When creating a localization for Mozilla products, it’s important to be aware of the encoding of the files that you generate.
In general, files in the Mozilla repositories are UTF-8 encoded. There are a few exceptions, though.
Installer
The Windows installer can’t handle UTF-8, but only the codepages provided by Windows. This is tricky to hook up in the build process, so here it goes:
| File | Encoding | Notes |
| toolkit/installer/windows/charset.mk | ASCII | The WIN_INSTALLER_CHARSET variable must be set to an encoding which matches toolkit/installer/windows/install.it CHARSET= parameter. See the table below for appropriate values. |
| toolkit/installer/windows/install.it | A Windows codepage. This must match the CHARSET= parameter in this file, and the WIN_INSTALLER_CHARSET parameter in charset.mk | The FONTNAME/FONTSIZE/CHARSET parameters in this file must be set to good values. For most Western scripts, ‘MS Sans Serif’ and ‘8’ are good defaults for the font settings. Eastern scripts will need to choose appropriate fonts that are shipped with Windows. See the table below for appropriate values for the CHARSET= parameter. |
| browser/installer/installer.inc | UTF-8 | |
| toolkit/installer/unix/install.it | UTF-8 |
Native Windows encodings
The following table lists native Windows encodings, and the WIN_INSTALLER_CHARSET and CHARSET= values for each:
| Encoding Name | WIN_INSTALLER_CHARSET (charset.mk) | CHARSET= (windows/install.it) |
| ANSI_CHARSET | CP1252 | 0 |
| BALTIC_CHARSET | CP1257 | 186 |
| CHINESEBIG5_CHARSET | CP950 | 136 |
| EASTEUROPE_CHARSET | CP1250 | 238 |
| GB2312_CHARSET | CP936 | 134 |
| GREEK_CHARSET | CP1253 | 161 |
| HANGUL_CHARSET | CP949 | 129 |
| RUSSIAN_CHARSET | CP1251 | 204 |
| SHIFTJIS_CHARSET | CP932 | 128 |
| TURKISH_CHARSET | CP1254 | 162 |
| VIETNAMESE_CHARSET | CP1258 | 163 |
| Middle East language editions of Windows: | ||
| ARABIC_CHARSET | CP1256 | 178 |
| HEBREW_CHARSET | CP1255 | 177 |
| Thai language editions of Windows: | ||
| THAI_CHARSET | CP874 | 222 |