Leetspeak Translator

Leetspeak (also written as 1337 sp34k, or just leet) is an alternative alphabet originally developed by hackers, gamers, and early internet users. It replaces standard English letters with numbers and symbols that visually resemble them.

The most common substitutions in leetspeak are: A→4, B→8, E→3, G→9, I→1, L→1, O→0, S→5, T→7, Z→2. So the word "leet" itself becomes "1337" — which is how the style got its name. "Hacker" becomes "h4ck3r", "elite" becomes "3l17e".

Leetspeak originated in the 1980s BBS (bulletin board system) culture and became widespread in gaming communities (especially FPS games like Counter-Strike and Quake), hacker forums, and early internet chat. It's still used today as a retro internet aesthetic and in gamertag naming.

Use our translator to convert any text to l33t sp34k instantly, or decode leetspeak back to readable English. Perfect for gaming usernames, Discord handles, retro internet aesthetics, or just having fun with text.