How do I convert an ANSI encoded file to UTF-8 with Notepad++?

utf-8 notepad++
Kerem Bekman picture Kerem Bekman · Aug 31, 2011 · Viewed 242.3k times · Source

I have a website, and I can send my Turkish characters with jQuery in Firefox, but Internet Explorer doesn't send my Turkish characters. I looked at my source file in notepad, and this file's code page is ANSI.

When I convert it to UTF-8 without BOM and close the file, the file is again ANSI when I reopen.

How can I convert my file from ANSI to UTF-8?

Answer

jakub.g picture jakub.g · Sep 14, 2011

Regarding this part:

When I convert it to UTF-8 without bom and close file, the file is again ANSI when I reopen.

The easiest solution is to avoid the problem entirely by properly configuring Notepad++.

Try Settings -> Preferences -> New document -> Encoding -> choose UTF-8 without BOM, and check Apply to opened ANSI files.

notepad++ UTF-8 apply to opened ANSI files

That way all the opened ANSI files will be treated as UTF-8 without BOM.

For explanation what's going on, read the comments below this answer.

To fully learn about Unicode and UTF-8, read this excellent article from Joel Spolsky.

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