# pillarjs/iconv-lite

Convert character encodings in pure javascript.

Repository: https://github.com/pillarjs/iconv-lite
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/iconv-lite
Language: JavaScript
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: iconv, encoding, encoding-convertors, javascript
Last push: 2026-08-01T17:07:18+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 86/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 95, release rhythm 67, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5411, "days_push": 32, "days_rel": 61, "gap_med": 112, "n_releases_24m": 4}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3175, forks 296 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:47.596116+00:00)

## What it is
iconv-lite is a pure JavaScript library for converting text between character encodings (UTF-8, Windows-125x, ISO-8859, Shift_JIS, GBK, and many more) without native code compilation. It provides simple encode/decode APIs plus streaming support, and works in Node.js, browsers, and sandboxed environments like React Native.

## Use cases
- decode a win1251-encoded buffer to a JavaScript string
- convert a legacy-encoded text file to UTF-8
- read HTTP request bodies in non-UTF-8 charsets
- transcode files between encodings via streams
- check whether a character encoding is supported
- handle Shift_JIS or Big5 text in a Node.js app

## When to choose
- you need charset conversion in pure JavaScript with no native dependencies
- you're on Windows or a sandboxed environment where compiling node-iconv is impractical
- you need streaming encode/decode of encoded data
- you're building on Express/body-parser, Nodemailer, or similar ecosystems that rely on it

## When to avoid
- you only need UTF-8, which Node.js handles natively
- you need maximum performance and can compile native code (node-iconv with ICU support)
- you need exotic encodings not covered by iconv-lite's supported list

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: serialization, parser, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, web-development, files
- platform: cross-platform, browser
- tags: character-encoding, iconv, charset-conversion, text-decoding, streams, pure-javascript, localization, nodejs, web-server

## Member repositories
- pillarjs/iconv-lite (main) score 86

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:47.596116+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:45:25.733144+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/pillarjs/iconv-lite (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:47.596116+00:00, sha 116cbd5a45d4)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/iconv-lite (fetched 2026-08-29T09:39:41.145300+00:00, sha 541109e71858)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.