In this tutorial, You learn how to change the VSCode encoding to (UTF-8, UTF-16, ANSI, ISO-8859-1, Arabic, and Japanese)

There are multiple ways we can do this

  • Change encoding to the opened file
  • Update encoding permanently and globally in VSCode

What is the default encoding for Visual Studio code? The default encoding is UTF-8. you can change it

How to change encoding for an open file in VS Code

In this approach, You can change the encoding for a single file or opened file.

Open a file in Visual Studio Code, If the file is not opened, The below option is not visible

You will see the UTF-8 text in the bottom bar of the Visual Studio code

Visual Studio Code (VSCode) change encoding

  • Clicking on the UTF-8 label, you will see two options as seen below

Visual Studio Code (VSCode) change encoding

  • Select One of the options below

    • Reopen with Encoding- The file is reopened with the selected encoding
    • Save with Encoding - The file is saved with the selected encoding. you can choose one of the options from above.
  • Again one more popup appears to select encoding from all encoding lists as seen below

Visual Studio Code (VSCode) encoding list

you can select one from the list i.e. Japanese or Korean or your required one.

That’s it, the file will be opened or saved with the selected encoding

This approach only works for a single file.

What is the shortcode to change the encoding in VSCODE? Alternatively, you can change the encoding with a single file for the below command CTRL+SHIFT+P command and type encoding and select Reopen or save with encoding option

Set Encoding globally in Visual Studio Code

Go to Settings in Visual Studio code

  • In Windows, you can select File -> Preferences -> Settings Alternatively, you can open using short keys( CTRL + ,) Command

  • In MAC:- Code -> Preferences -> Settings Alternatively, you can open using short keys( Command +,) Command

  • It opens a settings window types encoding and changes the default encoding from a given list on the Files: Encoding option as seen below Visual Studio Code (VSCode) Globally Encoding set

This changes encoding globally in VSCode and newly created files will be saved with the new encoding.