Simplified to Traditional Chinese Converter
Convert Simplified Chinese to Traditional and back, phrase by phrase rather than character by character, with Taiwan and Hong Kong standards and optional regional vocabulary. Results appear as you type, and your text never leaves the browser.
Note: conversion uses the open-source OpenCC dictionaries, which cover everyday language well. Personal names, place names and specialist terms can occasionally differ, so proofread anything you plan to publish.
How to use
- Pick a direction: Simplified to Traditional, or Traditional to Simplified.
- Pick a standard. For readers in Taiwan, "Taiwan (with local vocabulary)" also swaps mainland words for Taiwanese ones, for example 软件 (software) becomes 軟體 and 信息 (information) becomes 資訊. Choose "characters only" to change the script but keep the original wording, or a Hong Kong option for Hong Kong readers.
- Paste or type your text on the left. The converted text updates on the right as you type, with character counts and the number of characters that changed.
- Click "Copy result", or use "Open text file" for subtitles and documents and "Download result" to save the converted file. "Swap" moves the result back to the input and reverses the direction so you can double-check.
Who it's for
Overseas Chinese families writing to relatives in Taiwan or Hong Kong; students of Mandarin whose textbook uses one script while their tutor, app or favourite drama uses the other; translators and marketers localising a website, app or product page for Traditional Chinese markets; video creators producing Traditional subtitles (SRT, ASS, VTT and LRC files open directly); and anyone who copied a Traditional article from a Taiwanese forum or e-book and wants to read it in Simplified, or the reverse.
Why character-by-character conversion fails
Simplified Chinese merged many Traditional characters into one. 发 is 髮 in 头发 (hair) but 發 in 发现 (discover); 后 stays 后 in 皇后 (empress) but becomes 後 in 后面 (behind); 干 can be 乾, 幹 or 干. A simple lookup table turns 头发 into the wrong 頭發. This tool uses the OpenCC phrase dictionaries, matching the longest known word first and only then single characters, so the vast majority of these cases come out right. Going from Traditional to Simplified is mostly many-to-one and therefore even more reliable.
Taiwan vs Hong Kong Traditional
Both regions use Traditional characters, but a few preferred forms differ (著 / 着, 裡 / 裏, 麵 / 麪), and vocabulary differs much more: mainland 软件, 信息, 鼠标, 出租车 are 軟體, 資訊, 滑鼠, 計程車 in Taiwan. The "with local vocabulary" options replace these common terms as well. For contracts, ads or other formal text, have a native reader from the target region take a final look.
Tips
- When converting Taiwanese text to Simplified, choose "Taiwan (with local vocabulary)" to turn 軟體 and 資訊 back into 软件 and 信息.
- If the tool says nothing needed changing, the direction is probably reversed. Click "Swap".
- Opened files are detected as UTF-8 or GBK automatically; downloads are always saved as UTF-8.
- The dictionary downloads once and is then cached, so conversion keeps working offline.
Privacy
Everything happens in your browser. The page downloads the dictionary file once; the text you type or open is never sent to a server and is not stored. Only your last chosen direction and standard are remembered on this device.
FAQ
Q: Is my text uploaded?
A: No. Conversion runs entirely in your browser. The page only downloads the dictionary files and never sends your text to a server.
Q: Does it handle one-to-many characters like 头发 and 后面?
A: Yes. It converts by phrase using the OpenCC dictionaries, so 头发 becomes 頭髮, 发现 becomes 發現 and 后面 becomes 後面, rather than a blind character swap.
Q: Should I choose Taiwan or Hong Kong?
A: Use Taiwan for readers in Taiwan and Hong Kong for readers in Hong Kong or Macau. If you are unsure, Standard Traditional is a neutral choice. The "with local vocabulary" options also replace words like 软件 and 信息 with local terms.
Q: Can I convert a whole document or subtitle file?
A: Yes. Paste long text directly, or use "Open text file" for TXT, SRT, ASS, VTT, LRC, Markdown and other plain-text files, then click "Download result". For Word or PDF files, copy the text out first.
Q: Why does the first conversion take a moment?
A: The Simplified-to-Traditional dictionary is about 450 KB compressed and downloads the first time you use it. After that it comes from the browser cache and conversion is near-instant. The Traditional-to-Simplified dictionary is only about 55 KB.
Q: What if a word comes out wrong?
A: Names, place names, classical Chinese and technical terms are occasionally converted incorrectly, such as some surnames. Edit the result directly before copying, and proofread anything you publish.