TextDecoder

This is an experimental technology
Because this technology's specification has not stabilized, check the compatibility table for usage in various browsers. Also note that the syntax and behavior of an experimental technology is subject to change in future versions of browsers as the specification changes.

The TextDecoder interface represents a decoder for a specific method, that is a specific character encoding, like utf-8, iso-8859-2, koi8, cp1261, gbk, ... A decoder takes a stream of bytes as input and emits a stream of code points. For a more scalable, non-native library, see StringView – a C-like representation of strings based on typed arrays.

Example

let win1251decoder = new TextDecoder('windows-1251');
let bytes = new Uint8Array([207, 240, 232, 226, 229, 242, 44, 32, 236, 232, 240, 33]);
console.log(win1251decoder.decode(bytes)); // Привет, мир!

Properties

The TextDecoder interface doesn't inherit any properties.

TextDecoder.encoding Read only
Is a DOMString containing the name of the decoder, that is a string describing the method the TextDecoder will use.
TextDecoder.fatal Read only
Is a Boolean indicating whether the error mode is fatal.
TextDecoder.ignoreBOM Read only
Is a Boolean indicating whether the byte order marker is ignored.

Constructor

TextDecoder()
Returns a newly constructed TextDecoder that will generate a code point stream with the decoding method specified in parameters.

Methods

The TextDecoder interface doesn't inherit any method.

TextDecoder.decode()
Returns a DOMString containing the text decoded with the method of the specific TextDecoder object.

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
Encoding
The definition of 'TextDecoder' in that specification.
Candidate Recommendation Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

Feature Chrome Firefox (Gecko) Internet Explorer Opera Safari (WebKit)
Basic support 38.0 19.0 (19.0) [1] No support 25 10.1
Available in Web Workers 38.0 20.0 (20.0) No support 25 ?
Feature Android Android Webview Firefox Mobile (Gecko) Firefox OS IE Phone Opera Mobile Safari Mobile Chrome for Android
Basic support No support 38.0 19.0 (19.0) [1] 1.0.1 (19.0) No support ? No support 38.0
Available in Web Workers No support 38.0 20.0 (20.0) 1.0.1 (20.0) No support ? No support 38.0

[1] An earlier, and slightly different, version of the specification was implemented in Firefox 18.

See also

Document Tags and Contributors

 Contributors to this page: fgasper, tz4678, jpmedley, fscholz, Noitidart, realityking, fusionchess, past, teoli
 Last updated by: fgasper,