Override Text Encoding

Name: Override Text Encoding
Rating: 3.9286 (14 reviews)
Author: Robert Xiao

Manually set the charset (character encoding) for a webpage, to fix encoding errors and garbage characters on websites. A replacement for the former View → Text Encoding menu.

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Override Text Encoding is a powerful Chrome extension that allows you to manually set the charset (character encoding) for any webpage. It serves as a modern replacement for the deprecated "View → Text Encoding" menu, helping you fix encoding errors and garbled characters on websites.

With a convenient toolbar popup, you can select from any supported character encoding to override the webpage's default setting. The extension supports per-page or entire domain overrides, configurable through easy-to-manage preferences. It modifies the Content-Type header, ensuring your chosen encoding takes precedence over meta tags. Special options like "Default" (no override) and "Autodetect" (removes charset for automatic detection) provide flexibility for diverse scenarios. Restore control over webpage text encoding and improve readability with this user-friendly tool.

Add-on

By:

Daily users:

Rating:

Version:

1.1 Last updated: 2024-08-05

Version code:

5787340

Creation date:

2022-02-18

Risk:

Permissions:

webRequest
webRequestBlocking
storage
<all_urls>

Size:

22.73KB

Email:

nn*****@gmail.com

URLs:

Website

Full description:

Source:

Firefox Browser Add-ons

Data ingested on:

2025-07-14

Ranking

# 2,109 ▲ 2

Other rankings

#93 in Language Support ▲ 1

#4 in override keyword 19

#7 in coding keyword 8

#8 in overdrive keyword 5

#45 in cover keyword 12 ▼ 1

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User reviews

Users appreciate 'Override Text Encoding' as a good replacement for Firefox's removed encoding options, praising its simple UI and effectiveness on recent Firefox versions. However, multiple reviews mention that it doesn't always work correctly, can be hard to find in the UI, and might cause site breakages. Overall, it fills a needed gap left by Mozilla, though with some reliability and usability limitations.

Pros

Effectively restores the character encoding selection feature removed from Firefox, fulfilling a useful need.
Simple and nice user interface appreciated by users.
Works well on Firefox version 109 and presumably later ones.
Provides an alternative to the native encoding option that Mozilla removed.

Cons

Doesn't always work as expected, some users report it fails to change encoding.
Lacks visibility and accessibility in the add-on settings or menu, making it harder to use.
Potential site breakage reported (e.g., YouTube broken after installation).
Some users believe the issue may be related to Firefox itself rather than the add-on.

Recent reviews

by 天灭*****, 2025-03-29

by 退出*****, 2025-03-01

by Ma*****, 2024-11-15

View all user reviews ›

Extension safety

Risk impact

Risk impact measures the level of extra permissions an extension has access to. A low risk impact extension cannot do much harms, whereas a high risk impact extension can do a lot of damage like stealing your password, bypassing your security settings, and accessing your personal data. High risk impact extensions are not necessarily malicious. However, if they do turn malicious, they can be very harmful.

Override Text Encoding requires a few sensitive permissions. Exercise caution before installing.

Risk impact analysis details

Critical Allows access to all websites, posing a significant security risk as it can monitor and modify data from any visited site.
High ****** *** ********* ** ******* *** ******* ******* ** ****** *** *** ******** ******

Risk likelihood

Risk likelihood measures the probability that a Firefox add-on may turn malicious. This is determined by the publisher and the Firefox add-on reputation on Firefox Browser Add-ons, the amount of time the Firefox add-on has been around, and other signals about the Firefox add-on. Our algorithms are not perfect, and are subject to change as we discover new ways to detect malicious extensions. We recommend that you always exercise caution when installing a Firefox add-on.

Override Text Encoding is probably trust-worthy. Prefer other publishers if available. Exercise caution when installing this add-on.

Risk likelihood analysis details

High This extension has low user count. Unpopular extensions may not be stable or safe.
Low **** ********* *** ******* **** **** * ****** **** ***** ******** *** **** ****** ** ** ****** *** *****
Low **** ********* *** ***** **** **** * ****** **** ***** ********** *** **** ****** ** ** ****** *** *****
Good **** ********* *** **** **** *******

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