Encoding Detector Detect text file character encoding (UTF-8, UTF-16, ASCII, Latin-1).

A character encoding detector is a tool that analyzes text files to determine their character encoding, which is crucial for ensuring correct interpretation of the file's contents. Developers working with text files use it to solve the specific problem of detecting the encoding of unknown or unmarked files, which can cause issues when reading or processing them.

It solves this problem by checking for Byte Order Marks (BOM) and using heuristic analysis based on byte patterns, such as null bytes and high-byte sequences, to identify encodings like UTF-8, UTF-16, and ISO-8859-1/Windows-1252. What makes the Encoding Detector different is its ability to provide a decoded content preview of up to 200 characters from the file, helping users verify the detected encoding.

The tool's detection process involves checking for BOMs in the first few bytes of the file, and if none are found, it analyzes the byte sequence to determine the likelihood of the file being encoded in UTF-8, UTF-16, or other formats. It also checks for common patterns like null bytes to detect UTF-16 encoding without a BOM. As a text encoding checker, it provides detailed results including the detected encoding, confidence level, and explanation of how the detection was made, making it an essential tool for detecting file encoding accurately.