Text Size Calculator

About Text size calculator

The text size calculator tells you how much storage a piece of text takes up, in bytes, kilobytes and megabytes, next to its character count. The byte figure is the real UTF-8 size, which is what a file, database column or API payload will actually hold. That makes it useful when a limit is expressed in bytes rather than characters.

How to use it

1. Paste your text into the Text box, or click Upload Text File to load one from disk.
2. Click Calculate Size.
3. Read the four result tiles: Characters, Bytes, Kilobytes (KB) and Megabytes (MB).
4. Edit the text and press the button again to recalculate.

Bytes versus characters

héllo 😀

8 characters, 11 bytes (0.01 KB)

When to use it

• Checking whether a message will fit a database field or header limit that is measured in bytes.
• Estimating how large a text file will be before saving or attaching it.
• Seeing why a string with accents or emoji is bigger in storage than its visible length suggests.
• Comparing the weight of two versions of a document, such as a draft before and after trimming.

Questions about Text size calculator

Why are bytes higher than characters?

Plain English letters take one byte each in UTF-8, but accented letters take two, most Asian characters three and emoji four. The byte total therefore rises whenever your text leaves basic ASCII.

Does the character count match what I see on screen?

Almost always. It counts UTF-16 units, so an emoji or another symbol outside the basic plane is counted as two. For an exact breakdown of such characters use the Unicode character inspector.

Which file types can I upload?

The picker accepts .txt, .md, .html, .css, .js, .json, .xml and .csv files. The file is read as text in your browser and dropped into the box, so it is not uploaded to a server.

Which definition of a kilobyte does it use?

The binary one: 1 KB is 1,024 bytes and 1 MB is 1,048,576 bytes, as the note under the results states. Tools that use 1,000 will show slightly smaller figures.

Related tools

• Text separatorSeparate text back and forth by new lines, commas, dots, etc.
• Email extractorExtract email addresses from any kind of text content.
• URL extractorExtract http/https URLs from any kind of text content.
• Duplicate lines removerEasily remove duplicate lines from a text.
• Text to speechRead text aloud with the voices built into your browser. Choose a voice and adjust speed, pitch and volume.
• Case converterConvert your text to any kind of text case, such as lowercase, UPPERCASE, camelCase, etc.