Hex to Binary Converter

How to Convert Hexadecimal to Binary

Converting hexadecimal to binary by hand is straightforward once you know the routine. The converter above does it instantly, but working through the steps yourself is the fastest way to understand what is actually happening to the digits.

1. Take each hexadecimal digit on its own.
2. Replace every digit with its 4 digit binary equivalent, keeping leading zeros.
3. Join the groups together in the same order.
4. Drop any leading zeros if you want the shortest form.

Worked example: AA

Result: (AA)¹⁶ = (10101010)²

The Hexadecimal System

Hexadecimal is the base 16 system. It uses the digits 0 through 9 and then the letters A through F to stand for the values 10 through 15. Its key property is that one hex digit represents exactly four binary digits, a nibble, so a single byte is always two hex characters. That compactness is why hex shows up everywhere in computing: HTML colour codes such as FFFFFF for white and 000000 for black, memory addresses, MAC addresses, hash digests, and byte level debugging output.

Hexadecimal uses the digits 0 through 9 and A through F.

The Binary System

Binary is the base 2 numeral system. It uses only two symbols, 0 and 1, and each digit is called a bit. Every digital circuit ever built relies on it, because a transistor has two reliable states, on and off, which map directly onto 1 and 0. Place values double as you move left: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and so on. Eight bits make one byte, which can hold 256 distinct values, enough for every character in the original ASCII set.

Binary uses the digits 0 and 1.

Hexadecimal to Binary Conversion Examples

Hexadecimal to Binary Conversion Chart

A full reference table for the values 1 to 256. Use it to check a conversion quickly or to look up a common value without typing anything.

Need a different pair of bases? Browse every number converter tool including binary, octal, decimal, and hexadecimal in both directions.