Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
How to Type Balinese Script on an Ordinary QWERTY Keyboard
- Open the converter page.
- Type normally in the left box — spell by sound, e.g. "rahajeng semeng".
- Balinese script appears on the right as you type. There is no convert button.
- Press Copy to take the result into another app.
- Spell by sound, not by standard orthography. "Suksma", not "sooksma"; "melajah", not "mlajah".
- Type "w", not "v". Balinese tradition realises /v/ as /w/ — Veda is written Weda (ᬯᬾᬤ).
- Type "ng" and "ny" as written. "Sayang" produces ᬲᬬᬂ, with cecek as the final mark.
- Final consonants are handled for you. "Wayan" (ᬯᬬᬦ᭄) gets its adeg-adeg without you typing one.
- Sanskrit words are detected. Hundreds of words such as dharma or Saraswati automatically take murda letters.
- Numbers convert too. Type 2026 and you get ᭒᭐᭒᭖.
- "e" gives taling (ᬾ) — dewa becomes ᬤᬾᬯ
- "x" gives pepet (ᭂ) — kxtut becomes ᬓᭂᬢᬸᬢ᭄
- The ě helper key on the converter also produces pepet
- Open the Baca dari foto panel.
- Drag an image onto the drop area, press Pilih gambar to pick a file, or Ambil foto to shoot one with your phone camera.
- OCR recognises the characters and shows the reading in Latin letters — ready to edit and copy.
- Copy — the output is Unicode text, ready for WhatsApp, Word, or social media
- Download — save it as a text file
- PNG image — export as word art on a transparent background, safe for design apps
- Reverse mode — paste Balinese script to read it back in Latin letters
Typing Balinese Without a Special Keyboard
Your keyboard has no Balinese keys, and it does not need any. There are two ways to type Balinese script on an ordinary QWERTY keyboard — one fast, one precise — and both run in the browser.
| Method | You type | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic conversion | Latin letters | long text, writing quickly |
| On-screen script keyboard | script directly | ritual text, quotations, full control |
Method 1: Type Latin, Script Appears
This is the fastest route because you type at normal speed. The tool decides the letter forms — including when to stack consonants and when to apply adeg-adeg.
Typing Conventions Worth Knowing
A few things behave differently than you might first assume:
Taling and Pepet: One Key, Two Sounds
This is the most common source of confusion. The letter "e" in Balinese stands for two different sounds, and the script writes them with two different marks:
| Sound | Sign | Name | Example words |
|---|---|---|---|
| /e/ | ᬾ | taling | dewa, sekar, becik |
| /ə/ | ᭂ | pepet | ketut, sěmeng |
Because a QWERTY keyboard has only one "e" key, every tool has to pick a convention. On this site:
That "x" convention has long been used by Balinese typing tools, so if you learned on another one your habits carry over. To place the mark yourself, the Balinese keyboard on the practice page also has a ᭂ key.
One rule travels with it: ra + pepet is written ᬋ (ra repa) and la + pepet is written ᬍ (la lenga), never as a marked consonant. Details are in the complete Balinese script chart.
Method 2: The On-Screen Balinese Keyboard
The keyboard on the practice page lays the script out as keys: the 18 base letters, murda letters, independent vowels, vowel signs (pepet included), adeg-adeg, cecek, bisah, and Balinese digits.
You tap ᬓ then ᬸ to get ᬓᬸ. Every writing decision stays yours — including which letter to use for similar sounds, such as dental sa (ᬲ) versus sa saga (ᬰ) in Sanskrit loanwords.
Use this when precision matters more than speed.
Spaces: With or Without
Traditional lontar writing uses no spaces between words — scriptio continua. Modern digital text usually inserts a thin word separator so it reads well on screen, and that is what this site's converter does. For a lontar-style look, remove the spaces from your Latin text before converting.
Method 3: Do Not Type at All — Read It From a Photo
Sometimes the writing already exists, just not as text: temple signage, carving, a lontar page, a screenshot. For that there is a Baca dari foto (read from photo) panel on the converter page.
Results depend heavily on image quality. Sharp, straight-on photos with strong contrast between writing and background work best; worn stone carving or shadowed lontar is far harder. Treat the output as a draft you still need to check, not a final reading.
Typing on a Phone
Everything above works on touchscreens. The site can also be installed as an app from your browser menu ("Add to Home Screen"), so the converter and keyboard keep working offline. Android users who want a native app can see the Aksara Bali Android app article.
Once You Have Typed It
If the pasted text shows as boxes (□□□), the receiving device has no Balinese font — the text itself is fine. Follow the font installation guide, or send it as an image.
Quick Questions
Do I need to install a keyboard layout? No. Everything runs in the browser.
Can I type directly in script instead of Latin? Yes, with the keyboard on the practice page.
How do I write pepet? Type "x" in the converter — "x" produces pepet (ᭂ) while "e" produces taling. The ᭂ key on the keyboard works too.
How do I read existing Balinese script? Use reverse mode in the converter, or drop a photo into the Baca dari foto panel on the converter page, which runs OCR.
Start Typing
For fast writing, open the Balinese script converter. To type letter by letter with full control, open the Balinese keyboard. And to understand the marks you see appearing, keep the complete Balinese script chart open alongside.
This article was drafted with AI assistance and is reviewed over time. Check Balinese wording with a teacher or native speaker before using it for anything official, printed, or ceremonial.
