Several of our products include the ability to convert data from one encoding to another. Typically source and target Coded Character Set Identifiers (CCSIDs) are specified on the command performing the product's function. Our products access the extraordinary national language support (NLS) capabilities of IBM i through calls to the iconv() application programming interface (API) which converts data between CCSIDs. Correct CCSID selection is crucial to accurate conversions results. Extensive information to help you select CCSIDs is available in IBM's^® Knowledge Center, search on "Globalization reference information" to locate it.

But before you dig in, we might be able to save you some time. On the vast majority of single language systems, the CCSID that data is encoded in is strongly influenced by the keyboard type (system value QKBDTYPE) used by the system. And in turn this source CCSID strongly influences the useful, usually ASCII, target CCSIDs of interest. For most single language systems you can find the source CCSID directly by running DSPJOB OPTION(*DFNA) and locating the "Default coded character set identifier" value. Once you have a source CCSID the table below offers suggestions on usually useful target CCSIDs to try.

The final test for the accuracy of your CCSID selections is whether or not your data has been properly converted. Check your results.

A special note for PDF conversions. By default, our products' PDF conversions utilize Adobe Reader's built in fonts. This reduces file size. Adobe Reader's built in fonts have a limited number of character sets and therefore this default does not always give usable results. If your source data contains characters not found in Adobe Reader's character sets, the built in fonts will not work for you. If Adobe Reader's limitation affects you, the way around it is to imbed the fonts containing characters unknown to Adobe Reader in the generated PDF. Imbedding can be accomplished in either of two ways. One way is to specify PDF font imbedding on the product's command. The other is to specify a PDF/A transform, which automatically imbeds fonts. Roughly speaking, if your source CCSID does not convert to target CCSID 819 (*ISO88591) or is not Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, you must imbed fonts to get useful results. Also note, for Chinese, Japanese, or Korean specify a target CCSID of *UNICODE for best results. In order for our product to imbed fonts, they must be available on the system. For most spooled files, this means that that 57xxSS1 Option 8 "AFP Compatibility Fonts" and 57xxSS1 Option 43 "Additional Fonts" have been loaded on the system. Both are free of charge. When spooled files specify fonts from "IBM Infoprint Fonts (P/N 5648-E77)" collection, this product must be loaded on the system.

The excellent, but mothballed, IBM Globalization CCSID information is still available at the Internet Archive's WayBackMachine.

For a given source Coded Character Set Identifier (CCSID) this table suggests typically useful, often ASCII, target CCSIDs that may give the results you are looking for. In all cases, check the output for accuracy. Predominately, the target CCSIDs shown are the 4100 and 4105 encoding scheme "associated CCSID" returned by IBM i's Coded Data Representation Architecture (CDRA) Get Related Default CCSID (CDRGRDC) API.

If you know useful suggestions that should be included here, please contact us.

