Hi, developing platform independent code I really like the convenience functions conv::to_utf, conv::from_utf, and conv::utf_to_utf from locale. Why not add something like conv::local8bit_to_utf and conv::local8bit_from_utf following the rational from filesystem (path encoding conversions): template < typename CharType > std::basic_string< CharType > local8bit_to_utf ( std::string const & text, method_type how = default_method ) { char const * encoding = impl::local8bit_encoding() ; return to_utf< CharType >( text, encoding, how ) ; } template< typename CharType > std::string local8bit_from_utf ( std::basic_string< CharType > const & text, method_type how = default_method ) { char const * encoding = impl::local8bit_encoding() ; return from_utf< CharType >( text, encoding, how ) ; } with char const * local8bit_encoding() { #ifdef WIN32 UINT codepage = AreFileApisANSI() ? GetACP() : GetOEMCP() ; return windows_codepage_to_encoding( codepage ) ; #else return "UTF-8" ; #endif } and with (better using a map) char const * windows_codepage_to_encoding( int const codepage ) { switch (codepage) { case 874: return "windows-874" ; case 932: return "Shift_JIS" ; // but should be "Windows-31J" ; case 936: return "GB2312" ; case 949: return "KS_C_5601-1987" ; case 950: return "Big5" ; case 1250: return "windows-1250" ; case 1251: return "windows-1251" ; case 1252: return "windows-1252" ; case 1253: return "windows-1253" ; case 1254: return "windows-1254" ; case 1255: return "windows-1255" ; case 1256: return "windows-1256" ; case 1257: return "windows-1257" ; case 1258: return "windows-1258" ; case 20127: return "US-ASCII" ; case 20866: return "KOI8-R" ; case 20932: return "EUC-JP" ; case 21866: return "KOI8-U" ; case 28591: return "ISO-8859-1" ; case 28592: return "ISO-8859-2" ; case 28593: return "ISO-8859-3" ; case 28594: return "ISO-8859-4" ; case 28595: return "ISO-8859-5" ; case 28596: return "ISO-8859-6" ; case 28597: return "ISO-8859-7" ; case 28598: return "ISO-8859-8" ; case 28599: return "ISO-8859-9" ; case 28603: return "ISO-8859-13" ; case 28605: return "ISO-8859-15" ; case 50220: return "ISO-2022-JP" ; case 50225: return "ISO-2022-KR" ; case 51949: return "EUC-KR" ; case 54936: return "GB18030" ; case 65001: return "UTF-8" ; default: { std::ostringstream message ; message << "Unknown codepage " << codepage ; throw std::invalid_argument( message.str() ) ; } } } Best regards Bjoern.