How to Check the Encoding of a File Quickly?
No software installation required. Identify file encoding and fix garbled text online in 3 simple steps:
Select & Import Files
Click the dashed upload zone to choose files from your computer, drag and drop files into the browser, or copy files and press Ctrl + V to paste directly. Supports single and bulk files.
Instant Analysis & Live Preview
High-performance algorithms detect character encoding in milliseconds locally with zero server upload. View encoding types (UTF-8, GBK, Shift-JIS, etc.), confidence score, and decoded text preview.
Switch Encoding & Download
If default preview appears garbled, click candidate tags under "Possible Encodings" to switch in real-time. Once verified, click "To UTF-8" or "Convert All to UTF-8 & Download (ZIP)" to export clean files.
Common Garbled Text Scenarios & Solutions
1. Windows Notepad Opening Text Garbled
Legacy Windows Notepad often saves text in regional ANSI (such as GBK/GB2312), causing strange characters when transferred to macOS, Linux, or web applications. Detect and convert to universal UTF-8 to fix it permanently.
2. Excel Opening CSV Displays Question Marks / Gibberish
Excel may misinterpret UTF-8 CSV files without BOM signatures, turning non-English characters into messy symbols. Convert files to UTF-8 with BOM or UTF-16LE to open seamlessly in Excel by double-clicking.
3. TXT E-Books & Novels Unreadable on Mobile / Kindle
E-readers and mobile reading apps often lack regional font decoding tables and show messy symbols. Upload and convert your TXT books into standard UTF-8 for smooth reading on any device.
4. Code Comments, Subtitles & Lyrics Encoding Errors
Legacy source code comments, .srt / .ass video subtitles, and .lrc lyric files frequently become garbled across platforms. Batch drag-and-drop to detect and export as a clean ZIP archive in seconds.
Character Encoding Comparison & Reference
| Encoding | Full Name & Characteristics | Primary Applications | Compatibility & Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
| UTF-8 | Universal variable-length Unicode encoding (1-4 bytes) | Global web standard, modern operating systems, web development | Highly recommended, optimal worldwide compatibility |
| GBK / GB2312 | Chinese national character standard (2 bytes) | Legacy Windows Chinese editions, traditional Chinese text files | Simplified Chinese environments only; convert to UTF-8 |
| GB18030 | Official mandatory Chinese standard with rare characters | Government, enterprise software, academic publications | Fully backward-compatible with GBK & GB2312 |
| Big5 | Traditional Chinese character encoding standard | Taiwan, Hong Kong, and overseas Traditional Chinese media | Traditional Chinese text; convert to UTF-8 |
| Shift-JIS / EUC-JP | Japanese Industrial Standard encoding | Japanese systems, anime subtitles, gaming ROMs & legacy apps | Prone to garbled display outside Japan; convert to UTF-8 |
| Windows-1252 | Single-byte Western European encoding (ANSI standard) | English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese legacy text | Often confused with other single-byte Latin character sets |
Why Choose Online Batch Detection & Conversion?
100% In-Browser · Absolute Privacy
All character detection, decoding preview, and file conversion occur strictly in your local browser memory. No files are ever uploaded to any server, keeping sensitive data private.
Confidence Scoring · Live Multi-Encoding Comparison
Powered by byte rule patterns and statistical models, this tool displays primary detection results with confidence scores and lets you switch between all candidates with 1 click.
High-Speed Batch Processing · Auto ZIP Package
Drop dozens or hundreds of files at once. The asynchronous queue parses items in milliseconds, allowing individual downloads or 1-click batch ZIP archiving.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: Why is the detection accuracy not always 100% for short texts or specific files?
Character encoding detection relies on statistical analysis of byte frequency and language probability models. Short files or pure ASCII text may match multiple encodings simultaneously. You can check all candidate tags in the 'Possible Encodings' column and click them to preview decoded text instantly.
Q: What is the difference between UTF-8 with BOM and without BOM? How do I add or remove BOM?
1. Differences: BOM is a 3-byte signature (0xEF 0xBB 0xBF) at the start of a file. UTF-8 with BOM helps Microsoft Excel and legacy Notepad automatically recognize Chinese/special characters when opening CSVs; standard UTF-8 without BOM is recommended for web development and Linux/macOS.
2. How to Add BOM: When converting files, check the "Add BOM Signature" option in the dialog window to export UTF-8 with BOM.
3. How to Remove BOM: Uncheck "Add BOM Signature" in the download dialog. The tool will automatically strip the leading BOM bytes and export clean standard UTF-8.
Q: Which character encodings are supported by this tool?
The tool supports 80+ character encodings worldwide with high-accuracy recognition and conversion, categorized by country and region:
- Worldwide Universal (Unicode / International):
UTF-8,UTF-8 with BOM (UTF-8-SIG),UTF-16LE,UTF-16BE,UTF-16,UTF-32LE,UTF-32BE,UTF-32,ASCII - China (Simplified / Traditional Chinese):
GB18030(Mandatory standard, backward-compatible withGBKandGB2312),HZ-GB-2312,Big5,Big5-HKSCS(Hong Kong supplementary) - Japan (Japanese):
Shift_JIS,Shift_JIS_2004,CP932(Windows Japanese),EUC-JP,EUC-JIS-2004,ISO-2022-JP series(iso2022-jp-2/2004/ext) - Korea (Korean):
EUC-KR,CP949(Windows Korean),ISO-2022-KR,Johab - Western European & Americas (English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, etc.):
Windows-1252(ANSI Western),ISO-8859-1(Latin-1),ISO-8859-15(Latin-9),MacRoman,HP-Roman8 - Central & Eastern Europe (Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Romanian, etc.):
Windows-1250,ISO-8859-2(Latin-2),MacLatin2,CP852 - Russia & Cyrillic Countries (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, etc.):
Windows-1251,KOI8-R,KOI8-U,ISO-8859-5,MacCyrillic,CP866,CP1125 - Greece (Greek):
Windows-1253,ISO-8859-7,MacGreek,CP737 - Turkey (Turkish):
Windows-1254,ISO-8859-9(Latin-5),MacTurkish,CP857 - Middle East (Arabic, Hebrew, Persian):
Windows-1255/ISO-8859-8(Hebrew),Windows-1256/ISO-8859-6/CP720/CP864(Arabic) - Southeast Asia (Vietnamese, Thai, etc.):
Windows-1258(Vietnamese),CP874/TIS-620(Thai) - Baltic & Nordic (Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Icelandic, etc.):
Windows-1257,ISO-8859-4(Latin-4),ISO-8859-10(Nordic),ISO-8859-13(Baltic),MacIceland - Legacy DOS & Mainframe: DOS code pages (
CP437,CP850,CP858, etc.), IBM/Mainframe EBCDIC (CP500,CP1026,CP1140, etc.)
Q: What file formats are supported?
Supports all plain text files, including .txt, .csv, .json, .xml, .html, .css, .js, .py, .java, .c, .cpp, .sql, .srt, .ass, .lrc, .log, .md, etc.
Q: Will the file content be lost or altered during conversion?
No. The conversion only remaps the underlying byte encoding format (e.g. from GBK bytes to UTF-8 bytes). All words, symbols, line breaks, and punctuation remain completely intact without any data loss.