Encoding Demo

Type (or paste) some ASCII text in the box to try it out. An explanation will appear, but you can also read information on the USCII homepage to learn more.

While ASCII uses small arbitrary values (e.g. 65 for "A", 66 for "B"), USCII encodings use much larger values (e.g. 15621226033 for "A", 16400753439 for "B"). These unusual numbers were chosen because they mathematically contain bitmaps of the symbols they represent! Using a technique modeled after SETI's Arecibo Message, semiprimes are employed to suggest the two-dimensional decoding of these bit patterns.

USCII signals are able to carry meaning to a receiver independent of any table. However, transmitters agree to use standard bitmaps (resulting in standard encoded values). This way they can also be used like conventional character codes—for instance, to pick which character to draw from a vector font!