🇫🇷 France Phone Number Format
French numbers are exactly 10 digits, written in five pairs — 06 12 34 56 78 — and the first pair announces the type: 01–05 geographic regions, 06/07 mobiles, 08 special rates, 09 VoIP. Behind +33 the leading 0 drops, leaving 9 digits.
French Numbers in Pairs: All Four Formats
Here is how one France number is written in each of the four standards:
| Format | Example | Use for |
|---|---|---|
| E.164 | +33612345678 | Databases, SMS APIs (Twilio, WhatsApp), CRMs |
| International | +33 6 12 34 56 78 | Display to a global audience, business cards |
| National | 06 12 34 56 78 | Domestic display inside France |
| RFC3966 | tel:+33-6-12-34-56-78 | Clickable tel: links on websites |
ARCEP and the Ten-Digit Pair System
France renumbered overnight in October 1996, moving the whole country to ten digits arranged in five pairs. The pair convention is more than typography: French speakers read numbers aloud two digits at a time (“zéro six, douze, trente-quatre…”), so a UI that groups French numbers any other way genuinely slows users down.
The first pair is a routing map of French telecom history: 01 Île-de-France and 02–05 the other quadrants of the country, 06 and the 2010 addition 07 for mobiles, 08 for special tariffs, and 09 for the VoIP boxes (Freebox, Livebox) that came with France’s broadband boom. Regulator ARCEP assigns the blocks.
Because the plan is closed and fixed-length, French validation is easy — exactly ten digits starting with 0 nationally, nine after +33. The only real-world bug to guard against is double-prefixing: “+33 06 12 34 56 78” mixes both forms and will not dial.
The 01–09 First-Pair System
Type Prefixes Digits Example Mobile 06, 07 10 06 12 34 56 78 Paris / Île-de-France 01 10 01 23 45 67 89 Geographic (other) 02–05 10 04 23 45 67 89 VoIP 09 10 09 12 34 56 78 Special rate 08 10 08 12 34 56 78
Calling France: +33 Without the Zero
Calling from Dial Within France 06 12 34 56 78 — Keep the leading 0. From the US 011 33 6 12 34 56 78 — Drop the 0. From any mobile +33 6 12 34 56 78
- Enter + or your country’s exit code.
- Add the French country code 33.
- Drop the leading 0 of the French number.
- Dial the remaining 9 digits.
French Formatting Conventions
- France always groups digits in pairs — +33 6 12 34 56 78 — a convention French users strongly expect in UIs.
- After +33 only 9 digits remain because the trunk 0 is dropped: +33612345678 is 11 digits of payload.
- 07 numbers were added in 2010 when 06 capacity ran low — both are equally valid mobile prefixes.
- 09 numbers are non-geographic VoIP lines (Freebox, etc.), billed as standard calls, not premium.
Format a French Number in Pairs
Enter any French number and get the canonical pair-grouped national form plus +33 international and E.164 — exactly how French users expect to read it.
Enter phone number with country code or select country below.
Up to 100 numbers. Include country code or select a default country below.
| Original | E.164 | International | National | Valid |
|---|
France Phone Format FAQ
How do I write a French mobile number internationally?
Drop the leading 0 and add +33: 06 12 34 56 78 becomes +33 6 12 34 56 78, or +33612345678 in strict E.164.
What do French mobile numbers start with?
French mobiles start with 06 or 07 nationally (+336 / +337 internationally). 09 numbers are VoIP, and 01–05 are geographic landlines.
How many digits does a French phone number have?
Exactly 10 digits in national format (including the leading 0), conventionally written in five pairs: 06 12 34 56 78.
How do I call France from the US?
Dial 011 33 then the French number without its leading 0: 011 33 6 12 34 56 78. From a mobile, use +33 6 12 34 56 78.