Written and reviewed by FormulaCraft Team. Each formula on this page is run through our verification engine before publishing.
Last reviewed:
DEC2BIN
DEC2BIN takes a decimal integer (in the range -512 to 511) and returns its binary equivalent as a text string. An optional places argument pads the output with leading zeros to a fixed width, which is useful when building bitfield displays or fixed-width binary representations.
Excel
=DEC2BIN(B2,8)Google Sheets
=DEC2BIN(B2,8)✓
Verified example
Computed by a real spreadsheet engine on the sample data below.
| Decimal | Binary (8-bit) |
| 0 | |
| 10 | |
| 42 | |
| 255 |
=DEC2BIN(B2,8)→00000000
Try it with your data
Edit the grid or formula, then run it through a real spreadsheet engine — no signup.
Sample data — click any cell to edit
Runs server-side · free · no signup
How it works
- 1Enter the decimal integer you want to convert in a cell (must be between -512 and 511).
- 2Use =DEC2BIN(number, [places]) — omit places for minimum-width output or specify it for zero-padded output.
- 3The result is a text string; use BIN2DEC to convert back.
Need a version for your data?
Try: “Convert the decimal number 42 to binary with 8 digits of zero-padding.”