Location Code Converter

How to use this location code converter

Use this converter when a form, API response, shipping note, logistics feed, statistics table, or data export uses a short location code and you need the readable name or the other way around.

Location Code Converter features

When location codes need conversion

Location codes are compact, but they are not always friendly to read. A country code such as DK, DNK, or 208 is easy for a database, domain, shipping feed, or analytics export to store, but a person reviewing the data usually wants to see Denmark. The same problem appears in the opposite direction when a form, API, import template, or spreadsheet requires a short code and the source list contains full names.

This converter is meant for everyday cleanup and checking when one short value could belong to several standards. It handles ISO alpha-2, alpha-3, and numeric country and territory codes, ISO 3166-2 subdivision codes, ISO 3166-3 former country codes, UN M49 region codes, IANA country-code top-level domains, UN/LOCODE-shaped values, IATA airport codes, ICAO location indicators, U.S. ANSI/FIPS state and county codes, U.S. ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, EU NUTS region codes, U.S. postal state abbreviations, U.S. state names, and common U.S. territory abbreviations.

Use it to check examples such as DK, DNK, and 208 to Denmark; US-CA to California; BUMM to Burma; 001 to World; LAX to Los Angeles International Airport; DE27 to Schwaben; 06037 to Los Angeles County; MO to Missouri or Macao; and California to CA. The results table shows the matched code system instead of silently choosing one meaning, which is especially useful before importing a CSV, cleaning address fields, or documenting an API mapping.

Two-letter codes can be ambiguous because different code systems share the same alphabet. MO is a good example: in U.S. postal abbreviations it means Missouri, while in ISO country codes it is used for Macao. GA can mean the U.S. state Georgia or the country Gabon. IN can mean Indiana or India. Three-letter and numeric ISO codes are usually less ambiguous, but the results list still shows possible matches so you can choose the one that fits your data source.

Use the tool as a quick check before you import data, send a customer-facing report, compare regional performance, clean address fields, prepare a CSV, or write documentation. It is especially useful when you are looking at one value and need to confirm whether it is a state abbreviation, a country code, or a full location name.

How the converter matches locations

The converter compares the input against bundled reference lists: ISO 3166-1 country and territory codes, ISO 3166-2 subdivisions, ISO 3166-3 former countries, UN M49 regions, IANA country-code top-level domains, airport location identifiers, U.S. Census ANSI/FIPS geographic codes, U.S. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, EU NUTS regions, and U.S. state and territory postal abbreviations. ISO country matches include alpha-2, alpha-3, and numeric-3 code elements. Names and aliases are normalized for lookup so that capitalization, punctuation, and accents do not block an obvious match.

For background on the standards referenced by the lookup, see Wikipedia summaries for ISO 3166-1, ISO 3166-2, ISO 3166-3, UN M49, country-code top-level domains, UN/LOCODE, IATA airport codes, ICAO airport codes, FIPS state codes, FIPS county codes, ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, and NUTS regions. These links explain the standards; the converter uses bundled reference data on UtilKit's server.

For U.S. states, the tool uses the standard postal abbreviations and common territory abbreviations. The code column shows the matched value, while the country codes column shows the related country code set when one applies.

Exact code matches are prioritized. For plain two-letter inputs, U.S. state and territory matches appear before country matches because many U.S. workflows use values such as MO, CA, GA, and IN as state abbreviations. When the same input also matches a country code, the country result is still shown so you can catch data that came from an international source. Specialized standards keep the code system visible in the type column.

The converter is not a geocoder. It does not find latitude and longitude, validate postal addresses, support ZIP+4, infer every city name, or replace the issuing authority for a standard. U.S. ZIP/ZCTA matches identify the associated Census place or county from bundled reference data. UN/LOCODE exact names are included where they overlap the bundled airport/location data; other valid five-character UN/LOCODE-shaped values are identified by format and country prefix. The tool is intentionally narrower: convert known standards-backed location codes to names, convert names back to codes where local data supports it, and make ambiguous short values visible before they turn into spreadsheet or import mistakes.

Location code converter FAQ