Braille translator: text to braille and braille to text

How to use the braille translator

1. 1. Choose a direction. Text → Braille turns print into braille cells; Braille → Text reads braille cells back as letters.
2. 2. Pick a grade. Grade 1 spells every letter out; Grade 2 uses contractions and is what most braille books and signs use. Not sure? See the comparison below.
3. 3. Type or paste. The translation appears on the right a moment after you stop typing — there is no button to press. Up to 20,000 characters at a time.
4. 4. Copy the result. The output is Unicode braille, so it pastes into Word, Google Docs, email and chat as real braille dots. Use Swap to check a translation in the other direction.

Grade 1 and Grade 2 braille, side by side

Grade 1 (uncontracted) braille writes one cell for every printed letter, digit and punctuation mark. It is where learners start, and it is the right choice when every character must be exact — spelling lists, passwords, product codes.

Grade 2 (contracted) braille adds about 180 contractions: single cells or short groups that stand for whole words such as and, the and child, or for common letter groups like ing and ed. It takes noticeably less space and reads faster, so almost all published braille — books, magazines, menus, signage — is Grade 2.

Numbers and capital letters in braille

Braille has no separate cells for digits or capitals. Instead, a sign placed in front changes how the next cells are read. The translator adds these signs for you — type ordinary text with normal capitals and numerals.

Every digit, the numbers 1 to 100 and the rules for decimals, times and dates are on the braille numbers page. Letters, punctuation and symbols with the dot numbers of every cell are on the braille alphabet chart.

Copy and paste braille

The translator writes braille as Unicode characters from the Braille Patterns block (U+2800 to U+28FF), not as a picture or a special font. That means you can copy the output and paste it into a document, a spreadsheet, a social post or a text message, and it stays braille. Most modern phones and computers display these characters out of the box.

Pasted Unicode braille is for sighted readers and screen display. To produce braille a blind reader can feel, send the text to a braille embosser or a refreshable braille display. For whole documents, the PDF and DOCX to BRF converter produces a Braille Ready Format file that embossers accept directly.

Braille to English: reading braille as text

Switch to Braille → Text, choose the grade the braille is written in, and paste Unicode braille cells — for example ⠓⠑⠇⠇⠕ — to see the text they stand for. Most braille you will come across is contracted, so try Grade 2 first: contracted braille read as Grade 1 comes out as strings of odd single letters.

If what you have is a photo of braille rather than braille characters, try the braille image reader, which detects the dots in a picture and turns them into cells you can translate.

Who uses a braille translator

• Parents, friends and colleagues of braille readers who want to write a note, a card or a label.
• Teachers and teaching assistants preparing worksheets, checking a student’s work or showing a class how braille is built.
• Learners comparing Grade 1 and Grade 2 spelling of the same sentence, cell by cell.
• Designers and makers drafting braille for signs, packaging, 3D prints and art projects.
• Developers adding braille output to their own apps through the free braille translation API.

Accuracy and limits

Translation is done by liblouis 3.28, the open-source braille engine used by the NVDA screen reader and by BRLTTY, with its Unified English Braille tables. UEB is the standard for English braille in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa and Nigeria. Only English is supported, and text styling such as bold and italics is not marked. Maths written in Nemeth Code is not supported.

For anything that matters — exam papers, medical or legal information, permanent signage — have the braille proofread by a qualified braille transcriber before it is produced. Automatic translation is a fast first draft, not a certified transcription.

Braille in other languages

Braille is not one code: every language decides what its cells mean, and accented letters have cells of their own. The translator covers eight languages, each with its own page:

Text to braille works in all of them. Reading braille back into text is available for English, French, Polish and Czech; for the others the tables return wrong numbers and punctuation, so the site says so instead of guessing.

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Frequently asked questions