How to convert a file to utf-8 in Python?

I need to convert some files to UTF-8 in Python, and I have trouble with converting the file I'd like to do the equivalent of:

iconv -t utf-8 $file > converted/$file # this is shell code

Thanks!

You can use the codecs module, like this:

import codecs
BLOCKSIZE = 1048576 # or some other, desired size in bytes
with codecs.open(sourceFileName, "r", "your-source-encoding") as sourceFile:
    with codecs.open(targetFileName, "w", "utf-8") as targetFile:
        while True:
            contents = sourceFile.read(BLOCKSIZE)
            if not contents:
                break
            targetFile.write(contents)

EDIT: added BLOCKSIZE parameter to control file chunk size.