Question 1

How to convert a file from ISO-8859-1 to UTF-8 using iconv-lite?

Accepted Answer

Use the streaming API: create a read stream with fs.createReadStream, pipe it through iconv.decodeStream('iso-8859-1'), then iconv.encodeStream('utf8'), and write to a new file. This handles large files efficiently without loading everything into memory.

Question 2

Does iconv-lite work in React Native?

Accepted Answer

Yes, but with caveats. It requires installing the 'stream' module to enable the Streaming API, as noted in the README. For basic encoding/decoding, it should work out of the box.

Question 3

What's the performance difference between iconv-lite and native node-iconv?

Accepted Answer

iconv-lite is faster in benchmarks, with encode speeds up to ~320 Mb/s vs ~96 Mb/s for node-iconv on win1251. However, node-iconv might offer better accuracy for edge cases due to native bindings.

Question 4

How to handle streaming large files with iconv-lite?

Accepted Answer

Utilize the decodeStream and encodeStream methods to create transform streams. Chain them with pipe() for memory-efficient processing, as shown in the file conversion example in the README.

Question 5

Can iconv-lite detect BOM automatically for all encodings?

Accepted Answer

No, BOM detection is only built-in for UTF encodings. For other encodings, you need to use external modules like node-autodetect-decoder-stream or handle it manually with options.

Question 6

iconv-lite or text-encoding for browser use?

Accepted Answer

iconv-lite is more comprehensive with broader encoding support and streaming capabilities, but it's larger (~180kb gzipped). text-encoding is smaller and built on standards, but may lack some encodings. Choose based on encoding needs and bundle size constraints.

Question 7

What happens to characters that can't be encoded in iconv-lite?

Accepted Answer

They are replaced with � for multibyte encodings or ? for single-byte, with no transliteration available. This can corrupt data in scenarios requiring full character preservation.

iconv-lite

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