Source CCSID	Target CCSID	Notes
Any	1200 UTF-16 BE with IBM PUA 1208 UTF-8 with IBM PUA	Unicode conversions
37 COM EUROPE EBCDIC 273 AUS/GERM EBCDIC 277 DEN/NORWAY EBCDIC 278 FIN/SWEDEN EBCDIC 280 ITALIAN EBCDIC 284 SPANISH EBCDIC 285 UK EBCDIC 297 FRENCH EBCDIC 500 INTL EBCDIC 871 ICELAND EBCDIC	1252 MS-WIN LATIN-1 819 ISO 8859-1 ASCII	1252 is *WINANSI 37 is 1140 without € 273 is 1141 without € 277 is 1142 without € 278 is 1143 without € 280 is 1144 without € 284 is 1145 without € 285 is 1146 without € 297 is 1147 without € 500 is 1148 without € 871 is 1149 without €
290 JAPANESE EBCDIC	1200 UTF-16 BE with IBM PUA 942 JAPAN MIX PC-DATA	Use 1200 or *UNICODE for PDF
420 ARABIC EBCDIC	1256 MS-WIN ARABIC 1089 ARABIC ISO 8859-6
424 HEBREW EBCDIC	1255 MS-WIN HEBREW 916 ISO 8859-8 ASCII
833 KOREAN EBCDIC	See source CCSID 933
836 S-CHINESE EBCDIC	See source CCSID 935
838 THAILAND EBCDIC	874 THAI PC-DATA	838 is 1160 without €
870 LATIN-2 EBCDIC	912 ISO 8859-2 ASCII 1250 MS-WIN LATIN-2	912 is *ISO88592 870 is 1153 without €
875 GREEK EBCDIC	813 ISO 8859-7 ASCII 1253 MS-WIN GREEK	813 is *ISO88597 875 is 4971 without €
880 CYRILLIC EBCDIC	See source CCSID 1025
933 KOREA MIX EBCDIC	1200 UTF-16 BE with IBM PUA 949 KOREA KS PC-DATA	Use 1200 or *UNICODE for PDF
935 S-CHINESE MIX EBC	1200 UTF-16 BE with IBM PUA 1381 S-CH GB PC-DATA	Use 1200 or *UNICODE for PDF
937 T-CHINESE MIX EBC	1200 UTF-16 BE with IBM PUA 950 T-CH MIX PC-DATA	Use 1200 or *UNICODE for PDF 937 is 1371 without € 950 is 1370 without € 950 is *BIG5
1025 CYRILLIC EBCDIC	1251 MS-WIN CYRILLIC 915 ISO 8859-5 ASCII	1025 is 1154 without €
1026 TURKEY LATIN-5 EB	920 ISO 8859-9 ASCII 1254 MS-WIN TURKEY	1026 is 1155 without €
1027 JAPAN LATIN EBCD	See source CCSID 1399
1097 FARSI EBCDIC	1098 FARSI - PC
1112 BALTIC EBCDIC	921 ISO 8859-13 1257 MS-WIN BALTIC	1112 is 1156 without €
1122 ESTONIA EBCDIC	1124 UKRAINE ISO-8 1257 MS-WIN BALTIC
1123 UKRAINE EBCDIC	1124 UKRAINE ISO-8 1251 MS-WIN CYRILLIC	1123 is 1158 without €
1130 VIETNAMESE EBCDIC	1129 VIETNAMESE ISO8 1258 MS-WIN VIETNAM	1130 is 1164 without €
1140 COM EUROPE ECECP 1141 AUS/GERM ECECP 1142 DEN/NORWAY ECECP 1143 FIN/SWEDEN ECECP 1144 ITALIAN ECECP 1145 SPANISH ECECP 1146 UK ECECP 1147 FRENCH ECECP 1148 INTL ECECP 1149 ICELAND ECECP	1252 MS-WIN LATIN-1 819 ISO 8859-1 ASCII 5348 MS-WIN LATIN-1 923 ISO 8859-15 ASCII	1140 is 37 with € 1141 is 273 with € 1142 is 277 with € 1143 is 278 with € 1144 is 280 with € 1145 is 284 with € 1146 is 285 with € 1147 is 297 with € 1148 is 500 with € 1149 is 871 with €
1153 LATIN-2 EBCDIC	1250 MS-WIN LATIN-2 912 ISO 8859-2 ASCII 5346 MS-WIN LATIN-2	1153 is 870 with €
1154 CYRILLIC EBCDIC	1251 MS-WIN CYRILLIC 915 ISO 8859-5 ASCII	1154 is 1025 with €
1155 TURKEY LATIN-5	920 ISO 8859-9 ASCII 1254 MS-WIN TURKEY	1155 is 1026 with €
1156 BALTIC EBCDIC	921 ISO 8859-13 1257 MS-WIN BALTIC	1156 is 1112 with €
1157 ESTONIA EBCDIC	1124 UKRAINE ISO-8 1257 MS-WIN BALTIC	1157 is 1122 with €
1158 UKRAINE EBCDIC	1124 UKRAINE ISO-8 1251 MS-WIN CYRILLIC	1158 is 1123 with €
1160 THAI SB EBCDIC	1161 THAI SB PC-DATA 1162 THAI WINDOWS	1160 is 838 with €
1164 VIETNAMESE EBCDIC	1129 VIETNAMESE ISO8 1258 MS-WIN VIETNAM	1164 is 1130 with €
1388 S-CHINESE MIX EBC	1200 UTF-16 BE with IBM PUA	Use 1200 or *UNICODE for PDF
1399 JAPAN MIX EBCDIC	1200 UTF-16 BE with IBM PUA 942 JAPAN MIX PC-DATA	1399 is 939 with €
4971 GREEK EBCDIC	4909 GREEK/LATIN ASCII 5349 MS-WIN GREEK	4971 is 875 with €
5026 JAPAN MIX EBCDIC	1200 UTF-16 BE with IBM PUA 942 JAPAN MIX PC-DATA	Use 1200 or *UNICODE for PDF

IBM i's QKBDTYPE (keyboard type) system value often implies a related EBCDIC CCSID. The following table shows this relationship. You can determine your system's setting by running DSPSYSVAL QKBDTYPE.

