Time/Numbers

Number Base Converter

Convert between binary, octal, decimal, hexadecimal, and any arbitrary (2-36) base — enter a number into any field.

Number systems are just different ways of writing the same number. Binary (base 2) is what processors use at the lowest level, hexadecimal (base 16) is a compact way to write binary data in code, and decimal is the everyday human notation.

How to use it

Common uses

Things to keep in mind

In hexadecimal, the letters A-F (or a-f) stand for the values 10-15 — case usually doesn't matter.

For bases above 16, digit symbols keep going further down the alphabet (G, H...) up to Z for base 36.

Article about this tool: Number systems: why binary, octal, and hexadecimal exist

Frequently asked questions

Which number systems does the converter support?

Quick access to binary, octal, decimal, and hexadecimal, plus any base from 2 to 36 — digits above 9 are represented with Latin letters A-Z.

Can I convert negative numbers and very large integers?

Yes, a "-" sign before the number is supported in every base, and there's no fixed 32/64-bit limit on the number's size — calculations use arbitrary precision.

Is data sent to a server?

No, all conversion happens instantly in your browser via JavaScript — the numbers you enter are never sent anywhere.

How is numeral-system conversion different from Base64?

These are fundamentally different things: a numeral-system converter translates the same number between positional systems (BIN/OCT/DEC/HEX), while Base64 encodes arbitrary binary data (files, images) into a text string for transmission over channels designed for text.

Why does hexadecimal use the letters A-F?

Base 16 needs 16 unique digits, but Arabic numerals only provide 10 (0-9) — so the values 10-15 use the first letters of the Latin alphabet, A-F. For bases above 16 (up to 36), letters continue further down the alphabet.

Articles: Time/Numbers

Unix time: why computers count time from 1970

Why January 1, 1970 became the reference point for time in most computer systems.

Cron expressions: how to decode a task schedule

How to decode an expression like */15 * * * * and know exactly when the job will run.

Bitwise operations: how AND, OR, and XOR work at the bit level

How bitwise AND differs from logical AND, and why you'd operate on individual bits of a number at all.

Date difference: why counting days is trickier than it looks

Why naively subtracting dates can give the wrong result because of leap years.

Age calculation: why it's not just subtracting years

Why simply subtracting birth years can give an age one year higher than the real one.

Time zones: why UTC isn't the same thing as GMT

Why UTC never changes twice a year, while London time (GMT/BST) does.

Duration calculator: how to correctly add up hours, minutes, and seconds

Why adding minutes and seconds requires "carrying" the remainder to the next place, just like in decimal addition.

ISO 8601 duration: how to write a duration in a standard format

Why PT1H30M means "1 hour 30 minutes," not "1 minute 30 hours."

Week number: why different countries count weeks differently

Why January 1 sometimes falls into week 52 or 53 of the previous year under the ISO 8601 standard.

Roman numerals: how a system with no zero and no place value works

Why IV means 4, not 6, and how the subtraction rule works in Roman numerals.

IEEE 754: why 0.1 + 0.2 doesn't equal 0.3 in code

Why almost every programming language prints 0.1 + 0.2 as 0.30000000000000004.

Number to words: why turn digits into text

Why bank documents write an amount both in digits and in words at the same time.