About this tool

Computers work in binary (base 2), but hexadecimal (base 16) is a convenient shorthand - each hex digit represents exactly 4 bits, making it easy to read binary data. Hex is ubiquitous in programming: memory addresses, colour codes (#FF5733), byte offsets in hex editors, and network packets are all typically written in hex. Octal (base 8) is less common today but still appears in Unix file permissions (e.g. chmod 755).