windowsencoding

Get encoding of a file in Windows

This isn't really a programming question, is there a command line or Windows tool (Windows 7) to get the current encoding of a text file? Sure I can write a little C# app but I wanted to know if there is something already built in?

Solution

  • Open up your file using regular old vanilla Notepad that comes with Windows 7.
    It will show you the encoding of the file when you click "Save As...".
    It'll look like this: enter image description here

    Whatever the default-selected encoding is, that is what your current encoding is for the file.
    If it is UTF-8, you can change it to ANSI and click save to change the encoding (or visa-versa).

    There are many different types of encodings, but this was all I needed when our export files were in UTF-8 and the 3rd party required ANSI. It was a onetime export, so Notepad fit the bill for me.

    FYI: From my understanding I think "Unicode" (as listed in Notepad) is a misnomer for UTF-16.
    More here on Notepad's "Unicode" option: Windows 7 - UTF-8 and Unicode

    Update (06/14/2023):

    Updated with screenshots of the newer Notepad and Notepad++

    Notepad (Windows 10 & 11):
       Bottom-Right Corner: enter image description here

       "Save As..." Dialog Box: enter image description here

    Notepad++:
       Bottom-Right Corner: enter image description here

       "Encoding" Menu Item: enter image description here
       Far more Encoding options are available in NotePad++; should you need them.

    Other (Mac/Linux/Win) Options:

    I hear Windows 11 improved the performance of large 100+MB files to open much faster.
    On the web I've read that Notepad++ is still the all around large-file editor champion.
    However, (for those on Mac or Linux) here are some other contenders I found:
    1). Sublime Text
    2). Visual Studio Code