Hex to UTF-8

Hex to UTF-8 – Decode Hex Dumps into Unicode Text

When data shows up as hexadecimal – in a log line, a database BLOB, a packet capture, or a debugger's memory view – this tool decodes the bytes as UTF-8 and shows the real text, including accented letters, Asian scripts, and emoji. The reverse direction produces a spaced hex dump of any text.

Reading hex as UTF-8

UTF-8 bytes follow a strict pattern, so decoding is more than looking up each byte in a table. The sample starts with 48 65 6C 6C 6F – five one-byte ASCII characters spelling Hello. Then E4 B8 96 and E7 95 8C are two three-byte sequences for 世界, C3 BC is the two-byte ü in dünya, and F0 9F 91 8B is a four-byte emoji. The decoder groups the bytes by their lead byte and checks every continuation byte.

Invalid sequences are reported, not hidden

Many decoders silently replace broken bytes with � (U+FFFD), which makes the original problem invisible. This tool refuses to decode invalid UTF-8 and tells you, so you can find the cause:

• Truncated data – a column or buffer that was cut at a byte limit can split a character: 48 C3 ends in the middle of a two-byte sequence.
• Wrong encoding – 43 61 66 E9 is Café in Latin-1, but E9 alone is not valid UTF-8.
• Binary data – images, compressed data, and encrypted blobs are not text at all.

Where hex-encoded text comes from

• Database tools that display BLOB, VARBINARY, or bytea columns as hex, such as PostgreSQL's \x48656c6c6f format.
• Application logs that dump request bodies or message payloads in hex.
• Wireshark's "Copy as Hex Stream", xxd -p, and od output.
• Firmware strings, NFC tags, QR code payloads, and Bluetooth characteristics.

The reverse direction, UTF-8 to Hex, gives you spaced uppercase bytes (C3 BC) that you can compare against a dump or paste into a test. For more output styles such as 0x prefixes or no separators, use String to Hex; to show the same bytes as \x or percent escapes, open the UTF-8 Converter.