.UTF8 File Extension
Unicode UTF8-Encoded Text Document
| Developer | N/A |
| Popularity | |
| Category | Text Files |
| Format | .UTF8 |
| Cross Platform | Update Soon |
What is an UTF8 file?
.UTF8 file extension is somewhat of a misnomer in the context of file formats, as it does not represent a specific type of file in the same way that .txt or .jpg does.
Instead, it signifies that the content within the file is encoded using the UTF-8 encoding scheme. UTF-8 stands for Unicode Transformation Format – 8-bit and is a widely used method of encoding characters as a sequence of bytes.
It is part of the Unicode standard, which aims to provide a unique number for every character, no matter the platform, program, or language.
The .UTF8 extension might be used informally or by specific applications to indicate that a text file is encoded in UTF-8, ensuring that it supports a vast array of characters from different languages worldwide.
More Information.
The purpose of UTF-8 was to provide a way to encode all possible characters in the Unicode standard into a format that could be used by systems that were traditionally based on 8-bit bytes, such as file systems and networks.
This need arose from the increasing globalization of software and the internet, which necessitated a universal character set that could accommodate the languages of all users.
Before UTF-8, encoding schemes were limited, often to specific languages or groups of languages, leading to compatibility issues and difficulties in internationalization.
UTF-8’s introduction marked a significant step towards resolving these issues, offering a single encoding scheme that could support any character from any language.
Origin Of This File.
UTF-8 was created by Robert Pike and Ken Thompson in 1992. The development was motivated by the need for a more efficient and flexible encoding system that could handle the full range of Unicode characters without the complexity and overhead of earlier encoding forms like UTF-16 or UTF-32.
UTF-8’s design allows it to be backward compatible with ASCII, meaning that any valid ASCII text is also valid UTF-8 encoded text, which significantly eased its adoption.
File Structure Technical Specification.
The structure of a file encoded in UTF-8 is designed to be both compact and efficient. UTF-8 uses one to four bytes to encode characters, depending on their position in the Unicode standard.
The first 128 characters (US-ASCII) require just one byte, making UTF-8 identical to ASCII for these characters.
Beyond ASCII, characters are encoded using sequences of two to four bytes, with the leading bits of the first byte serving to indicate the number of bytes in the sequence.
This variable-width encoding is key to UTF-8’s efficiency, as it allows the encoding to be compact for the common case of ASCII text while still being able to represent all possible Unicode characters.
How to Convert the File?
Converting files to UTF-8 encoding is a common requirement for ensuring text files are compatible across different platforms and applications, especially for internationalization.
Here’s a detailed guide on how to perform this conversion across various platforms:
On Windows:
Using Notepad++:
- Open the file in Notepad++. Notepad++ is a free source code editor which supports multiple encodings.
- Click on Encoding in the menu bar.
- Select Convert to UTF-8. This option will convert the current encoding of the file to UTF-8 without BOM (Byte Order Mark).
- Save the file.
Using Microsoft Notepad:
- Open your file with Notepad.
- Go to File > Save As.
- In the Save As dialog, locate the Encoding dropdown at the bottom.
- Select UTF-8 from the list.
- Click Save. You might need to replace the original file or save the new file with a different name.
On macOS:
Using TextEdit:
- Open TextEdit and open your file.
- From the menu, select Format > Make Plain Text if your document is not already in plain text mode.
- Go to File > Save As, or Duplicate to save a copy.
- In the save dialog, check the “Plain Text Encoding” option and select UTF-8.
- Save your document.
Using Terminal with iconv:
- Open Terminal.
- Use the iconv command to convert your file to UTF-8. The syntax is iconv -f [original_charset] -t utf-8 [original_filename] > [new_filename].
- Replace [original_charset] with the current encoding of your file, [original_filename] with the name of your file, and [new_filename] with the desired new file name.
- Press Enter.
On Linux:
Using Gedit:
- Open the file in Gedit.
- Click on Save As.
- In the Save As dialog, you’ll find an option for Character Encoding. Select UTF-8 from this dropdown.
- Click Save.
Using iconv in Terminal:
- Open a terminal window.
- Use the iconv utility as described for macOS.
Advantages And Disadvantages.
Advantages:
- Compatibility: UTF-8 is backward compatible with ASCII, which makes it seamlessly work with legacy systems and software that were designed with only ASCII in mind.
- Flexibility: It can encode any character in the Unicode standard, making it suitable for the internationalization and localization of software and content.
- Efficiency: For texts primarily in ASCII, UTF-8 is as efficient as ASCII, requiring no extra space. Even for texts containing characters from multiple languages, it remains highly space-efficient.
- Widely Supported: UTF-8 is supported by almost all modern software and operating systems, making it a universal standard for text encoding.
Disadvantages:
- Variable Length: The variable length of UTF-8 encoded characters can complicate text processing operations that assume a fixed width, such as character indexing and string slicing.
- Potential for Misinterpretation: If a UTF-8 file is incorrectly interpreted as being encoded with another character set, it can lead to garbled text output.
How to Open UTF8?
Open In Windows
- Notepad: Comes with Windows and supports UTF-8 natively. Simply right-click the file and choose Open with > Notepad.
- Notepad++: A free and popular text editor that can handle UTF-8 encoded files. Install Notepad++ and open your file directly or set it as the default editor for text files.
Open In Linux
- Gedit: The default text editor on GNOME-based distributions. Open your file directly with Gedit for seamless UTF-8 support.
- Kate: For KDE users, Kate offers robust support for UTF-8 and other encodings. Open your file in Kate to view or edit it.
- Vim or Nano: For terminal enthusiasts or when working on a headless server, both Vim and Nano support UTF-8. Use
vim [filename]ornano [filename]in the terminal to open your file.
Open In MAC
- TextEdit: Can open UTF-8 files by default. If the file doesn’t seem to display correctly, ensure TextEdit is set to use Unicode (UTF-8) from the Preferences.
- Visual Studio Code: A powerful, free editor from Microsoft with excellent UTF-8 support. Open the file with Visual Studio Code to view or edit it.
