Cipher
Atbash Cipher Translator
Atbash mirrors the alphabet: A swaps with Z, B with Y, and so on to the middle. It is one of the oldest ciphers known and, like ROT13, it is its own inverse.
Result appears here
Type a message and read the mirrored version at once. The same step encrypts and decrypts, and it all runs on your device.
How the Atbash Cipher works
Each letter is replaced by its mirror counterpart. Think of the alphabet written forwards and backwards, one above the other: A over Z, B over Y, and read straight down.
Because the mapping is symmetric, encrypting an encrypted message returns the plain text. Non-letters are left alone.
Examples
History and origins
Atbash originated with the Hebrew alphabet and appears in the Hebrew Bible, where a handful of words are written in it. The name comes from the first, last, second and second-to-last Hebrew letters (aleph-tav-bet-shin).
Applied to the Latin alphabet it works the same way, flipping the letter order end to end. It is a favourite in puzzle hunts and geocaching for its simplicity.
Frequently asked questions
How do I decode an Atbash cipher?
Run the ciphertext through Atbash again. The mirror mapping is symmetric, so a second pass restores the original message.
How old is the Atbash cipher?
It dates back over two thousand years to ancient Hebrew scribes, making it one of the earliest substitution ciphers on record.
Learn more
Go deeper on the ideas behind this tool.