What is Traditional ⇄ Simplified conversion?
Traditional and Simplified Chinese differ in more than character shapes — the vocabulary often differs too (Taiwan 軟體 vs mainland 软件). This tool uses OpenCC for two-way conversion of both characters and vocabulary, entirely in your browser with no upload — great for documents, subtitles and posts.
How to use
- Choose a direction: Traditional → Simplified, or Simplified → Traditional.
- Paste Chinese text into the input box; the result appears instantly.
- Copy the converted text in one click.
Common use cases
- Convert a Taiwan Traditional article to Simplified for mainland readers.
- Turn Simplified material into Taiwan-style Traditional.
- Convert subtitles, social posts, résumés and product descriptions.
Traditional and Simplified aren't a one-to-one swap
Say you wrote a document in Traditional Chinese for a Taiwan or Hong Kong audience, and now a colleague in mainland China needs to read it — or the other way around. Running it through the converter gets you the right characters, but that's only half the job. Traditional and Simplified are not a clean one-to-one mapping. Beyond the glyphs, the two sides simply use different words for the same thing.
- 軟體 / 軟件 / 软件 — one concept, three regional habits.
- 滑鼠 vs 鼠標, 網路 vs 网络 — the character converts, the vocabulary doesn't.
After converting, read the result once and adjust any wording a local reader simply wouldn't say.
Why does one 发 become two different characters?
Because the mapping is not one-to-one. Actual output from this page: 他的头发太长了 → 他的頭髮太長了, while 我发现了问题 → 我發現了問題 — the same 发 becomes 髮 once and 發 once, and only context decides. And 苹果的软件更新 → 蘋果的軟體更新 is not a character substitution at all but Taiwanese vocabulary. One gap, stated plainly: 自行车和公交车 → 腳踏車和公交車 — 自行车 was localised, 公交车 was not. Vocabulary mapping is a finite list; treat the output as a first pass, not a final translation.