Featured image of post Fix character encoding issues

Fix character encoding issues

A solution pattern for repairing text broken by Shift JIS and UTF-8 mismatches

Use this pattern when Japanese text becomes garbled after opening a CSV, or when a GIS or spreadsheet app fails to read the file correctly.

Solution

Identify the original encoding first, then convert the file into the encoding expected by the next tool. A fast converter makes it easy to validate both directions before sharing or importing the data.

Tool

Good fit for

  • Preparing CSV files for distribution
  • Fixing import errors in Japanese datasets
  • Moving files between different systems