Pasting a string of \u0048\u0065\u006c\u006c\u006f into your code and wondering what it says — or need to make non-English text safe for a JSON file, a JavaScript string, or a config file that only accepts ASCII? This free unicode escape converter turns readable text into escape sequences like \uXXXX and \u{XXXXX}, and decodes those sequences back into readable text. Everything runs in your browser, so nothing is uploaded and no signup is needed.

How to use this unicode escape converter

Three quick steps — no signup, no cost.

1Paste your text or escapes

Enter plain text to encode, or a string of escape sequences to decode — mixed text passes through unchanged.

2Pick a direction and format

Choose Encode or Decode, then the escape style your code expects: classic \uXXXX or modern \u{XXXXX}.

3Copy the result

Copy the converted text straight into your source file, JSON payload, or config. That is all — no account needed.

Why this unicode escape converter handles emoji correctly

Built for real code, not just ASCII — private and exact.

Emoji stay in one piece

Characters above U+FFFF, like emoji, are encoded as a proper surrogate pair in \uXXXX form or a single \u{XXXXX} escape — never split into broken halves.

Both directions, one tool

Encode text for a source file, then decode an escaped string you found in a log or API response to read what it actually says.

Private by design

Your text never leaves your device, because the conversion runs entirely in your browser.

Copy-ready output

Results use the exact escape syntax JavaScript, Java, and JSON understand, so they paste into code without retyping.

Unicode Escape Converter FAQs

Short, direct answers to the questions readers ask most.

It replaces each character with its code point written as an ASCII escape — for example, é becomes \u00e9. The result contains only plain ASCII, so it survives files and systems that cannot handle raw Unicode.

\uXXXX holds exactly four hex digits, so emoji need two of them (a surrogate pair). \u{XXXXX} is the modern JavaScript form that holds the whole code point in one escape, which is simpler and less error-prone for emoji.

No. U+0041 is just how people write a code point in documentation — it is not valid code. \u0041 is the escape sequence a programming language actually understands.

Yes. Paste the escaped string and decode it to read the original text. JSON itself also understands \uXXXX natively, so a JSON parser will decode it the same way.

By default only non-ASCII characters are escaped, so ordinary letters, digits, and punctuation stay readable. An escape-everything option is there for fully portable, ASCII-only output.

Yes. It runs entirely in your browser — no account, no signup, and nothing uploaded.