Skip to primary navigation Skip to main content Skip to primary sidebar If you want to change the default character encoding in Notepad in Windows 11/10, this tutorial will guide you through the process. It is possible to change the default encoding from UTF-8 to ANSI or other using the Registry Editor. Notepad started using UTF-8 as the default character encoding – it used ANSI as the default encoding. Let’s assume you have a text file containing unusual characters, such as “ð???”. If you want to extract the original human-readable text out of these strange characters, you may need to switch between character encodings. We have already shown the process to change the Encoding in Excel, Word or Outlook . Now let us see how to do it for Notepad. While Notepad allows you to change the encoding when saving a file, it is better to set it when creating or editing a file. The following character encodings are available: Precaution: As you will use Registry Editor, it is recommended to backup all Registry files and create a System Restore point . How to change default encoding in Notepad To change default encoding in Notepad, follow these steps- Press Win+R to open the Run prompt. Type regedit and hit the Enter button. Click on the Yes button. Navigate to Notepad in HKCU .

Right-click on Notepad > New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name it as iDefaultEncoding . Double-click on it to set the Value data . Click the OK button. You will have to open the Registry Editor on your computer. For that, press Win+R , type regedit , and hit the Enter button. If the UAC prompt appears, click on the Yes button. After opening the Registry Editor, navigate to the following path- Right-click on Notepad and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value . Once it is created, name it as iDefaultEncoding . Now, double-click on iDefaultEncoding and set the Value data as following- After setting the Value data, click on the OK button to save the change. Once done, restart Notepad to see the difference. You can see the selected character encoding in the Status Bar. To return to the original, navigate to the same path in Registry Editor and right-click iDefaultEncoding. Then, select the Delete button and confirm the removal. I hope all goes well. Read : How to Find and Replace Text in Notepad on Windows 11 . Anand Khanse is the Admin of TheWindowsClub.com, a 10-year Microsoft MVP (2006-16) & a Windows Insider MVP (2016-2022). Please read the entire post & the comments first, create a System Restore Point before making any changes to your system & be careful about any 3rd-party offers while installing freeware.