Unicode Converter
Convert Chinese characters to Unicode escapes and back.
About Unicode Converter
Unicode escapes like \u4e2d文 are the standard way to represent Chinese characters in environments that only support ASCII: JSON configuration files, JavaScript string literals, Java properties files, and API payloads. When debugging why a string displays as "\u4e2d\u6587" instead of "中文", or when you need to embed Chinese text in a JSON file that must remain ASCII-only, this converter does the translation instantly in both directions.
The Text → Unicode direction converts every non-ASCII character to its \uXXXX escape form, leaving ASCII characters untouched — this matches how JSON.stringify and most serialization frameworks handle CJK text, and it is the format expected by Java .properties files and many localization pipelines. ASCII-only output also sidesteps encoding issues when a system's default charset is not UTF-8.
The Unicode → Text direction decodes \uXXXX escapes back into readable characters. This is invaluable when reading minified JavaScript, inspecting API responses with escaped CJK strings, debugging log files from systems that escaped all non-ASCII output, or recovering readable text from configuration dumps. Both a 4-digit BMP form and a braced \u{...} form for characters beyond the Basic Multilingual Plane (such as emoji) are supported.
Conversion happens entirely in your browser with instant results as you type. Copy the result with one click. The tool correctly handles surrogate pairs, so characters outside the BMP (rare CJK ideographs, emoji, and symbols) round-trip without corruption — a common failure point in hand-rolled converters.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the \uXXXX format?
It is the standard Unicode escape sequence: \u followed by exactly 4 hexadecimal digits representing a character's code point. For example, 中 is U+4E2D, written as \u4e2d. It works in JSON, JavaScript, Java, and many other languages.
Why does my text contain pairs like 代理对转义?
Characters outside the Basic Multilingual Plane (like emoji) are represented as surrogate pairs in the \uXXXX format. Use the braced \u{...} output option for a single readable escape of such characters.
Is this the same as URL encoding (percent-encoding)?
No. URL encoding uses %XX bytes for transmission in URLs, while \uXXXX escapes represent Unicode code points in source code and data formats. Use our URL Encoder tool for percent-encoding needs.
Can I convert a whole JSON file?
Yes — paste the JSON content as text. The escapes inside strings will be converted while structural characters stay unchanged. For large files the browser handles it fine since conversion is a fast linear operation.