Hex to Text API

Decode hexadecimal UTF-8 bytes into text or encode text as hexadecimal, with strict byte validation.

Try the Hex to Text API

POST /api/v1/hex-to-text/

Send request transmits this input to the API server. The online tool processes input in your browser.

Request parameters

ParameterTypeRequiredRules
textstringYesText to encode, or pairs of hexadecimal digits separated by optional whitespace. Maximum: 16384 code points.
operationstringNodecode reads hexadecimal bytes; encode converts UTF-8 text to lowercase hex. Values: encode, decode. Default: "decode".

Response fields

A successful response is {"ok":true,"data":{…}}. These fields are inside data.

result · string
The converted text. Empty input can produce an empty result.

Working with UTF-8 byte dumps

This endpoint is useful for reading a hex-encoded text field from a log or producing a hexadecimal representation for an integration test. The conversion is byte based. A Chinese character or emoji can use several UTF-8 bytes, so the number of hex pairs does not necessarily equal the number of visible characters.

Input accepted by the decoder

Spaces, tabs and line breaks are ignored when decoding. After removing whitespace, every byte must contain exactly two hex digits. Prefixes such as 0x, odd-length strings and non-hex punctuation are rejected. Bytes that do not form valid UTF-8 also return an error; this endpoint is not a Latin-1 decoder.

cURL, JavaScript and Python examples

Decode bytes

Whitespace is allowed between hexadecimal bytes.

cURL
curl --fail-with-body --request POST 'https://www.base64.sh/api/v1/hex-to-text/' \
  --user-agent 'Base64.sh API example/1.0' --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-raw '{"text":"48 65 6c 6c 6f"}'
JavaScript
const response = await fetch("https://www.base64.sh/api/v1/hex-to-text/", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({
  "text": "48 65 6c 6c 6f"
})
});
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(await response.text());
console.log(await response.json());
Python
import json
from urllib.request import Request, urlopen

payload = json.loads("{\n  \"text\": \"48 65 6c 6c 6f\"\n}")
request = Request(
    "https://www.base64.sh/api/v1/hex-to-text/",
    data=json.dumps(payload, ensure_ascii=False).encode("utf-8"),
    headers={"Content-Type": "application/json", "User-Agent": "Base64.sh API example/1.0"},
    method="POST",
)
with urlopen(request, timeout=15) as response:
    print(json.load(response))

Response · HTTP 200

{
  "ok": true,
  "data": {
    "result": "Hello"
  }
}

Encode Unicode

Each UTF-8 byte is written as two lowercase hexadecimal digits.

cURL
curl --fail-with-body --request POST 'https://www.base64.sh/api/v1/hex-to-text/' \
  --user-agent 'Base64.sh API example/1.0' --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-raw '{"text":"你好","operation":"encode"}'
JavaScript
const response = await fetch("https://www.base64.sh/api/v1/hex-to-text/", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({
  "text": "你好",
  "operation": "encode"
})
});
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(await response.text());
console.log(await response.json());
Python
import json
from urllib.request import Request, urlopen

payload = json.loads("{\n  \"text\": \"你好\",\n  \"operation\": \"encode\"\n}")
request = Request(
    "https://www.base64.sh/api/v1/hex-to-text/",
    data=json.dumps(payload, ensure_ascii=False).encode("utf-8"),
    headers={"Content-Type": "application/json", "User-Agent": "Base64.sh API example/1.0"},
    method="POST",
)
with urlopen(request, timeout=15) as response:
    print(json.load(response))

Response · HTTP 200

{
  "ok": true,
  "data": {
    "result": "e4bda0e5a5bd"
  }
}

Invalid request example

{
  "text": "abc"
}

HTTP 400

{
  "ok": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "INVALID_INPUT",
    "message": "Hex input must contain complete hexadecimal byte pairs."
  }
}

Limits and error handling

Requests require Content-Type: application/json and a UTF-8 JSON object. The body limit is 32 KiB (32,768 bytes), text fields allow up to 16,384 Unicode code points unless a smaller limit is listed, and responses are limited to 256 KiB. Unknown parameters and unpaired Unicode surrogates in parameter strings are rejected. Send inputs in the request body, not query parameters.

Anonymous access is limited to approximately 60 POST requests per minute per IP address, shared across endpoints in each Cloudflare location. Shared networks share the allowance. Counters are eventually consistent, not a guaranteed global quota. On HTTP 429, wait for the Retry-After interval before retrying; avoid immediate retry loops.

Programmatic clients should send an identifying User-Agent, as shown in the cURL and Python examples. Browser fetch supplies its own header. Cloudflare may reject a generic or missing agent before the API runs; an edge-generated 403 can be plain text or HTML rather than the JSON envelope. See Cloudflare error 1010.

400 · Invalid input
Malformed JSON, missing fields, unsupported options or invalid encoded text. Correct the input before retrying.
403 · Edge request blocked
Check the User-Agent and the Cloudflare error response before retrying.
404 · Unknown endpoint
Use a documented /api/v1/{tool}/ endpoint.
405 · Method not allowed
Use POST. OPTIONS is supported for browser CORS requests.
413 · Size limit exceeded
Reduce the request size or the generated output.
415 · Unsupported media type
Set Content-Type: application/json.
429 · Rate limited
Wait at least the Retry-After number of seconds.
500 / 503 · Service unavailable
Retry later with bounded backoff. Availability is not guaranteed.

API data processing

API inputs are sent over HTTPS and processed in memory by a Cloudflare Worker. The application does not persist submitted text or deliberately log request bodies, and API responses use Cache-Control: no-store. Cloudflare may process network metadata under its own policies. For local processing, use the corresponding browser tool. See the privacy policy.