Question 1

Is text encoding detection safe?

Accepted Answer

Safe. Files are only read and analyzed locally in your browser, byte content is never uploaded to any server.

Question 2

How is the encoding detected?

Accepted Answer

The tool first checks the BOM byte marker at the beginning of the file (can identify UTF-8, UTF-16 LE/BE), then verifies whether the entire byte sequence is a valid UTF-8 sequence, and infers the most likely encoding based on features like null bytes, finally decoding with multiple candidate encodings for you to compare visually.

Question 3

Why are some encoding previews garbled?

Accepted Answer

If decoded with the wrong encoding, garbled text or replacement characters will appear. The label 'with garbled text' indicates illegal byte sequences under that encoding. Please select the encoding that displays the content completely and smoothly, which is usually the true encoding of the file.

Text Encoding Detector

FAQ