Morse Code Audio
Type a message, press Play and hear it keyed as real Morse code. Adjust the speed, the pitch and the volume to whatever suits your ear.
Morse Code Audio Player
The tone is generated on your device. Your message is never sent anywhere.
What Morse Code Sounds Like
One tone, switched on and off. That is the entire signal. A dot is a short burst, a dash is about three times longer, and everything else is silence of carefully judged length. The pitch never changes and carries no meaning at all.
This is exactly why Morse gets through when speech does not. A voice needs a few kilohertz of clean bandwidth to stay intelligible; a Morse tone needs almost none, so it can be squeezed into a narrow slice of spectrum and still be readable through noise, fading and interference that would make a voice unusable.
Listening for rhythm
Experienced operators do not hear individual beeps. They hear dah-di-dah-dit and think “C”, as one sound. That is why the player above keeps the characters at a realistic speed rather than crawling: the rhythm of a character is what you are trying to memorise.
If a message goes past too fast, lower the speed a little — but not so far that you start counting individual dots.
Choosing a Speed and a Pitch
The two sliders do different jobs and it is worth knowing which one to reach for.
- Speed changes how long every element lasts. At 20 WPM one time unit is 60 milliseconds, so a dot is 60 ms and a dash is 180 ms. Raising the speed shortens everything proportionally, which is why the code sounds correct at any setting.
- Tone only changes the pitch of the beep. Somewhere between 500 and 800 Hz suits most people; a lower tone is usually easier over long sessions. Nothing about the message changes.
If you are using this to practise, keep the speed where you can just follow it and repeat short messages rather than long ones. The practice trainer takes that idea further by playing single characters and checking your answers, and the timing page shows exactly what each speed setting does to the length of every dot, dash and gap.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Morse code sound like?
A single steady tone switched on and off. Short bursts are dots, bursts about three times longer are dashes. There is no change in pitch — all the information is in the length of the sounds and the silences between them.
Can I listen to Morse code online?
Yes. Type anything into the player above and press Play. The sound is generated by your browser as you listen, so there is no file to download and nothing is streamed from a server.
What pitch is Morse code usually sent at?
Most operators set their receiver somewhere between 500 and 800 Hz. The default here is 600 Hz, which is comfortable for long listening. The pitch carries no meaning, so pick whatever is easiest on your ears.
What speed should I listen at?
Beginners usually start between 10 and 15 words per minute. Amateur radio conversations commonly run at 15 to 25. See the Morse code timing page for what those numbers actually measure.
Can I download the Morse code audio as a file?
Not directly — the tone is created live in your browser rather than served as an MP3. If you need a file, any screen or audio recorder will capture the playback.
Does the audio work on a phone?
Yes, on current versions of iOS and Android. Playback starts on your first tap, which is a browser rule that prevents pages from making noise on their own.
Why can I not hear anything?
Check that your device is not on silent, that the volume slider above is not at zero, and that the message actually contains letters or numbers. The Play button is disabled when there is nothing to send.
Is listening a good way to learn Morse code?
It is the only way that really works. Learning the written dots first creates a translation habit that caps your speed. The learn Morse code page has a trainer built around listening.