Web/API/Encoding API

This is an experimental technologyCheck the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

The Encoding API provides a mechanism for handling text in various character encodings, including legacy non-UTF-8 encodings.

The API provides four interfaces: TextDecoder, TextEncoder, TextDecoderStream and TextEncoderStream.

Interfaces

• TextDecoder
• TextEncoder
• TextDecoderStream
• TextEncoderStream

Tutorials & tools

• A shim allowing to use this interface in browsers that don't support it.
• StringView – a C-like representation of strings based on typed arrays.

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Encoding	Living Standard	Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.

TextDecoder

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
TextDecoder	Chrome Full support 38	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox Full support 19 Full support 19 Partial support 18 Notes' Notes' Implemented a slightly different version of the spec.	IE No support No	Opera Full support 25	Safari Full support 10.1	WebView Android Full support 38	Chrome Android Full support 38	Firefox Android Full support 19 Full support 19 Partial support 18 Notes' Notes' Implemented a slightly different version of the spec.	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support 10.3	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
TextDecoder() constructor	Chrome Full support 38	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox Full support 19 Full support 19 Partial support 18 Notes' Notes' Implemented a slightly different version of the spec.	IE No support No	Opera Full support 25	Safari Full support 10.1	WebView Android Full support 38	Chrome Android Full support 38	Firefox Android Full support 19 Full support 19 Partial support 18 Notes' Notes' Implemented a slightly different version of the spec.	Opera Android ?	Safari iOS Full support 10.3	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
decode	Chrome Full support 38	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox Full support 19 Full support 19 Partial support 18 Notes' Notes' Implemented a slightly different version of the spec.	IE No support No	Opera Full support 25	Safari Full support 10.1	WebView Android Full support 38	Chrome Android Full support 38	Firefox Android Full support 19 Full support 19 Partial support 18 Notes' Notes' Implemented a slightly different version of the spec.	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support 10.3	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
encoding	Chrome Full support 38	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox Full support 19 Full support 19 Partial support 18 Notes' Notes' Implemented a slightly different version of the spec.	IE No support No	Opera Full support 25	Safari Full support 10.1	WebView Android Full support 38	Chrome Android Full support 38	Firefox Android Full support 19 Full support 19 Partial support 18 Notes' Notes' Implemented a slightly different version of the spec.	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support 10.3	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
fatal	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox Full support Yes	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support 10.1	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support 10.3	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
ignoreBOM	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox Full support Yes	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support 10.1	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support 10.3	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
Available in workers	Chrome Full support 38	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox Full support 20	IE No support No	Opera Full support 25	Safari Full support 10.1	WebView Android Full support 38	Chrome Android Full support 38	Firefox Android Full support 20	Opera Android ?	Safari iOS Full support 10.3	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0

Legend

Full support  

Full support

No support  

No support

Compatibility unknown  

Compatibility unknown

See implementation notes.'

See implementation notes.

TextEncoder

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
TextEncoder Experimental'	Chrome Full support 38	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support 19 Full support 19 Full support 18 Notes' Notes' Firefox 18 implemented an earlier and slightly different version of the specification.	IE No support No	Opera Full support 25	Safari Full support 10.1	WebView Android Full support 38	Chrome Android Full support 38	Firefox Android Full support 19 Full support 19 Full support 18 Notes' Notes' Firefox 18 implemented an earlier and slightly different version of the specification.	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support 10.3	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
TextEncoder() constructor Experimental'	Chrome Full support 53 Notes' Full support 53 Notes' Notes' Does not accept parameters. Supports only utf-8 encoding. No support 38 — 53 Notes' Notes' Throws RangeError exception for unknown encoding types.	Edge Full support 79 Notes' Full support 79 Notes' Notes' Does not accept parameters. Supports only utf-8 encoding.	Firefox Full support 48 Notes' Full support 48 Notes' Notes' The constructor accepts an encoding type label argument, but the value is ignored. Only utf-8 encoding is supported. No support 38 — 48 Notes' Notes' If the encoding type label argument is invalid, then a RangeError exception is thrown. No support 19 — 38 Notes' Notes' If the encoding type label argument is invalid, then a TypeError exception is thrown. Full support 18 Notes' Notes' Firefox 18 implemented an earlier and slightly different version of the specification.	IE No support No	Opera Full support 25	Safari Full support 10.1	WebView Android Full support 38	Chrome Android Full support 38	Firefox Android Full support 48 Notes' Full support 48 Notes' Notes' The constructor accepts an encoding type label argument, but the value is ignored. Only utf-8 encoding is supported. No support 38 — 48 Notes' Notes' If the encoding type label argument is invalid, then a RangeError exception is thrown. No support 19 — 38 Notes' Notes' If the encoding type label argument is invalid, then a TypeError exception is thrown. Full support 18 Notes' Notes' Firefox 18 implemented an earlier and slightly different version of the specification.	Opera Android ?	Safari iOS Full support 10.3	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
encode Experimental'	Chrome Full support 38	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support 19 Full support 19 Full support 18 Notes' Notes' Firefox 18 implemented an earlier and slightly different version of the specification.	IE No support No	Opera Full support 25	Safari Full support 10.1	WebView Android Full support 38	Chrome Android Full support 38	Firefox Android Full support 19 Full support 19 Full support 18 Notes' Notes' Firefox 18 implemented an earlier and slightly different version of the specification.	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support 10.3	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
encodeInto Experimental'	Chrome Full support 74	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support 66	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 74	Chrome Android Full support 74	Firefox Android Full support 66	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 11.0
encoding Experimental'	Chrome Full support 38	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support 19 Full support 19 Full support 18 Notes' Notes' Firefox 18 implemented an earlier and slightly different version of the specification.	IE No support No	Opera Full support 25	Safari Full support 10.1	WebView Android Full support 38	Chrome Android Full support 38	Firefox Android Full support 19 Full support 19 Full support 18 Notes' Notes' Firefox 18 implemented an earlier and slightly different version of the specification.	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support 10.3	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
Available in workers Experimental'	Chrome Full support 38	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support 20	IE No support No	Opera Full support 25	Safari Full support 10.1	WebView Android Full support 38	Chrome Android Full support 38	Firefox Android Full support 20	Opera Android ?	Safari iOS Full support 10.3	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0

Legend

Full support  

Full support

No support  

No support

Compatibility unknown  

Compatibility unknown

Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.'

Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.

See implementation notes.'

See implementation notes.

Encoding API by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.