Base16

Base16 is hexadecimal encoding: every 4 bits map to one hexadecimal character (0-9, A-F), making it the simplest member of the Base family defined by RFC 4648.

Purpose

It offers a case-insensitive, minimal-alphabet text representation of binary data, convenient for compactly displaying byte values in logs, debug output, and protocol fields.

Mechanism

Each byte (8 bits) is split into a high and a low 4-bit nibble, each mapped to one hexadecimal character. One input byte produces 2 output characters, so the encoded length is exactly twice the original, with no padding.

Use cases

MAC address and IPv6 address notation
Hex dumps and diffs of binary files
Cryptographic digest display
HTML/CSS color values (#RRGGBB)

Examples

Input
```
Hi
```
Output
```
4869
```
H=0x48, i=0x69

Common errors

Inconsistent letter case causing comparison failures: Normalize to upper- or lowercase before comparing

Related terms

Hexadecimal (hex) is the base-16 numeral system, using 0-9 and A-F for 0-15; it is one of the most common radix notations in computing.

Base32 maps binary data onto a 32-character alphabet (A-Z and 2-7); the output uses only uppercase letters and digits, which makes it easy to read aloud and type by hand.

Base64 maps arbitrary binary data onto 64 printable ASCII characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9, +, /) so that binary data can travel over text-only channels.

Octal is the base-8 numeral system, using digits 0-7, where each digit corresponds to 3 binary bits; it was widely used on early computers.

Binary is the base-2 numeral system, using only 0 and 1, and is the foundation of internal data representation in all digital electronic computers.

Related tools

Encode text to hexadecimal online. Free, private, and 100% client-side.

Decode hexadecimal back to readable text online. Free, private, and 100% client-side.

References