Find out what character encoding a subtitle file is actually in. Drop a file and it tells you the detected encoding and shows a decoded preview — useful for diagnosing garbled subtitles before converting. Read-only and 100% local; to convert to UTF-8, use the Encoding Fixer.
The tool reads the file as raw bytes and first checks whether it is valid UTF-8. If not, it decodes the bytes with each likely encoding — GB18030, Big5, Shift_JIS, EUC-KR, Windows-1252 — and keeps the one that produces the most real characters and the fewest garbage symbols. It also recognizes double-encoded (mojibake) UTF-8, the kind where 你好 becomes ä½ å¥½.
Detection is read-only. To actually convert the file to clean UTF-8, use the Subtitle Encoding Fixer, which uses the same detection and lets you download the converted file.
UTF-8, GB18030 (Simplified Chinese), Big5 (Traditional Chinese), Shift_JIS (Japanese), EUC-KR (Korean), and Windows-1252 (Western), plus double-encoded UTF-8 mojibake.
No. The detector is read-only — it only tells you the encoding and shows a preview. Use the Encoding Fixer to convert.
Detection happens in your browser. Subtitle input/output samples are sent to GeekLink for troubleshooting.
These free tools handle files you already have. GeekLink extracts hardcoded subtitles via OCR, transcribes and translates with AI, and burns subtitles into video — batch-processing dozens of videos, all locally on your Mac or Windows PC.
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