⠃ Braille Encoder/Decoder

Braille is a tactile reading and writing system for blind and low-vision readers. Text is represented as cells of raised dots, normally arranged as two columns by three rows. This converter turns plain text into Unicode Braille pattern characters and can decode those characters back to text for learning, accessibility review, and digital testing.

Accessibility and education use cases:

• Practice Grade 1 dot patterns for letters, numbers, punctuation, and capitalization.
• Create classroom examples for accessibility, assistive technology, or inclusive design lessons.
• Check how short labels, signs, exhibit text, or packaging copy might appear in braille cells.
• Generate Unicode Braille samples for documentation, screen-reader notes, or refreshable display testing.
• Decode copied Unicode Braille text when reviewing examples from lessons, files, or web pages.

Grade 1 Unicode Braille details:

• Cell layout: dots 1, 2, and 3 are the left column; dots 4, 5, and 6 are the right column.
• Grade 1: uncontracted braille; each letter is represented directly instead of using word contractions.
• Six-dot range: a six-dot cell has 64 states including blank, or 63 nonblank patterns.
• Unicode block: the Unicode Braille Patterns chart covers U+2800 through U+28FF, including the 8-dot patterns used by computer braille.
• Pattern encoding: Unicode stores dot patterns, not English meaning; the same symbol can have different meanings in different braille codes.
• Numbers: digits use the number sign ⠼ followed by the A-J letter patterns, so 1 becomes ⠼⠁ and 0 becomes ⠼⠚.
• Capitals: a capital indicator ⠠ is added before a single capital letter, and a double capital indicator marks all-caps words.

Examples:

hello converts to ⠓⠑⠇⠇⠕, A1 converts to ⠠⠁⠼⠁, and cat? converts to ⠉⠁⠞⠦. Spaces remain spaces so words stay separated in copied output.

Limitations: This is useful for Grade 1 learning, Unicode rendering checks, and basic Grade 2 contraction experiments. It is not a certified transcription engine for textbooks, exams, legal documents, signage, music braille, Nemeth mathematics, tactile graphics, layout rules, or locale-specific braille standards. Unsupported characters may be replaced with the question-mark pattern ⠦. For production work, consult the Braille Authority of North America UEB guidance and the ICEB Rules of Unified English Braille.

Physical braille note: Unicode characters are visual/digital representations of dot patterns, not embossed output. Real tactile production has dot height, spacing, paper, signage, and formatting requirements; BANA documents these concerns in its size and spacing guidance.

Privacy note: The text you enter is processed by this site's conversion API to generate the result. Do not paste private, regulated, or confidential material unless you are comfortable sending it to the service for conversion.