Which braille grade does this translator use?

It uses Grade 1, also called uncontracted braille, where every letter maps to exactly one cell. Capital letters are marked with the capital sign and runs of digits with the number sign. Grade 1 is the simplest, most universal form and the right starting point for learners.

How are capital letters shown in braille?

A capital is written by placing the capital sign (dot 6) immediately before the letter cell. So an uppercase A becomes the capital sign followed by the cell for a, while a lowercase a is just the single a cell. The decoder reads that indicator and restores the capital automatically.

How are numbers handled?

A run of digits begins with the number sign (dots 3-4-5-6). After it, the cells normally used for the letters a through j stand for the digits 1 to 9 and 0. Number mode ends at the next space, so 2026 and the year written as words never get confused.

Is the conversion fully reversible?

Yes for letters, digits, spaces and the supported punctuation. Encode some text, copy the braille, decode it back, and you get the original string character for character. The tool even shows a live reversible or not-reversible status so you always know.

What about contracted Grade-2 braille?

This tool is Grade 1 only, so it does not apply the word and letter contractions of Grade 2 braille (for example single cells that stand for whole words like and or the). Every character maps to its own cell, which keeps the output unambiguous and easy to decode.

What is the ASCII dot-grid preview for?

Each braille cell is six dots arranged in two columns of three. The dot-grid preview draws those raised dots as a star-and-dot grid so you can see the physical pattern, sketch it on paper, or paste it into a plain-text document where the braille font is not available.

Is my text sent anywhere?

No. The entire translation, the charts and the click playback run in your browser using plain JavaScript and the Web Audio API. Nothing is uploaded, logged or stored, so it is safe for private notes.

Braille Translator — Gera Tools

A two-way braille translator that converts ordinary text into Grade-1 Unicode braille and decodes braille cells back into readable text. It is built for students learning the braille alphabet, teachers preparing worksheets, developers adding accessible labels, and anyone who wants to see how a name or message looks in braille. The output uses the standard Unicode braille block, so the cells copy and paste cleanly into documents, chat, design tools and social posts wherever a braille-capable font is installed.

How it works

When encoding, each letter is replaced by its six-dot braille cell. An uppercase letter is prefixed with the capital sign (dot 6), and a run of digits is prefixed with the number sign (dots 3-4-5-6), after which the cells for the letters a through j represent the digits 1 through 9 and 0. A space becomes a blank braille cell, and common punctuation such as the comma, full stop, question mark and brackets each map to their own cell. Anything without a Grade-1 cell is listed separately so you always know what was left out.

Decoding reverses the process. The tool walks through the cells, tracking whether it is currently in capital mode or number mode based on the indicator signs it has seen, and rebuilds the original letters, digits and punctuation. Because the mapping is one cell per character, the round trip is exact for every supported symbol — the panel even displays a live status confirming whether decoding your braille reproduces the original text.

Alongside the live preview you get a copyable ASCII dot-grid view that draws each cell as a star-and-dot pattern, a Tap dots button that plays each cell as short clicks using the Web Audio API (one click per raised dot), and full alphabet and number charts showing every cell with its dot numbers.

Example

Take the phrase Gera Tools 2026!. The capital G becomes the capital sign followed by the g cell, the rest of each word maps letter by letter, the space becomes a blank cell, the number sign introduces the digits 2-0-2-6, and the exclamation mark adds its own cell.

Part	What braille adds
`G` (capital)	capital sign, then the g cell
`era`	three letter cells
(space)	one blank cell
`2026`	number sign, then the b, j, b, f cells
`!`	one punctuation cell

Paste any text, pick a direction, and copy the braille, the dot-grid, or the decoded text — every figure is produced in your browser with nothing uploaded or stored.