What it does
Recode converts files between character sets and text usages. Its command-line frontend uses the Recode library and can extend available mappings through an iconv library.
Specify the source and destination character sets, then choose file or stream operation. Named files are recoded over themselves; without file arguments Recode transforms standard input to standard output. Several filenames can be processed together. The manual describes protection that normally leaves a named source unreplaced after detected irreversible conversion, but force mode can bypass it and a failed stream conversion can already have emitted partial output. Character substitutions and mapping rules mean round trips are not guaranteed across contents or versions. The CLI and C library use separate GPL/LGPL terms, with iconv extending available mappings.
Strengths
- Provides broad character-set translation through a standalone CLI.
Watch out for
- Unrepresentable characters may be removed or approximated.
Best for
- Maintaining text-encoding conversion workflows
Sources
- GitHub - rrthomas/recode: Charset converter tool and library · GitHub (Oct 26, 2026)
- Recode manual source - rrthomas/recode (Oct 26, 2026)