Braille is a tactile reading system that opens doors to literacy for millions. In 5 minutes, you’ll understand the history, explore the 6-dot cell, and interact with the full A–Z alphabet.
Braille is a tactile writing system used by people who are blind or visually impaired. It was created by Louis Braille, who devised it as a teenager (he was 15 in 1824) while studying at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris. An accident in his father's workshop when he was 3 led to his blindness by about age 5.
1820s: Louis adapted Charles Barbier's “night writing,” a raised-dot code devised for the French army, into the 6-dot code that is still the basis of braille today.
Each braille character is formed within a cell of 6 dot positions arranged in 3 rows and 2 columns, giving 64 possible patterns including the blank cell. This compact system can represent letters, numbers, punctuation, and even music notation.
Every braille character lives inside a cell of six dot positions: the left column holds dots 1, 2, 3 (top to bottom) and the right column holds dots 4, 5, 6. Different combinations of raised dots form each letter, number, or symbol.
Tap any letter to see its braille dot pattern up close.
Braille is far more than a code. It’s a gateway to literacy, independence, and opportunity for millions of people around the world.
Braille is literacy. From reading medication labels and elevator buttons to using refreshable braille displays with computers and smartphones, braille remains essential for daily independence and professional success.
There are two main grades of braille. Grade 1 spells out every word letter by letter, just like the alphabet you explored above. Grade 2 also uses contractions and shortforms to save space and speed up reading.
Uncontracted: letter for letter
Contracted: one cell for the whole word
Grade 2 is used for most braille books for adult readers. The UEB rulebook lists 180 contractions and shortforms that experienced readers recognize instantly. Here are a few common ones:
Braille reuses the cells of the letters a–j for the digits 1–9 and 0. The numeric indicator (dots 3, 4, 5, 6) tells the reader that the cells that follow are digits, not letters. Tap any number below to see how it works.