit is always 20 = 1.
- The next digit to the left is 21 = 2.
- Then 22 =4.
- Then 23=8.
- And so on… doubling each time as you move left.
So, every digit in binary is like a “switch” controlling one of these powers of 2:
- If the digit is 1, that power is counted.
- If the digit is 0, that power is ignored.
Converting Binary to Text
Let’s say convert 01001000 01001001 to Text
Step 1: Split the binary string into 8-bit groups (since each character is 1 byte):
- Binary: 01001000 01001001
Step 2: Convert each group from binary to decimal:
👉(If you’re not sure how to do this, check out my earlier article on Binary to Decimal Conversion Made Easy
- 01001000 = 72
- 01001001 = 73
Step 3: Look up these decimal values in the ASCII table (refer to the tables above):
- 72 → H
- 73 → I
Step 4: Put the characters together in the same order as the binary groups were given:
- H + I = HI
✅ So, 01001000 01001001 (binary) = “HI” (text)
Converting Text to Binary
Let us convert the Text “HI” to Binary.
Step 1: Take each character and find its ASCII decimal value.
- H = 72
- I = 73
Step 2: Convert each decimal value into binary.
👉(If you’re not sure how to do this, check out my earlier article on Binary to Decimal Conversion Made Easy
- 72 = 01001000
- 73 = 01001001
Step 3: Put the binary codes together:
- H = 01001000
- I = 01001001
✅ So, “HI” (text) = 01001000 01001001 (binary).
💡 Quick Note: Each character is stored as 8 bits (1 byte). That’s why the word “HI” takes up 2 bytes in binary
Binary may look like a long chain of 0s and 1s, but now you know each 8-bit chunk has meaning — it’s simply a letter, number, or symbol in disguise. From 01001000 to H, it’s just translation 🙂.
👉 Interested to know how Hexadecimal can be converted into binary? Check out my post Binary to Hexadecimal Made Easy