NATO Phonetic Alphabet Translator
Spell any text with the NATO/ICAO phonetic alphabet (Alfa, Bravo, Charlie…) or decode code words back to letters and digits. Free and runs in your browser.
Spelled with the NATO alphabet; / separates words
Uses the ICAO/NATO radiotelephony alphabet (Alfa, Bravo, Charlie…). Accents are removed before spelling; when decoding, Alpha/Juliet/Xray spellings are accepted too.
What is NATO Phonetic Alphabet Converter?
Convert text into NATO/ICAO spelling words – Alfa, Bravo, Charlie and so on – or turn a string of code words back into letters and digits. The direction is detected automatically, and you can switch digits to the ICAO radio pronunciation (Tree, Fower, Fife, Niner).
How to use NATO Phonetic Alphabet Converter
- Type text or code words into Text.
- Leave Direction on auto-detect, or force Text → code words / Code words → text.
- Tick ICAO digit pronunciation if you want Tree, Fower, Fife and Niner.
- Copy the result; words are separated by " / ".
Example
Hi 42
Hotel India / Four Two
When to use NATO Phonetic Alphabet Converter
Use it to spell names, booking references, serial numbers or callsigns clearly over the phone or radio. It is not a Morse code converter, and it does not translate into national spelling alphabets (for example the German or Italian ones).
How NATO Phonetic Alphabet Converter works
Encoding removes accents (é → E), then maps each letter A–Z and digit 0–9 to its ICAO radiotelephony word; other characters are kept as they are, and spaces between words become " / ". Decoding splits the input on spaces and "/", matches each token case-insensitively against the alphabet (also accepting variants like Alpha, Juliet and Xray) and puts unknown tokens in [brackets]. Auto mode decodes when at least 60 % of the tokens are known code words.
Common Use Cases
- Spell an airline booking code to a call-center agent
- Read out a Wi-Fi password or serial number without mistakes
- Practice the alphabet for aviation, sailing or amateur radio
- Decode a phonetic message back to letters
FAQs
Why "Alfa" and "Juliett" instead of "Alpha" and "Juliet"?
Those are the official ICAO spellings, chosen so that speakers of other languages pronounce them correctly. When decoding, Alpha and Juliet are accepted too.
What are Tree, Fower, Fife and Niner?
ICAO radio pronunciations of 3, 4, 5 and 9 that are harder to mishear. Turn them on with the ICAO digit option.
What happens to punctuation?
Characters without a code word (except . and -) are kept unchanged in the output.