Character Encoding Converter (UTF-8 / GBK Conversion, Encoding Detection and Chinese Garbled Text Repair)

How does the character encoding converter work? Inspect bytes, identify encodings, and repair garbled text

A character encoding converter converts text between different character encodings while displaying UTF-8 bytes and Unicode code points.

Select the source and target encodings to convert the text. If you do not know the original encoding, run detection first. All processing takes place locally in the browser.

Three common causes of Chinese garbled text

The first is reading UTF-8 bytes as GBK, which commonly produces combinations such as “浣犲ソ”. The second is reading GBK bytes as a single-byte encoding, producing combinations of Latin characters and symbols. The third is a BOM at the beginning of a byte stream that the receiver does not interpret according to the indicated encoding. The diagnostic method is straightforward: identify the appearance of the garbled text and then use the corresponding reverse conversion.

The essential differences between UTF-8, GBK, UTF-16, and UTF-32

UTF-8 is a variable-length encoding that uses 1 to 4 bytes per character. English uses 1 byte and common Chinese characters use 3 bytes, making UTF-8 the de facto standard for web pages and APIs. GBK and GB2312 are double-byte Chinese encodings commonly found in Chinese-language environments and legacy systems. UTF-16 and UTF-32 use wider character representations; UTF-16 is common in Windows internals and some file formats, while UTF-32 makes code-point calculations more direct at the cost of larger data size. Because different encodings produce different byte sequences for the same text, bytes do not have a unique text interpretation without encoding information.

Why can encoding detection provide only candidates and confidence?

A byte sequence usually does not contain its own encoding declaration. Detection therefore relies on rules and trial decoding: first checking for a BOM, then determining whether all bytes are ASCII, validating strict UTF-8 decoding, and finally checking whether GBK decoding produces plausible Chinese text. This covers many common cases, but short text and symbol-only text can legitimately match multiple encodings. The tool therefore provides candidate encodings, confidence, and reasoning rather than an absolute conclusion.

Why can UTF-8 and GBK not be converted arbitrarily?

UTF-8 represents far more characters than GBK. GBK covers Chinese characters and a subset of symbols, so characters not represented by GBK, such as common Emoji and some rare characters, cannot be encoded into GBK bytes. In such cases, this tool reports the unsupported character instead of silently discarding it. Converting GBK text to UTF-8 generally does not have this limitation because UTF-8 has broader character coverage.

What are byte sequences and Unicode code points used for?

A byte sequence is the actual representation stored in files and transmitted over networks. It is essential when troubleshooting garbled text, checking APIs, or comparing database fields. A Unicode code point, such as U+4F60, is the identifier of a character and does not depend on the encoding method. It is therefore useful for determining whether two characters are actually the same. The tool shows both views so they can be cross-checked.

What can this tool do, and what can it not do?

It supports conversion between UTF-8, GBK, GB2312, UTF-16LE/BE, and UTF-32LE/BE, byte and code-point inspection, encoding detection, and one-click repair of two common types of garbled text. It does not guess an encoding without sufficient evidence, translate or correct text, or process binary files and images. UTF-8 and UTF-16 use browser-native decoding, while GBK and GB2312 use browser-supported decoders. UTF-8 to GBK byte output uses a local character table and does not download a third-party library. All conversion runs locally in the browser, and your input is not uploaded to the server.