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⏸️Pause Button Emoji
⏸️ pause button is encoded at U+23F8 U+FE0F and shipped with Unicode 7.0 (2014). Unicode files it under Symbols → Audio & Video Symbols, alongside 24 related emojis.
What ⏸️ pause button means
Playback controls used literally and as metaphors alike: ⏸️ for pausing a plan, ⏭️ for skipping ahead, 🔁 for something happening all over again. 📶 signals reception or, by extension, being unreachable. Several of these are text-default characters that need the variation selector U+FE0F after them to appear in colour, which is why they sometimes render as plain black outlines.
Unicode tags this one bar, button and double and files it under Symbols → Audio & Video Symbols.
Copy variants
pause button carries a variation selector (U+FE0F) that forces colour rendering. Drop it and the same character renders as monochrome text.
Shortcodes
Type these instead of pasting — most chat apps expand them as you type.
How ⏸️ is built
This emoji is more than one codepoint. Each part below is a character in its own right.
- ⏸U+23F8pause button
- ·U+FE0FVariation selector (emoji style)
Codes & technical data
| Unicode | U+23F8 U+FE0F | |
|---|---|---|
| HTML hex | ⏸️ | |
| HTML decimal | ⏸️ | |
| CSS | \23F8\FE0F | |
| JavaScript | \u{23F8}\u{FE0F} | |
| Python | \U000023F8\U0000FE0F | |
| Java / C# | \u23F8\uFE0F | |
| Rust | \u{23f8}\u{fe0f} | |
| Swift | \u{23F8}\u{FE0F} | |
| PHP | \u{23F8}\u{FE0F} | |
| URL encoded | %E2%8F%B8%EF%B8%8F | |
| UTF-8 bytes | E2 8F B8 EF B8 8F | |
| UTF-16 bytes | 23F8 FE0F | |
| Base64 | 4o+477iP | |
| Decimal | 9208 65039 | |
| Introduced | Unicode 7.0 (2014) | |
Keywords
- bar
- button
- double
- pause
- vertical
How to type ⏸️
- Windows — press
Win + .and search “pause button”. - macOS — press
Ctrl + Cmd + Spaceto open the character viewer. - iOS & Android — switch to the emoji keyboard and type “bar”.
- Linux — press
Ctrl + Shift + U, then type23f8and Enter. - HTML — paste
⏸️.
How ⏸️ renders
The same character drawn with whichever emoji fonts your device has installed. Apple, Google and Microsoft each draw it differently, so what you see below depends on what you are reading this on.
- ⏸️Apple
- ⏸️Segoe
- ⏸️Noto
- ⏸️System
Frequently asked questions
What does the ⏸️ pause button emoji mean?+
⏸️ is the pause button emoji, tagged bar, button and double. Playback controls used literally and as metaphors alike: ⏸️ for pausing a plan, ⏭️ for skipping ahead, 🔁 for something happening all over again. 📶 signals reception or, by extension, being unreachable. Several of these are text-default characters that need the variation selector U+FE0F after them to appear in colour, which is why they sometimes render as plain black outlines.
What is the Unicode code for ⏸️?+
pause button is U+23F8 U+FE0F. In HTML that is ⏸️, in CSS \23F8\FE0F, and in JavaScript \u{23F8}\u{FE0F}. The full table above lists every escape format.
When was the ⏸️ emoji added?+
pause button got its emoji presentation in Unicode 7.0 (2014). Platforms that shipped before that release may draw it in plain text, or not at all — that is why the same character can look different on an old phone.
Related emojis
More emojis from Audio & Video Symbols in Symbols.
Added in Unicode 7.0 (2014)
Other emojis that shipped in the same Unicode release as ⏸️ pause button.