Text to hex converter

How it works

Hexadecimal is base 16, with the digits 0 to 9 and A to F (10 to 15). One hex digit holds exactly 4 bits, so one byte, 8 bits, is always two hex digits: from 00 to FF. That is why hex is the standard way to write bytes, keys and hashes.

To convert text, it is first encoded as bytes (here in UTF-8), then every byte is split into its high and low 4 bits, and each half becomes one digit. For H, code 72 = 0100 1000 in binary, the halves are 4 and 8: H is 48 in hex. Going back, every pair of digits is $16 \cdot \text{first} + \text{second}$.

RFC 4648 calls this encoding Base16. It doubles the size of the data, but it is the easiest to read and to compare by eye.