freesabaiFix a Thai file that shows as garbage
Thai text turned into "สวัส", "ÊÇÑÊ´Õ" or "���"? Put the file here. The tool reads it every way Thai files are usually written, lets you pick the readable one and saves a file that opens anywhere (UTF-8). It runs in your browser; the file is not sent anywhere.
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How to use it
- Choose the file whose Thai is garbled, or paste the garbled text into the box.
- Look at the samples. The likely one is picked already; if it is still unreadable, pick another.
- Press "Save as UTF-8" for a file with the same name that opens on Windows, Mac, phones and the web.
Where each kind of garbage comes from
- "สวัส": a normal (UTF-8) file opened as a Western language. Fixable.
- "ÊÇÑÊ´Õ": an old-style Thai (TIS-620) file opened as a Western language. Fixable.
- "เธชเธงเธฑ": a normal (UTF-8) file opened as old-style Thai. Fixable.
- "���": if another program shows this but the file was not saved over, it is a TIS-620 file this tool reads. If it was saved over, the letters are really gone and cannot be brought back.
Good to know
- The tool guesses from the content: it counts Thai letters in a valid order (vowels and tone marks after a consonant) and takes points off for � and odd characters. A very short file, or one with little Thai, may be guessed wrong, so you see samples and can pick.
- It knows UTF-8, UTF-16 (with a BOM or recognisable as such), TIS-620/Windows-874 and the three kinds of garbage above. It does not know the encodings of other languages such as Chinese or Japanese.
- The saved file has exactly the same text; only the way the letters are stored changes. Line endings stay as they were.
- Files up to 100 MB. The result box shows the beginning only; the saved file has everything.
- For text files only: Word, Excel (.xlsx) and PDF files are not text files.
Your files stay on your device
Everything runs in your browser. The files and text you open or paste are not sent to freesabai's server or anyone else's, and nothing is kept in the browser: close the page and it is gone. The site only counts that this page was opened and how many times a result was saved or copied (never the file name or content, and you can turn counting off at the bottom of the site; see the privacy policy).
Report a problem or suggest an idea
Found a file this tool cannot fix, or want it to do more? Tell us on the feedback page; no sign-up needed (do not attach files with personal data).
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Questions and answers
How to fix a Thai txt file that shows unreadable characters?
Open the file here. It is read several ways (UTF-8, TIS-620, UTF-16 and double-garbled forms) and the readable one is picked first; choose another if needed, then save as UTF-8.
Thai text turned into สวัส, can it be converted back?
Yes. That is UTF-8 read as a Western encoding. Paste the text or open the file, and the reading UTF-8 read as Western gives the Thai back.
Thai turned into ���, can it be recovered?
If the file was saved while it showed ���, the Thai is really gone and cannot be recovered: you need the original file. If it was only opened wrongly, open the original here and pick TIS-620.
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