Convert a folder of .txt files from UTF-8 to UTF-16LE

Question

I have a folder of 260 files created in Notebook with UTF-8 coding.

I shall need to convert these to .tif files, but the program to do this needs files with UTF-16LE coding.

How do I do the conversion to UTF-16LE?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hi velson Horie,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A!

I understand that you’re trying to convert 260 .txt files saved as UTF‑8 to UTF‑16 LE. If you’re interested in using Windows-native ways to do it (no third‑party tools required) here is your option:

• Right-click a .txt file > open with Notepad.
• Click File > Save As > Encoding > UTF‑16 LE
• Save to another folder to keep the originals

An additional (less hassle) option would be to find another third-party tool, which can convert all your UTF‑8 files to UTF‑16 LE. But if you don’t want more programs on your PC, Notepad can help (though take time).

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Answer 2

To convert a folder of .txt files from UTF-8 to UTF-16LE encoding, you can use the iconv command on a Linux system or a Windows PowerShell script. Here’s how you can do it in both environments:

Using Linux (with iconv):

1. Open a terminal.
2. Navigate to the folder containing your .txt files.
3. Run the following command to convert all .txt files from UTF-8 to UTF-16LE:

      for file in *.txt; do
          iconv -f UTF-8 -t UTF-16LE "$file" -o "${file%.txt}.utf16.txt"
      done
   

   This will create new files with the .utf16.txt extension.

Using Windows PowerShell:

1. Open PowerShell.
2. Navigate to the folder containing your .txt files.
3. Run the following command:

      Get-ChildItem *.txt | ForEach-Object {
          $outputFile = $_.FullName -replace '\.txt$', '.utf16.txt'
          Get-Content $_.FullName | Set-Content -Encoding Unicode $outputFile
      }
   

   This will also create new files with the .utf16.txt extension.

After converting the files, you can then proceed to use them in your program that requires UTF-16LE encoding.

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References:

• Understand volume languages in Azure NetApp Files
• File handling and text encoding