Character Counter
Real-time character and byte count
About this tool
Character Counter is a free text tool that shows four counts at once — characters with and without spaces, bytes with and without spaces — as you type, with Korean and CJK characters counted as 2 bytes per the EUC-KR convention used by 잡코리아, 사람인, Samsung, Naver and Kakao job application forms. NFC normalization plus Intl.Segmenter make Mac NFD-decomposed Hangul count correctly.
How to use
- Paste your text. Type or paste any text into the input area. Counts update in real time as you type.
- Read the four counts. See character count and byte count (Korean = 2B / ASCII = 1B) — each shown both with and without whitespace — at the same time.
- Match your limit. Compare the counts to your target limit. Use character count for most cover letters and SNS posts; use byte count for 공기업 cover letters and SMS limits.
- Clear and start over. Press the clear button to reset everything and paste new text. Nothing is saved or sent to a server.
FAQ
How is the byte count calculated?
Korean characters (Hangul, Chinese characters and other CJK) count as 2 bytes; ASCII letters, numbers, spaces and newlines count as 1 byte. This matches the legacy EUC-KR convention used by most Korean job portals (잡코리아, 사람인) and government application systems for their character limits — even when the actual form submission uses UTF-8.
Are spaces and line breaks counted?
Yes. The "with spaces" count includes every space, tab and line break (each counted as 1 character). The "without spaces" count strips all whitespace before counting. The byte count treats spaces and newlines as 1 byte each.
Why are with-spaces and without-spaces shown both as characters and bytes?
Different application systems enforce different limits. Some 자소서 forms say "1,000자 이내 (공백 포함)", others say "공백 제외 1,000자". 공기업 forms typically use bytes ("4,000바이트") and may or may not include spaces. Showing all four values at once means you never need to switch tools or recount.
Does the count match Naver/Kakao/Samsung application forms?
Yes. The character count (with or without spaces) matches the standard used by 삼성·SK·현대·카카오·네이버 application forms. For 공기업 (public sector) byte limits, use the byte count.
Is my text stored or sent anywhere?
No. All counting happens in your browser using JavaScript. Your text is never uploaded to any server. Closing the page erases the text.
How is text from macOS handled correctly?
Korean text copied from macOS Finder filenames or some Mac apps can arrive in NFD (decomposed) form, where 가 splits into ㄱ + ㅏ. The tool normalizes everything to NFC and counts grapheme clusters using Intl.Segmenter, so each Hangul syllable counts as exactly 1 character regardless of input form.