Quick answer
Paste Vietnamese text with broken characters (like TCVN3's “ViÖt Nam” or VNI's “Vieät Nam”); the tool detects the legacy encoding and converts it to precomposed Unicode for fonts such as Times New Roman or Arial. It also converts the other way: Unicode to TCVN3 (.VnTime), VNI Windows (VNI-Times), VPS, VIQR or decomposed Unicode. Everything runs in your browser.
What are Vietnamese encodings?
Documents typed in the 1990s and 2000s with .VnTime (TCVN3, also called ABC) or VNI-Times fonts are still everywhere in old letters, lesson plans and records. Open one without the right font, or copy it to the web, and “Đường” turns into “§êng”. Each legacy encoding puts accented letters on different codes, so the tool remaps every letter using the VietUnicode project's reference tables, covering all 134 accented letters.
How to convert
- 1
Paste the text. Leave “Source encoding” on “Detect automatically”; the detected encoding is shown.
- 2
Pick “Convert to”, usually Unicode precomposed (NFC). The result appears on the right.
- 3
If detection is wrong (very short text), choose the source by hand: TCVN3 for fonts starting with “.Vn”, VNI for “VNI-…” fonts.
- 4
Copy the result, paste it into Word and switch to a Unicode font (or to the target encoding's font).
Recognising the encoding from the garbled text
| Encoding | Typical fonts | “Đường Việt Nam” shows as |
|---|---|---|
| TCVN3 (ABC) | .VnTime, .VnArial, .VnTimeH | §êng ViÖt Nam |
| VNI Windows | VNI-Times, VNI-Helve | Ñöôøng Vieät Nam |
| VIQR | Any (plain ASCII) | DDu+o+`ng Vie^.t Nam |
| Decomposed Unicode | Any Unicode font | Looks identical but search and sorting break |
| Precomposed Unicode | Times New Roman, Arial, Roboto | Đường Việt Nam (standard) |
Which encoding to use
| Purpose | Encoding |
|---|---|
| Web, email, messaging, official documents today | Precomposed Unicode (TCVN 6909:2001) |
| Reopening old files on a machine with only .VnTime | TCVN3 |
| Legacy software that only accepts VNI (sign-making) | VNI Windows |
| Channels that only allow plain ASCII | VIQR |
Examples
An old .VnTime letter
“Céng hoµ x· héi chñ nghÜa ViÖt Nam” is detected as TCVN3 and becomes “Cộng hoà xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam”.
A shop sign that needs a VNI font
Type “Cửa hàng Phương Nam” in Unicode, convert to VNI Windows and paste into the design software with VNI-Times.
Text copied from a PDF won't match in search
It is decomposed Unicode: convert from “Unicode decomposed” to “Unicode precomposed”.
Sending accent-free text that stays readable
Convert to VIQR (“Vie^.t Nam”); the recipient can convert it back here.
Common problems
- Still seeing odd characters after converting.
- Unicode text needs a Unicode font: select everything in Word and switch to Times New Roman or Arial.
- TCVN3 capitals come out lowercase.
- TCVN3 shares codes between accented capitals and lowercase and relies on a separate caps font (.VnTimeH). Fix the capitals afterwards.
- Wrong detection on a short snippet.
- Pick the source encoding manually or paste a longer passage.
- Formatting is lost.
- The tool converts plain text only; paste the result back into Word and reapply formatting.
Why old documents break
Before Unicode, each Vietnamese font set chose its own codes for accented letters within the 256 extended ASCII codes. TCVN3 puts “Đ” at 0xA7 (shown as “§” in normal fonts), while VNI writes “ệ” as two codes, “e” plus “ä”. Without the right font, the computer shows those codes as Latin symbols.
Unicode gives every accented letter one code everywhere. Vietnam adopted it as TCVN 6909:2001, and official documents must use it today.
Precomposed versus decomposed Unicode
The same “ế” can be stored as one character (precomposed, NFC) or as “e” plus combining marks (decomposed, NFD). They look the same but compare differently, which breaks search, sorting, file names and password matching. Normalise to precomposed.
Source of the tables
The 134-letter mappings for TCVN3, VNI Windows and VPS come from the VietUnicode project's character tables (vietunicode.sourceforge.net) via the R package vietnameseConverter; VIQR follows RFC 1456.
Glossary
- Encoding
- The convention that maps each character to a number.
- TCVN3 (ABC)
- The 8-bit Vietnamese standard TCVN 5712:1993, used with .VnTime fonts.
- VNI Windows
- The VNI input method's encoding, writing accented letters as base letter plus accent code.
- VIQR
- Writing Vietnamese in plain ASCII (Vie^.t Nam), RFC 1456.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know which encoding a file uses?
Check the font in Word: .VnTime or .VnArial means TCVN3, VNI-Times means VNI. Or paste it here and let the tool detect it.
Can it convert a whole Word file?
It converts pasted text. Copy the content (Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C), convert, then paste back.
How is this different from Unikey?
Unikey converts via the clipboard on Windows. This works on any device, including phones, with nothing to install.
Is my text uploaded?
No, conversion runs entirely in your browser.
Is VISCII supported?
Not yet; TCVN3 and VNI, the most common in Vietnam, are.
Why do TCVN3 capitals turn lowercase?
TCVN3 uses the same codes for accented capitals and lowercase, telling them apart by font. A few capitals may need manual fixes.
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