TextEncoder

TextEncoder takes a stream of code points as input and emits a stream of UTF-8 bytes.

Note: There is a polyfill implementation to support non-UTF-8 text encodings on GitHub.

Example

const encoder = new TextEncoder()
const view = encoder.encode('€')
console.log(view); // Uint8Array(3) [226, 130, 172]

Constructor

TextEncoder()
Returns a newly constructed TextEncoder that will generate a byte stream with UTF-8 encoding.

Properties

The TextEncoder interface doesn't inherit any property.

TextEncoder.prototype.encodingRead only
Always returns "utf-8".

Methods

The TextEncoder interface doesn't inherit any method.

TextEncoder.prototype.encode()
Takes a USVString as input, and returns a Uint8Array containing UTF-8 encoded text.
TextEncoder.prototype.encodeInto()
Takes a USVString to encode and a destination Uint8Array to put resulting UTF-8 encoded text into, and returns a dictionary object indicating the progress of the encoding. This is potentially more performant than the older encode() method.

Polyfill

The below polyfill is compliant with the standard and therefore only supports UTF-8. It is designed to work in IE5 "out of the box". However, in IE5-IE9, it will return a regular Array instead of a TypedArray. In those cases a polyfill might be impractical for large strings. Finally, note that you should run the below code through a minifier (especially closure compiler) to turn sequences like 0x1e << 3 into 0xf0. These sequences are not already precomputed because they serve to aesthetically illustrate how the polyfill works.

if (typeof TextEncoder === "undefined") {
    TextEncoder=function TextEncoder(){};
    TextEncoder.prototype.encode = function encode(str) {
        "use strict";
        var Len = str.length, resPos = -1;
        // The Uint8Array's length must be at least 3x the length of the string because an invalid UTF-16
        //  takes up the equivelent space of 3 UTF-8 characters to encode it properly. However, Array's
        //  have an auto expanding length and 1.5x should be just the right balance for most uses.
        var resArr = typeof Uint8Array === "undefined" ? new Array(Len * 1.5) : new Uint8Array(Len * 3);
        for (var point=0, nextcode=0, i = 0; i !== Len; ) {
            point = str.charCodeAt(i), i += 1;
            if (point >= 0xD800 && point <= 0xDBFF) {
                if (i === Len) {
                    resArr[resPos += 1] = 0xef/*0b11101111*/; resArr[resPos += 1] = 0xbf/*0b10111111*/;
                    resArr[resPos += 1] = 0xbd/*0b10111101*/; break;
                }
                // https://mathiasbynens.be/notes/javascript-encoding#surrogate-formulae
                nextcode = str.charCodeAt(i);
                if (nextcode >= 0xDC00 && nextcode <= 0xDFFF) {
                    point = (point - 0xD800) * 0x400 + nextcode - 0xDC00 + 0x10000;
                    i += 1;
                    if (point > 0xffff) {
                        resArr[resPos += 1] = (0x1e/*0b11110*/<<3) | (point>>>18);
                        resArr[resPos += 1] = (0x2/*0b10*/<<6) | ((point>>>12)&0x3f/*0b00111111*/);
                        resArr[resPos += 1] = (0x2/*0b10*/<<6) | ((point>>>6)&0x3f/*0b00111111*/);
                        resArr[resPos += 1] = (0x2/*0b10*/<<6) | (point&0x3f/*0b00111111*/);
                        continue;
                    }
                } else {
                    resArr[resPos += 1] = 0xef/*0b11101111*/; resArr[resPos += 1] = 0xbf/*0b10111111*/;
                    resArr[resPos += 1] = 0xbd/*0b10111101*/; continue;
                }
            }
            if (point <= 0x007f) {
                resArr[resPos += 1] = (0x0/*0b0*/<<7) | point;
            } else if (point <= 0x07ff) {
                resArr[resPos += 1] = (0x6/*0b110*/<<5) | (point>>>6);
                resArr[resPos += 1] = (0x2/*0b10*/<<6)  | (point&0x3f/*0b00111111*/);
            } else {
                resArr[resPos += 1] = (0xe/*0b1110*/<<4) | (point>>>12);
                resArr[resPos += 1] = (0x2/*0b10*/<<6)    | ((point>>>6)&0x3f/*0b00111111*/);
                resArr[resPos += 1] = (0x2/*0b10*/<<6)    | (point&0x3f/*0b00111111*/);
            }
        }
        if (typeof Uint8Array !== "undefined") return resArr.subarray(0, resPos + 1);
        // else // IE 6-9
        resArr.length = resPos + 1; // trim off extra weight
        return resArr;
    };
    TextEncoder.prototype.toString = function(){return "[object TextEncoder]"};
    try { // Object.defineProperty only works on DOM prototypes in IE8
        Object.defineProperty(TextEncoder.prototype,"encoding",{
            get:function(){if(TextEncoder.prototype.isPrototypeOf(this)) return"utf-8";
                           else throw TypeError("Illegal invocation");}
        });
    } catch(e) { /*IE6-8 fallback*/ TextEncoder.prototype.encoding = "utf-8"; }
    if(typeof Symbol!=="undefined")TextEncoder.prototype[Symbol.toStringTag]="TextEncoder";
}

Source: https://github.com/anonyco/FastestSmallestTextEncoderDecoder

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
Encoding
The definition of 'TextEncoder' in that specification.
Living Standard Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

DesktopMobile
ChromeEdgeFirefoxInternet ExplorerOperaSafariAndroid webviewChrome for AndroidFirefox for AndroidOpera for AndroidSafari on iOSSamsung Internet
TextEncoder
Experimental
Chrome Full support 38Edge Full support 79Firefox 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 NoOpera Full support 25Safari Full support 10.1WebView Android Full support 38Chrome Android Full support 38Firefox 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 YesSafari iOS Full support 10.3Samsung 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 NoOpera Full support 25Safari Full support 10.1WebView Android Full support 38Chrome Android Full support 38Firefox 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 10.3Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
encode
Experimental
Chrome Full support 38Edge Full support 79Firefox 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 NoOpera Full support 25Safari Full support 10.1WebView Android Full support 38Chrome Android Full support 38Firefox 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 YesSafari iOS Full support 10.3Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
encodeInto
Experimental
Chrome Full support 74Edge Full support 79Firefox Full support 66IE No support NoOpera No support NoSafari No support NoWebView Android Full support 74Chrome Android Full support 74Firefox Android Full support 66Opera Android No support NoSafari iOS No support NoSamsung Internet Android Full support 11.0
encoding
Experimental
Chrome Full support 38Edge Full support 79Firefox 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 NoOpera Full support 25Safari Full support 10.1WebView Android Full support 38Chrome Android Full support 38Firefox 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 YesSafari iOS Full support 10.3Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
Available in workers
Experimental
Chrome Full support 38Edge Full support 79Firefox Full support 20IE No support NoOpera Full support 25Safari Full support 10.1WebView Android Full support 38Chrome Android Full support 38Firefox Android Full support 20Opera Android ? Safari iOS Full support 10.3Samsung 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.

See also