Windows-1255 to UTF-8 - Hebrew Text Converter

Convert Windows-1255 (Hebrew) to UTF-8 online. Fix Hebrew mojibake from legacy Israeli systems. Handles RTL text, immediate results.

Input (Windows-1255)

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Output (UTF-8)

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Frequently Asked Questions

Windows-1255 is a legacy single-byte character encoding designed by Microsoft for Hebrew script. It was the standard encoding for Hebrew computing on Windows systems in Israel and Jewish communities worldwide before Unicode/UTF-8 became universal. The encoding includes the Hebrew alphabet (aleph through tav), nikud (vowel points), and special punctuation marks used in Hebrew typography.

Modern web applications, databases, and international systems require UTF-8 for proper multilingual support. Converting Windows-1255 to UTF-8 ensures Hebrew text displays correctly across all platforms, prevents mojibake (garbled text), maintains right-to-left (RTL) text directionality, and enables seamless integration with modern content management systems and APIs.

Mojibake occurs when text encoded in one character set is incorrectly interpreted as another. For Hebrew, you might see gibberish like 'Ã©Ã¸Ã³Ã¬ Ã´Ã¹Ã²Ã¸' instead of 'שלום עולם' (Shalom Olam). This happens when Windows-1255 encoded Hebrew is misread as Latin-1 or UTF-8. This tool correctly decodes the original Windows-1255 bytes and re-encodes them to UTF-8.

Windows-1255 is still found in: legacy Israeli government databases and archives, older Hebrew websites and forums from the 1990s-2000s, email systems in Israeli companies that haven't upgraded, database exports from Hebrew ERP systems, educational software used in Jewish schools, and automated reports from industrial equipment deployed in Israel. Many legacy systems require substantial investment to migrate to UTF-8.

Windows-1255 encodes Hebrew characters but doesn't inherently specify text direction—RTL handling is managed by the application layer. The encoding includes Hebrew letters (0xE0-0xFA range), which Hebrew-aware applications automatically render right-to-left. When converting to UTF-8, RTL directionality is preserved through the Unicode bidirectional algorithm, though HTML may need explicit dir='rtl' or CSS direction properties for proper display.

Both are single-byte Hebrew encodings but differ in layout: ISO-8859-8 is an international standard with Hebrew letters in positions 0xE0-0xFA (visual order), while Windows-1255 (codepage 1255) includes the same Hebrew letters but adds additional punctuation marks, typography symbols, and better support for nikud (vowel points). Windows-1255 became more popular due to Windows dominance in Israel during the 1990s-2000s.

Yes. Windows-1255 includes nikud characters (dagesh, patach, kamatz, etc.) used in biblical Hebrew, children's books, and poetry. These combining characters are properly preserved during conversion to UTF-8. However, if nikud appears garbled in the source, it may indicate double-encoding or corruption that occurred before reaching this tool.

Common indicators include: Hebrew text appearing as Latin characters with accents when opened in UTF-8 editors, files from Israeli Windows systems before 2010, email headers showing 'charset=windows-1255' or 'charset=cp1255', database exports from legacy Hebrew systems, or Hebrew text displaying correctly in old Windows Notepad but garbled in modern web browsers. Files with .txt extension from Hebrew Windows systems often default to Windows-1255.

Common challenges include: double-encoding (text converted multiple times creating nested corruption), mixed encodings within the same document, loss of special Hebrew typography marks, confusion between visual and logical Hebrew ordering, incorrect detection between Windows-1255 and ISO-8859-8, and BOM (Byte Order Mark) handling. Always verify the output displays correctly in both RTL contexts and keep original backups.

Windows-1255 persists due to: legacy systems in Israeli banks, government agencies, and military installations that require costly migration, older Hebrew CMS platforms still in production, archival databases containing decades of Hebrew records, integration with mainframe systems from the 1980s-90s, specialized Hebrew typography software in publishing houses, and fear of data corruption during bulk migration. Many organizations prioritize 'if it works, don't touch it' approach.

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