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Cipher Cove

Cipher Identifier and Decoder

Found a strange code? Paste it below. The identifier works out what it most likely is, decodes it where it can and points you to the right tool.

Try:

    How to identify a cipher

    1. Paste the code into the box. Results appear right away.
    2. Read the top result. Very likely means a clear match, and Possible means a guess worth trying.
    3. Copy the decoded text, or open the matching tool for more options.

    If nothing fits, try a longer piece of the message, or check whether it was split into groups or written backward.

    Clues you can spot yourself

    Before reaching for a tool, look at what the message is made of:

    How letter ciphers are told apart

    English is lopsided: E and T are everywhere, while Q and Z are rare. A Caesar cipher or an Atbash cipher only relabels the letters, so that shape survives, and the identifier can undo each option and see which one looks like English.

    A keyword cipher such as Vigenère smears the counts out, because the same letter gets coded in different ways. The index of coincidence measures this: it is about 0.067 for English and about 0.038 for random letters. A low score points to a keyword cipher. A high score with no working shift points to a mixed-up alphabet, the kind you solve by hand in our daily cryptogram.

    Frequently asked questions

    How does the cipher identifier work?

    It checks two things. First the characters: only dots and dashes suggest Morse, braille cells mean braille, and groups of eight 0s and 1s mean binary. If the text is ordinary letters, it compares the letter counts with normal English, trying every Caesar shift and the Atbash alphabet to see which reads best.

    Which codes can it detect?

    Morse code, binary, hexadecimal, A1Z26 numbers, braille, Egyptian hieroglyphs, the Standard Galactic Alphabet, Wingdings, Wingdings 2, Wingdings 3, Webdings, Zalgo text, the Caesar cipher including ROT13 and the Atbash cipher. It can also tell you when a text looks like a keyword cipher or a letter swap, though it cannot solve those for you.

    Why does it say Possible instead of giving an answer?

    Letter statistics need text to work with. A word or two can look like several ciphers at once, so short codes are shown as guesses. Very likely means the text clearly matches. For letter ciphers, that takes about 25 letters or more.

    Can it break a Vigenère cipher?

    No. It can suggest that a text may be a keyword cipher, because the letter counts look evened out, but you still need the keyword. Take it to the Vigenère tool if you have one.

    Is what I paste sent anywhere?

    No. The checks run in your browser, and the text you paste is not sent to our server or to analytics.

    More translators and charts

    Binary TranslatorText to binary and binary to text, with an ASCII letter chart.Braille TranslatorEnglish to braille cells and back, with capitals, numbers and the braille alphabet chart.Caesar Cipher DecoderEncode with any shift, or decode without the key: all 25 shifts, most likely first.