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Document new variable PSApplicationOutputEncoding #10876

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Document new variable PSApplicationOutputEncoding
jborean93 Feb 14, 2024
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Small editorial changes
sdwheeler Oct 21, 2025
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46 changes: 26 additions & 20 deletions reference/7.5/Microsoft.PowerShell.Core/About/about_Character_Encoding.md
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
---
description: Describes how PowerShell uses character encoding for input and output of string data.
Locale: en-US
ms.date: 03/09/2023
ms.date: 10/21/2025
online version: https://learn.microsoft.com/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/about/about_character_encoding?view=powershell-7.5&WT.mc_id=ps-gethelp
schema: 2.0.0
title: about_Character_Encoding
Expand All @@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ data.

Unicode is a worldwide character-encoding standard. The system uses Unicode
exclusively for character and string manipulation. For a detailed description
of all aspects of Unicode, refer to [The Unicode Standard][01].
of all aspects of Unicode, refer to [The Unicode Standard][07].

Windows supports Unicode and traditional character sets. Traditional character
sets, such as Windows code pages, use 8-bit values or combinations of 8-bit
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ In PowerShell 5.1, the **Encoding** parameter supports the following values:
- `UTF7` Uses UTF-7.
- `UTF8` Uses UTF-8 (with BOM).

In general, Windows PowerShell uses the Unicode [UTF-16LE][03] encoding by
In general, Windows PowerShell uses the Unicode [UTF-16LE][06] encoding by
default. However, the default encoding used by cmdlets in Windows PowerShell
is not consistent.

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -174,21 +174,22 @@ PowerShell defaults to `utf8NoBOM` for all output.
Beginning with PowerShell 6.2, the **Encoding** parameter also allows numeric
IDs of registered code pages (like `-Encoding 1251`) or string names of
registered code pages (like `-Encoding "windows-1251"`). For more information,
see the .NET documentation for [Encoding.CodePage][04].
see the .NET documentation for [Encoding.CodePage][08].

Starting with PowerShell 7.4, you can use the `ANSI` value for the **Encoding**
parameter to pass the numeric ID for the current culture's ANSI code page
without having to specify it manually.

## Changing the default encoding

PowerShell has two default variables that can be used to change the default
PowerShell has three default variables that can be used to change the default
encoding behavior.

- `$PSDefaultParameterValues`
- `$OutputEncoding`
- `$PSApplicationOutputEncoding`

For more information, see [about_Preference_Variables][05].
For more information, see [about_Preference_Variables][04].

Beginning in PowerShell 5.1, the redirection operators (`>` and `>>`) call the
`Out-File` cmdlet. Therefore, you can set the default encoding of them using
Expand All @@ -215,23 +216,28 @@ $PSDefaultParameterValues['*:Encoding'] = 'utf8'
> behave the same way even when run by another user, on a different computer,
> or in a different version of PowerShell.

The automatic variable `$OutputEncoding` affects the encoding PowerShell uses
to communicate with external programs. It has no effect on the encoding that
the output redirection operators and PowerShell cmdlets use to save to files.
The automatic variables `$OutputEncoding` affects the encoding PowerShell uses
to when sending data to external programs. The `$PSApplicationOutputEncoding`
variable affects the encoding PowerShell uses to read data from external
programs. They have no effect on the encoding that the output redirection
operators and PowerShell cmdlets use to save to files.

## See also

- [about_Preference_Variables][05]
- [Byte order mark](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte_order_mark)
- [Code Pages - Win32 apps](/windows/win32/intl/code-pages)
- [Encoding.CodePage][04]
- [Introduction to character encoding in .NET](/dotnet/standard/base-types/character-encoding-introduction)
- [The Unicode Standard][01]
- [UTF-16LE][03]
- [about_Preference_Variables][04]
- [Byte order mark][05]
- [Code Pages - Win32 apps][03]
- [Encoding.CodePage][08]
- [Introduction to character encoding in .NET][01]
- [The Unicode Standard][07]
- [UTF-16LE][06]

<!-- link references -->
[01]: https://www.unicode.org/standard/standard.html
[01]: /dotnet/standard/base-types/character-encoding-introduction
[02]: /globalization/encoding/byte-order-mark
[03]: https://wikipedia.org/wiki/UTF-16
[04]: /dotnet/api/system.text.encoding.codepage
[05]: about_Preference_Variables.md
[03]: /windows/win32/intl/code-pages
[04]: about_Preference_Variables.md
[05]: https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte_order_mark
[06]: https://wikipedia.org/wiki/UTF-16
[07]: https://www.unicode.org/standard/standard.html
[08]: xref:System.Text.Encoding.CodePage%2A
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