Baconian Cipher

About this calculator

This tool encrypts or decrypts text with the Baconian cipher, devised by Sir Francis Bacon, which represents each letter as a unique 5-character sequence of "a" and "b" (essentially a 5-bit binary code, e.g. A = aaaaa, B = aaaab). Its original power was as a steganographic device: the a/b sequence could be hidden in an innocuous cover text using two subtly different typefaces or formats, so the message stayed invisible unless you knew to look.

Cryptography students and puzzle designers use it today to explore early binary encoding and steganography, and to hide messages inside seemingly ordinary text. Enter your text to encode it into a/b groups, or paste a/b (or two-symbol) sequences to decode them back to letters.