NATO Phonetic Alphabet

Convert any text to NATO phonetic alphabet codes (Alfa, Bravo, Charlie…) instantly. Supports letters, digits, word and table output. Runs in your browser.

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Output Mode Word shows space-separated code words. Table shows one row per typed character and keeps the original character; spaces use the localized space label. Switching modes does not change the input. Clear empties the text, both result formats and the status. Ctrl+L (⌘+L on Mac) does the same when focus is inside this tool; the selected mode stays the same.

Text Text converts automatically 0.2 seconds after your last edit. A–Z and digits have codes; full-width forms are normalized. Spaces become / in Word mode. Punctuation, line breaks and other characters without codes become [?].

NATO Codes Copy uses the selected mode: space-separated code words in Word, or one character = code pair per line in Table. Digits are converted individually, with 9 written as Niner.

Enter text to see NATO code words or a character table.

Examples, details and FAQ Worked examples, how it compares with other tools, and answers to common questions.

NATO Phonetic Alphabet Reference

Spellings follow the ICAO list (Annex 10, Volume II): A is Alfa and J is Juliett. The converter outputs the same spellings.

Letter	Code	Letter	Code
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

Examples

Outputs from the converter, in Word mode and Table mode:

Input	Word mode	Table mode (as copied)
`LH 400` (a flight number)	`Lima Hotel / Four Zero Zero`	`L = Lima`, `H = Hotel`, `(space) = —`, `4 = Four`, `0 = Zero`, `0 = Zero`
`G-ABCD` (a UK aircraft registration)	`Golf [?] Alfa Bravo Charlie Delta`	`- = [?]` on the second row
`ＡＢ１２` (full-width)	`Alfa Bravo One Two`	The rows keep the typed characters `Ａ`, `Ｂ`, `１`, `２`
`Zoë 9`	`Zulu Oscar [?] / Niner`	`ë = [?]`

The status line counts the characters it converted, without spaces: LH 400 gives “Converted 5 characters.” Copy copies what the current mode shows. In Word mode that is one line of code words; in Table mode it is one character = code pair per line, which is convenient to paste into a ticket or chat so the other side can check each character.

Digit Codes

0 = Zero, 1 = One, 2 = Two, 3 = Three, 4 = Four, 5 = Five, 6 = Six, 7 = Seven, 8 = Eight, 9 = Niner

Tips

Use this tool when spelling out names, license plates, or codes over phone or radio.
For Morse code encoding, see Morse Code Translator.

Spelling Codes, Hashes and Hostnames

The alphabet is useful whenever an opaque string has to be read aloud: an error code on a support call, a commit hash during an incident bridge, a license key or a serial number. Outputs from the tool:

F9C2 → Foxtrot Niner Charlie Two
e3b0c44 (a short Git commit hash) → Echo Three Bravo Zero Charlie Four Four
db-07 → Delta Bravo [?] Zero Seven

The tool does not mark upper and lower case: e and E are both Echo. For case-sensitive strings (Base64, API tokens, passwords) say “capital” or “lower” before each letter yourself.
Punctuation has no code word in the ICAO alphabet, so -, _, . and similar characters appear as [?]. Say them by name (“dash”, “underscore”, “dot”).
Table mode lists one character per row, which makes it easier for the listener to read back and confirm each character.

Limitations

Only the 26 letters A–Z and the digits 0–9 have code words. Accented and non-Latin letters are written as [?]; spell them as their base letter plus the accent name, or use a national spelling alphabet.
Line breaks and tabs are also written as [?], so convert one line at a time if the input has several.
Digits use the ICAO word list. ICAO also gives radio pronunciations such as TREE for 3 and FIFE for 5; the tool writes the spelled words (Three, Five) except for 9, which it writes as Niner.
The output is text only. There is no audio, and the tool does not convert code words back to letters.

The current word list was adopted by ICAO and came into use in 1956; NATO describes its development and testing.

FAQ

What is the NATO phonetic alphabet?

The NATO phonetic alphabet (ICAO/ITU spelling alphabet) assigns a unique word to each letter (A=Alfa, B=Bravo, C=Charlie…) so that letters can be communicated clearly over radio or telephone without confusion.

Are numbers supported?

Yes. Digits 0–9 map to: Zero, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Niner. ICAO Annex 10 gives 9 the pronunciation NIN-er, as it gives 3 TREE and 5 FIFE, so the tool writes 9 as Niner.

What happens to characters that are not letters or digits?

Each space becomes a / separator. Every other character without a code word, including punctuation, accented letters such as ë, line breaks and tabs, is written as [?]. Full-width letters and digits typed with a Chinese, Japanese or Korean input method are converted like their ASCII forms.

Is any data sent to a server?

No. All conversion happens in your browser. Nothing is uploaded or transmitted.

What is the Table mode?

Table mode displays each character alongside its NATO code in a two-column table, making it easy to read character by character.