Encoding a string (in UTF-8) as binary data in JavaScript cross-browser

Question

I am developing a web page that communicates with the server via AJAX. The server is expecting binary data in a specific format. At the moment my JavaScript code can generate the entire data the server is expecting, except for one part which consists of a UTF-8 representation of some string parameter.

In short, what I need is a JavaScript function that gets a string s and returns its UTF-8 representation as a Uint8Array.

This is very easy in Firefox, which has the TextEncoder class:

function utf8(s) {
  return new TextEncoder().encode(s);
}

Unfortunately, Firefox is not the only browser out there ;-) Does anyone know of a way to do this cross-browser?

I could write up my own encoder, but I'd rather use something native if it's possible.

Note: I would gladly welcome a non-cross-browser solution as long as it works on Google Chrome.

Since you know that the solution to your problem is an UTF-8 encoder, I 'm voting to close this because it asks for a library recommendation. Google can answer it in a second. — Jon
– Jon, Commented Jun 8, 2014 at 11:42
@Jon - I'm not looking for a library. Also, Google did not answer my question (Google was my first, and second, ... and tenth attempt before coming to SO). — Tom
– Tom, Commented Jun 8, 2014 at 11:46
@Jon - can you point me to a specific link? I checked a few and none of them provides what I want. (Notice I want the UTF-8-encoding in binary, i.e. Uint8Array, not as text.) — Tom
– Tom, Commented Jun 8, 2014 at 11:59
This is a UTF-8 encoder/decoder. If you don't want the result in a string but rather in an Uint8Array then simply don't put the encoding results into a string with String.fromCharCode but directly write the char code into the array instead. — Jon
– Jon, Commented Jun 8, 2014 at 12:09

Kevin Hakanson · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-01 03:36:02Z

1

There is a polyfill for the Encoding Living Standard API, which TextEncoder is part of.

TextEncoder is shipping in Chrome 38. See Encoding API entry from Chromium Dashboard and Chromium Issue 398149: Text Encoding API.

answered Sep 1, 2014 at 3:36

Kevin Hakanson

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1 Comment

Tom Over a year ago

Thanks, @Kevin! Not so relevant for me anymore, but I hope someone might find it useful in the future.

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