About number base conversion
Computers represent data in binary (base 2), but engineers often use octal (base 8, e.g. Unix file permissions like chmod 755) or hexadecimal (base 16, e.g. MAC addresses, colour codes, memory addresses) as compact shorthand. One hex digit maps exactly to four binary bits, and one octal digit to three, making them natural viewing windows for raw bit patterns. This tool uses JavaScript's native BigInt to handle integers beyond the 53-bit safe integer limit, which matters when inspecting 64-bit addresses, cryptographic values or large identifiers. Invalid digits for the selected base are caught immediately.