Fix CSV garbled characters in Excel
Opened a CSV file in Excel and the text looks like 가나다? Add the file and we will convert it into a format Excel opens correctly.
Why does Excel garble my CSV?
A CSV file is plain text and doesn't say which character encoding it uses. Most apps, online stores and Google Sheets export CSV as UTF-8, but Excel on Windows assumes your system's legacy "ANSI" encoding (Windows-1252 for English) when you double-click a CSV. Accented letters, curly quotes, emoji and non-Latin text then show up as junk like é or ’.
The fix is to add a small marker at the start of the file, called a BOM, that tells Excel "this is UTF-8". This tool does exactly that, entirely in your browser.
Which format should I pick?
- For Excel (UTF-8 BOM): the right choice almost always. Works in Excel 2016 and later and Microsoft 365.
- Legacy Excel (Windows-1252): only for very old Excel or systems that reject UTF-8. Characters that don't exist in Windows-1252 become
?. - For Sheets & apps (UTF-8): the reverse case — a CSV saved from Excel looks broken in Google Sheets, a web shop or your code.
FAQ
Does it change my data?
No. Only the encoding changes; values, commas and line breaks stay exactly the same. Leading zeros disappearing is Excel's display behaviour and isn't affected.
Can I fix it inside Excel instead?
Yes: Data → From Text/CSV and pick "65001: Unicode (UTF-8)" as the file origin. You have to do it every time, so converting the file once is usually easier.
Is my file uploaded?
No. The file is read and converted in your browser and never sent anywhere.