Braille ASCII - Uses

Uses

Braille ASCII was originally designed to be a means for storing and transmitting six-dot Braille in a digital format, and this continues to be its primary usage today. Because it uses standard characters available on computer keyboards, it can be easily typed and edited with a standard word processor. Many Braille embossers receive their input in Braille ASCII, and nearly all Braille translation software can import and export this format.

Several institutions which produce Braille materials distribute BRF files. BRF files are files which primarily contain Braille ASCII, but also include control characters, which affect how the Braille is printed or displayed. These files can then be embossed with a Braille embosser or printed, read on a Refreshable Braille display, or back-translated into standard text, which can then be read by a Screen reader or other similar program. Many find BRF files to be a more convenient way to receive brailled content, and it has increasing use as a distribution format.

Unicode includes a means for encoding eight-dot Braille, however, Braille ASCII continues to be the preferred format for encoding six-dot Braille.