NATO phonetic alphabet translator
This translator converts text into the NATO phonetic alphabet, the set of code words (Alfa, Bravo, Charlie…) used to spell letters clearly over the phone or radio. It also works in reverse: paste a sequence of code words and get the plain text back. It is handy for reading out confirmation codes, license plates, serial numbers, Wi-Fi passwords and email addresses without "B or D?" confusion.
The NATO phonetic alphabet
| Letter | Code word | Letter | Code word |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Alfa | N | November |
| B | Bravo | O | Oscar |
| C | Charlie | P | Papa |
| D | Delta | Q | Quebec |
| E | Echo | R | Romeo |
| F | Foxtrot | S | Sierra |
| G | Golf | T | Tango |
| H | Hotel | U | Uniform |
| I | India | V | Victor |
| J | Juliett | W | Whiskey |
| K | Kilo | X | X-ray |
| L | Lima | Y | Yankee |
| M | Mike | Z | Zulu |
The official spellings "Alfa" and "Juliett" are deliberate: they help speakers of languages where "ph" or a single final "t" would be pronounced differently. The alphabet was adopted by ICAO and NATO in the 1950s and is used today by aviation, the military, emergency services and customer support teams worldwide.
Example
The sample booking reference translates like this:
Booking ref QX7-42B
→ Bravo Oscar Oscar Kilo India November Golf / Romeo Echo Foxtrot / Quebec X-ray Seven (Dash) Four Two BravoDigits become their English names, the hyphen is spelled out as (Dash), and each space becomes a / so word boundaries stay visible. With ICAO digits ticked, the reference QX7-42B becomes Quebec X-ray Seven (Dash) Fower Too Bravo, the pronunciation used on aviation radio. Pasting Quebec X-ray Seven Dash Four Two Bravo back in decodes to QX7-42B.
Options explained
- Translate (auto) – if at least two words are present and more than 70% of them are known code words, the input is decoded; otherwise it is spelled out.
- Alphabet – NATO / ICAO is the international standard. LAPD uses the older US police words (Adam, Boy, Charles, David…). German uses the classic DIN 5009 names (Anton, Berta, Cäsar, Dora…).
- ICAO digits – swaps digits for radio pronunciations: Wun, Too, Tree, Fower, Fife, Six, Seven, Ait, Niner, Zero.
- UPPERCASE code words – outputs
ALFA BRAVOstyle, common in written radio logs.
Decoding tips
The decoder is forgiving. It accepts both "Alpha" and "Alfa", "Juliet" and "Juliett", "Xray" and "X-ray", standard and ICAO digit words, and symbol names such as Dash, Stop, Slash, At, Underscore and Hash. A lone / or | becomes a space, and each new line is decoded separately. Any word it does not recognize is kept in square brackets, for example HE[Llama]LO, so typos are easy to spot.
Related tools
For audio-free signaling, convert text with the Morse code translator. If you are spelling out a code for someone, you may also want to generate a clear, unambiguous one first with the random string generator. Note that phonetic spelling is not encryption; for classic puzzle ciphers see the Caesar cipher.
Privacy
The translation happens entirely in your browser. What you type, including names or codes, is never sent to a server.