Saudi License Plate Converter

Paste a Saudi plate in Arabic or Latin script and get the other script back, using the official fixed 17-letter mapping plus both numeral systems, with a character-by-character breakdown.

Plate text (either script)

The direction is detected automatically: Arabic script converts to Latin, Latin converts to Arabic. Numerals convert between Eastern Arabic (٠١٢٣٤٥٦٧٨٩) and Western (0123456789). Arabic sample · Latin sample

The official 17-letter mapping

Arabic	Latin	Arabic	Latin	Arabic	Latin	Arabic	Latin

Mapping from the Saudi registration-plate letter table (Wikipedia, "Vehicle registration plates of Saudi Arabia"; cross-checked with matriculasdelmundo.com). Letters like ج are not used on plates at all; the table is a fixed visual code, not pronunciation. Numerals: ٠١٢٣٤٥٦٧٨٩ = 0123456789.

Why Saudi plates carry two scripts

Since 2007, every Saudi registration plate shows the same information twice: Arabic letters and Eastern Arabic numerals on the top row, their Latin equivalents and Western numerals below. The top row reads right to left like all Arabic text; the bottom row reads left to right. That dual layout is what lets a Saudi-registered car be identified in Europe and other countries that use the Latin alphabet, without changing the plate.

The catch is that the two rows are not a normal translation. Only 17 of the 28 Arabic letters are used on plates at all, and each is pinned to one Latin letter by a fixed table. Some pairs surprise people: ح becomes J, ص becomes X, ع becomes E, م becomes Z, and the final ى becomes V. The table exists to make every plate unmistakable at a glance and to machine-reading cameras, not to record how the letters sound. This converter applies exactly that table, in either direction, and converts the numeral systems too.

Both directions, automatic

Paste Arabic script and get Latin back; paste Latin and get Arabic back. The tool detects which script you typed, converts letters and numerals, and shows every character it converted so you can verify the result.

Invalid characters get flagged

Latin letters outside the 17 (C, F, I, O, P and the rest) never appear on a Saudi plate, so they are highlighted as warnings instead of silently converted. A conversion is not proof a plate is registered.

How to use this converter

Type or paste the plate in either script, letters and numbers.
Convert: the tool detects the script and returns the other one.
Check the character-by-character breakdown against your plate.
Read any warnings: characters outside the 17-letter table are flagged, not converted.

Frequently Asked Questions

Only 17: ا ب ح د ر س ص ط ع ق ك ل م ن هـ و ى. Each has exactly one fixed Latin equivalent (ا = A, ب = B, ح = J, د = D, ر = R, س = S, ص = X, ط = T, ع = E, ق = G, ك = K, ل = L, م = Z, ن = N, هـ = H, و = U, ى = V). Letters that could be confused, like ج, are left out entirely. This is a fixed code table, not a pronunciation guide.

Because the mapping is a visual code, not transliteration of pronunciation. It was chosen to give every used Arabic letter one unmistakable Latin letter, avoiding pairs that look alike (0/O, 1/I). So ص is X, ع is E, م is Z and ى is V. Do not read the Latin row as pronunciation: it is an identifier, and the converter above follows the same fixed table.

The Arabic row reads right to left and the Latin row reads left to right. The official translation runs left to right even on the Arabic row, which is why the letter order looks flipped between the two rows. The converter shows you the per-character order so you can see which letter lands where.

Standard plates carry four numerals, zero-padded, shown twice: Eastern Arabic numerals (٠١٢٣٤٥٦٧٨٩) on the Arabic row and Western numerals (0123456789) on the Latin row. Earlier or personalised registrations can show fewer numerals. The converter swaps both numeral systems along with the letters.

No. Converting the script says nothing about whether the plate is registered, and owner lookups go through official channels only (Absher and the traffic department). This tool converts characters; it cannot verify a plate against any registry.

The current system, Arabic script on top with the Latin translation below, dates to 2007. It lets Saudi-registered vehicles be read in Europe and elsewhere without changing the plate.

Only 17 Latin letters appear on Saudi plates: A B J D R S X T E G K L Z N H U V. Letters like C, F, I, M, O, P, Q and Y are never used because they are confusable or unmapped. The converter flags them so you know the input is not a valid plate string.

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