Chinese Simplified to Traditional Converter
Paste Simplified Chinese and get Traditional characters, or the other way round. The conversion works character by character with the OpenCC tables, and it does something most converters hide: it flags every character that has more than one correct answer, such as 发 (發 or 髮), and lets you choose. It does not convert whole phrases, and it says so. Free, no sign-up, and your text stays in your browser.
Converted one character at a time. Words and phrases are not looked up, so regional vocabulary is not changed.
Loading the character table…
Phrase-level conversion is not done. The same word can be written differently in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong (软件, 軟體, 軟件), and a character-by-character tool cannot know which.
Character tables from OpenCC (Open Chinese Convert), used under the Apache License 2.0 and loaded when you first use each direction or regional option. OpenCC on GitHub · Licence text
How to Use the Chinese Converter
- 1. Pick a direction. Simplified → Traditional or Traditional → Simplified. The first time you use a direction the tool loads its character table from this site; it is a small text file.
- 2. Paste your text. Anything that is not a Chinese character, such as Latin letters, numbers and punctuation, is left alone.
- 3. Read the flagged characters. Below the result, the tool lists every character in your text that has more than one possible conversion, with how many times it occurs. Pick the right one and every occurrence changes.
- 4. Choose Traditional forms (Simplified → Traditional only). OpenCC's standard forms, Taiwan standard forms or Hong Kong forms differ in a few dozen characters, such as 爲 and 為.
Why Conversion Is Not One-to-One
Simplification merged characters. Where Traditional Chinese used two or more distinct characters, Simplified often uses one, so going from Simplified to Traditional means choosing between them, and a converter that only sees one character cannot. The word decides: 头发 (hair) is 頭髮 and 发展 (development) is 發展, yet both contain the same Simplified 发. The tool uses OpenCC's first, default choice and shows you the others:
| Simplified | Traditional choices | What decides it |
|---|---|---|
| 发 | 發, 髮 | to emit or develop, or hair |
| 后 | 後, 后 | behind or after, or a queen |
| 干 | 幹, 乾, 干, 榦 | to do, dry, concerned with, or a trunk |
| 里 | 裏, 里, 哩 | inside, a village or a mile |
| 只 | 只, 隻, 祇 | only, a measure word, or merely |
| 台 | 臺, 檯, 颱, 台 | a platform, a desk, a typhoon, or 台 itself |
| 复 | 復, 複, 覆 | to return, to duplicate, to cover |
From the OpenCC table, default first. A character that appears in its own list, like 后 or 干, is also correct as it stands.
Going from Traditional to Simplified is mostly the reverse problem. Several characters collapse into one (髮 and 發 both become 发), which is easy, but a few Traditional characters, such as 乾 and 麵, have more than one possible Simplified result and are flagged too.
What Character-Level Conversion Cannot Do
- Pick between candidates. OpenCC solves this with separate phrase dictionaries that match whole words. This tool does not use them, so it reports the ambiguity instead of guessing.
- Convert vocabulary. The same thing has different names in different places: software is 软件 on the mainland, 軟體 in Taiwan and 軟件 in Hong Kong. A converter that works on characters leaves the word as it is.
- Know which Traditional you want. OpenCC's base table follows the forms of traditional dictionaries, which write 爲 and 裏. Taiwan standard forms write 為 and 裡, and Hong Kong forms write 為 and 裏. The regional option applies OpenCC's small variant tables for each.
- Round-trip safely. 頭髮 becomes 头发 and, converted back, 頭發. Keep the original.
Where the Data Comes From
The character tables are the STCharacters and TSCharacters dictionaries of OpenCC (Open Chinese Convert), plus its Taiwan and Hong Kong variant tables, copied unchanged from the project's current repository. OpenCC is licensed under the Apache License 2.0; the licence text is served with the data at /data/opencc-LICENSE.txt, and each table keeps its own header naming the licence and the source. The files load from this site when you first use a direction, so no third party sees your text or your visit.
Chinese Titles in Citations
A source in Chinese is cited with its title in the form it was published in. Do not convert a Traditional title to Simplified, or the other way, unless your style guide asks for it, because the script is part of the source's identity. How to Cite a Source in Another Language explains how APA, MLA and Chicago handle romanization and translation of a Chinese title, and the Pinyin Tone Converter helps with the romanization.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I convert Simplified Chinese to Traditional?
- Paste the text, choose Simplified → Traditional and copy the result. Check the list of flagged characters under it: those have more than one correct Traditional form, and the right one depends on the word.
- Why did 头发 become 頭發 and not 頭髮?
- Because the tool converts one character at a time and uses the default for 发, which is 發. It flags 发 and lets you switch every occurrence to 髮. A phrase-aware converter would choose by looking at the neighbouring character; this one asks you.
- What is the difference between Taiwan, Hong Kong and mainland Traditional?
- Mainland China uses Simplified. Taiwan and Hong Kong use Traditional, with small differences in some characters and larger ones in vocabulary. Taiwan's standard writes 為 and 裡 where other tables have 爲 and 裏, and Hong Kong writes 為 but keeps 裏. The tool only changes characters, not words.
- Can I convert Traditional back to the same Simplified text?
- Usually, but not always. Several Traditional characters map to one Simplified character, so Traditional → Simplified loses information, and converting that back needs choices again. Treat each conversion as a one-way copy and keep the original.
- What is OpenCC?
- Open Chinese Convert is an open-source project that maintains conversion dictionaries between Simplified and Traditional Chinese, with regional variants. This tool uses its character dictionaries and nothing else from it.
- Does the converter handle names and place names?
- Only character by character. A person's name is often written in one form whatever the script, and some characters in names (such as 台 or 周) have more than one form. Check names against a reliable source.
- Is my text uploaded anywhere?
- No. The conversion runs in your browser. The only thing fetched is the small character table, which comes from this site.