File Encodings

IntelliJ IDEA uses these settings to view and edit files for which it was unable to detect the encoding and uses the specified encodings for new files.

If IntelliJ IDEA can't determine the file or directory encodings, it falls back to the configured project encoding. If there is no project, IntelliJ IDEA uses the global encoding. File or directory encodings take precedence over the project encoding, which, in turn, takes precedence over the global encoding.

For more information about handling file encodings, refer to Encoding.

Global Encoding

Select the encoding to use when other encoding options don't apply.

For example, IntelliJ IDEA will use this encoding for files that are not part of any project or when you check out sources from a version control system.

Project Encoding

Select the encoding to use for files that are not listed in the table below.

Path

Specify the path to the files or directories for which you want to configure the encoding.

Encoding

Select the encoding to use for the specified files and directories.

If this selector is disabled, the file probably has a BOM or declares the encoding explicitly. In this case, you can't configure the encoding to use for this file.

The encoding selected for a directory applies to all files and subdirectories within it.

Default encoding for properties files

Select the encoding for properties files in your project.

The Java 1.8 API is designed to use the ISO 8859-1 encoding for properties files. You can use escape sequences for characters that are not defined by this encoding. Alternatively, you can define the default encoding for properties files on the project level and use a different API that can read properties files in the encoding you have defined.

Transparent native-to-ascii conversion

Show national characters (those not defined in ISO 8859-1) in place of the corresponding escape sequences.

By default, IntelliJ IDEA converts native characters to ASCII escape sequences with uppercase letters. To use lowercase letters, add the following platform property to the custom properties file and restart the IDE:

idea.native2ascii.lowercase=true

For more information, refer to Platform properties.

Create UTF-8 files

Select how IntelliJ IDEA should create UTF-8 files:

• with BOM

• without BOM

• with BOM on Window and without BOM otherwise

By default, IntelliJ IDEA creates UTF-8 files without the BOM because some software is not compatible with the BOM, and it may be a problem when interpreting scripts. However, in some cases, you may want to have the BOM in your UTF-8 files.