Mac OS X: GB18030, GB2312/GBK encoded files not recognized

[etm001]

Hi,

 

I'm running Mac OS X Yosemite. On the occasions I download files from mainland China, the files names and contents of the files are often complete gibberish. That is, Mac OS X isn't recognizing the encoding as GB18030 or GB2312/GBK. I know these files are encoded in GB18030 etc. because, at least for text files I can set my text editor (TextWrangler) to import the file using that encoding, and most of the time - but not always - the file will open correctly.

 

Does anyone know how to get Mac OS X to recognize the encoding of these files? In "Languages and Region" I have both traditional and simplified Chinese included as preferred languages. 

 

It's also worth noting that, these files were most likely created on a Windows computer, and perhaps that has something to do with the problem as well.

[wibr]

you can convert encodings with iconv, just search stackoverflow or google for "convert encoding osx". Another quick way is to open the file in a webbrowser, choose the appropriate encoding from the menu and then copy-paste the text back into an editor to save it as a text file.

[imron]

Does anyone know how to get Mac OS X to recognize the encoding of these files?

It's not a global thing, it will depend on the application.  The easiest thing is what wibr said, using iconv or your browser to convert to utf8, and then go from there.

[etm001]

Hi all, thanks for the iconv recommendation, I'll check it out.