Check which plug type, voltage and frequency a country uses, and whether your devices need an adapter, a voltage converter or both.
Travelling with electronics means answering two questions that most people confuse into one. The first is whether the plug fits the socket — a physical question, solved by an adapter that changes the shape of the pins and nothing else. The second is whether the voltage matches — an electrical question, and the one that burns things out. An adapter does not change the voltage: plugging a 110 V hair dryer into a 220 V socket through an adapter sends twice the intended voltage through the heating element, and the result is smoke. The two problems need two different objects — an adapter and a converter — and this page separates them so you can see which one you actually need, or whether you need neither because your charger is already dual voltage.
The plug types are named A through O by the IEC World Plugs classification, and every country uses one or more of them. A type C plug — the slim two-pin European standard — physically fits into most round-pin sockets on the continent, but it has no earth pin, so a device that needs earthing should use the local grounded type instead. The "fits into" column in the table below is physical compatibility in everyday use, not an engineering certification: it tells you whether the metal makes contact, not whether the wiring behind the wall meets a particular code. Inside a single country the reality can be messier than the table suggests — Brazil officially uses type N but older buildings still have type A and type C sockets — so the socket in front of you is always the final word.
Voltage is a national decision, not a continental one: Japan runs at 100 V, the United States at 120 V, Brazil at 127 V or 220 V depending on the city, and most of Europe at 230 V. Frequency — 50 Hz or 60 Hz — rarely matters for modern electronics, but anything with a motor designed for one frequency runs at the wrong speed on the other, which is why an American turntable plays slow in London. The practical answer for almost every traveller is to read the tiny print on the charger. "Input: 100-240 V, 50/60 Hz" means the device handles everything and you need only an adapter. A single number means it does not, and a voltage converter heavy enough to run a hair dryer costs more than buying a hair dryer at the destination. The table is compiled from the World Standards list, reviewed on the date printed under it, and it changes: countries do rewire, and Brazil did exactly that in 2011 when it adopted the type N standard.
No. An adapter changes the shape of the pins so the plug fits the socket. It does not touch the voltage. If the voltage is different and your device is not dual voltage, you need a voltage converter, which is a separate and much heavier piece of equipment.
Read the label on the charger or the power brick. If it says "100-240 V" or "100-240 V~" and "50/60 Hz", it handles everything. Phone, tablet and laptop chargers are almost always dual voltage. Hair dryers, straighteners, curling irons and kettles usually are not.
They are the IEC World Plugs classification, a naming system for the fifteen plug and socket types in use around the world. Type A is the American two-pin flat blade, type C is the European two-pin round, type G is the British three-pin rectangular, and so on.
For most electronics, no — modern power supplies handle 50 Hz and 60 Hz equally. For anything with a motor (some shavers, older turntables) or a mains-driven clock, the frequency sets the speed, so it runs fast or slow on the wrong one.
Type N since 2011, but older buildings still have type A and type C sockets. The voltage varies by city: most of São Paulo is 127 V, most of the Northeast is 220 V, and a few cities have both on different circuits. A Brazilian dual-voltage device handles the national range; a foreign 120 V-only device does not survive a 220 V socket.
It is reviewed on the date printed under it. Countries do change their standards — Brazil adopted type N in 2011, and several countries have moved from 220 V to 230 V to align with the IEC recommendation — so the table is a snapshot, not a guarantee. The socket in front of you is the final word.
Vai.la turns any URL into a short link with click statistics, QR Code and your own biolink.
Vai.la is not responsible for how the tools are used or for decisions made based on their results.