Get encoding of a file in Windows

Solution 1:

Open up your file using regular old vanilla Notepad that comes with Windows.
It will show you the encoding of the file when you click "Save As...".
It'll look like this:

Whatever the default-selected encoding is, that is what your current encoding is for the file.
If it is UTF-8, you can change it to ANSI and click save to change the encoding (or visa-versa).

I realize there are many different types of encoding, but this was all I needed when I was informed our export files were in UTF-8 and they required ANSI. It was a onetime export, so Notepad fit the bill for me.

FYI: From my understanding I think "Unicode" (as listed in Notepad) is a misnomer for UTF-16.
More here on Notepad's "Unicode" option: Windows 7 - UTF-8 and Unicdoe

Solution 2:

If you have "git" or "Cygwin" on your Windows Machine, then go to the folder where your file is present and execute the command:

file *

This will give you the encoding details of all the files in that folder.

Solution 3:

The (Linux) command-line tool 'file' is available on Windows via GnuWin32:

http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/file.htm

If you have git installed, it's located in C:\Program Files\git\usr\bin.

Example:

    C:\Users\SH\Downloads\SquareRoot>file *
    _UpgradeReport_Files;         directory
    Debug;                        directory
    duration.h;                   ASCII C++ program text, with CRLF line terminators
    ipch;                         directory
    main.cpp;                     ASCII C program text, with CRLF line terminators
    Precision.txt;                ASCII text, with CRLF line terminators
    Release;                      directory
    Speed.txt;                    ASCII text, with CRLF line terminators
    SquareRoot.sdf;               data
    SquareRoot.sln;               UTF-8 Unicode (with BOM) text, with CRLF line terminators
    SquareRoot.sln.docstates.suo; PCX ver. 2.5 image data
    SquareRoot.suo;               CDF V2 Document, corrupt: Cannot read summary info
    SquareRoot.vcproj;            XML  document text
    SquareRoot.vcxproj;           XML document text
    SquareRoot.vcxproj.filters;   XML document text
    SquareRoot.vcxproj.user;      XML document text
    squarerootmethods.h;          ASCII C program text, with CRLF line terminators
    UpgradeLog.XML;               XML  document text

    C:\Users\SH\Downloads\SquareRoot>file --mime-encoding *
    _UpgradeReport_Files;         binary
    Debug;                        binary
    duration.h;                   us-ascii
    ipch;                         binary
    main.cpp;                     us-ascii
    Precision.txt;                us-ascii
    Release;                      binary
    Speed.txt;                    us-ascii
    SquareRoot.sdf;               binary
    SquareRoot.sln;               utf-8
    SquareRoot.sln.docstates.suo; binary
    SquareRoot.suo;               CDF V2 Document, corrupt: Cannot read summary infobinary
    SquareRoot.vcproj;            us-ascii
    SquareRoot.vcxproj;           utf-8
    SquareRoot.vcxproj.filters;   utf-8
    SquareRoot.vcxproj.user;      utf-8
    squarerootmethods.h;          us-ascii
    UpgradeLog.XML;               us-ascii