Morse Code Light Translator

How to flash a message with your screen or flashlight

1. Type the message in the box. The dots and dashes update as you type, and the preview shows how long the whole message will take.
2. Choose Screen or Flashlight. Flashlight is grayed out, with the reason shown, in browsers that do not expose torch control.
3. Pick a speed: 6 WPM when a camera will read it, 8 or 12 WPM when a person reads it by eye.
4. Press Start flashing. The display turns black and flashes white, or amber, red or green from Advanced light settings. Turn on Repeat until I stop for a beacon.
5. Tap the screen, press Stop flashing or press Esc to finish. Hiding the tab also stops it, and the flashlight is released.

Screen or flashlight: which one to send with

Use Screen by default. Switch to Flashlight on a phone that supports it when distance or daylight matters, and expect a short warm-up before the first flash. Both sources use the same timing, so the receiver sees the same dots and dashes either way.

How long each flash lasts

Morse code light speed is set in words per minute, and one dot lasts 1.2 seconds divided by the WPM. The tool keeps the standard ratios: a dash is three dots, the gap inside a letter is one dot, the gap between letters is three, and the gap between words is seven.

6 WPM is called camera-safe for a reason. A phone camera samples about 30 frames a second, one every 33 ms, so a 100 ms dot at 12 WPM spans only three frames and a single dropped frame changes its length. At 6 WPM a dot covers about six frames, which gives the decoder room to tell dots from dashes. Reading by eye, 8 to 12 WPM is comfortable once the patterns are familiar.

Morse code blinking chart

The Morse code blinking chart below shows every letter A to Z and digit 0 to 9 as blinks, with the spoken pattern and the seconds each one takes at 6 WPM. E is a single short blink and T a single long one; zero is five long blinks. Tap Flash next to any row to load it into the tool, or tap the character to open its own page.

Where light Morse code is still used

Light carries Morse wherever sound cannot reach: it is silent, it needs only a line of sight, and any lamp can produce it. Navy ships still carry shuttered signal lamps for messages during radio silence, some beacons use a Morse letter as their flash characteristic, while lighthouses and aircraft light guns use their own flash and color codes. Closer to home, hikers and scouts practice with a flashlight, survival kits include a signal mirror, and three short, three long, three short flashes is the recognized distress call. The camera reader has a modern use too: some devices report their status by blinking an LED in Morse, and pointing the camera at it reads the message.

Flashing light safety

A bright screen or torch flashing several times a second can set off seizures in someone who has photosensitive epilepsy, and it is unpleasant for anyone looking straight at it. Keep the speed at 6 or 8 WPM when people are nearby, choose amber or red for a softer flash, and use Repeat only when the device faces away from viewers. Any tap, Esc or hiding the tab stops the flash, and the torch is switched off before it is released. Never aim a flashing torch at drivers or aircraft.

More Morse code tools

Common things to translate