QKBDTYPE	Implied QCCSID	Description	NLV Feature	Internet CCSID
AGB	273	Austria/Germany	2929	819
AGE	1141	Austria/Germany Euro
AGI	500	Austria/Germany Multinational	2939	819
AGM	1148	Austria/Germany Multinational Euro
ALI	500	Albania	2995	819
ALM	1148	Albania Euro
BGB	1025	Bulgaria	2974	915
BGE	1154	Bulgaria Euro
BLI	500	Belgium Multinational	2963, 2909, 2966	819
BLM	1148	Belgium Multinational Euro
BRB	37	Brazilian Portuguese	2980	819
BRE	1140	Brazilian Portuguese Euro
CAB		Canadian French
CAE		Canadian French Euro
CAI	500	Canadian French Multinational	2981	819
CAM	1148	Canadian French Multinational Euro
CLB	420	Arabic X	2954	1089
CLE		Arabic X Euro
CSB	870	Czech Republic	2975	912
CSE	1153	Czech Republic Euro
CYB	880	Cyrillic
DMB	277	Denmark	2926	819
DME	1142	Denmark Euro
DMI	500	Denmark Multinational
DMM	1148	Denmark Multinational Euro
ESB	1122	Estonia	2902	819
FAB	297	France (Azerty)	2928	819
FAE	1147	France (Azerty) Euro
FAI	500	France (Azerty) Multinational
FAM	1148	France (Azerty) Multinational Euro
FNB	278	Finland/Sweden	2925	819
FNE	1143	Finland/Sweden Euro
FNI	500	Finland/Sweden Multinational
FNM	1148	Finland/Sweden Multinational Euro
FQB	297	France (Qwerty)
FQI	500	France (Qwerty) Multinational
GNB	875	Greece	2957	813
GNE	4971	Greece Euro
HIB		Hindi
HNB	870	Hungary	2976	912
HNE	1153	Hungary Euro
ICB	871	Iceland	2958	819
ICE	1149	Iceland Euro
ICI	500	Iceland Multinational
ICM	1148	Iceland Multinational Euro
INB	500	International
INI		International Multinational
IRB	1097	Iran (Farsi)	2998
ITB	280	Italy	2932	819
ITE	1144	Italy Euro
ITI	500	Italy Multinational	2942	819
ITM	1148	Italy Multinational Euro
JEB	65535	Japan English
JEI	500	Japan English Multinational
JKB	5026	Japan Kanji and Katakana	2962	942
JPB	1027	Japan Latin Extended	2930	942
JPE	1399	Japan Latin Extended Euro
JUB	37	Japan Kanji and United States English
KAB	290	Japan Katakana
KOB	833	Korea	2986	949
LAB	1132	Lao People's Democratic Republic	2906
LAE		Lao People's Democratic Republic Euro
LTB	1112	Lithuania	2903	921
LVB	1112	Latvia	2904	921
MKB	1025	FYR Macedonia	2913	915
MKE	1154	FYR Macedonia Euro
NCB	424	Hebrew	2961	916
NCE		Hebrew Euro
NEB	37	Netherlands	2923	819
NEE	1140	Netherlands Euro
NEI	500	Netherlands Multinational
NEM	1148	Netherlands Multinational Euro
NWB	277	Norway	2933	819
NWE	1142	Norway Euro
NWI	500	Norway Multinational
NWM	1148	Norway Multinational Euro
PKB		India (Urdu)
PKE		India (Urdu) Euro
PLB	870	Polish	2978	912
PLE	1153	Polish Euro
PRB	37	Portugal	2922	819
PRE	1140	Portugal Euro
PRI	500	Portugal Multinational	2996	819
PRM	1148	Portugal Multinational Euro
RCB	836	Simplified Chinese	2989	1381
RMB	870	Romania	2992	912
RME	1153	Romania Euro
ROB	870	Latin 2
ROE	1153	Latin 2 Euro
RUB	1025	Russia	2979	1251
RUE	1154	Russia Euro
SFI	500	Switzerland/French Multinational	2940	819
SFM	1148	Switzerland/French Multinational Euro
SGI	500	Switzerland/German Multinational
SGM	1148	Switzerland/German Multinational Euro
SKB	870	Slovakia	2994	912
SKE	1153	Slovakia Euro
SPB	284	Spain	2931	819
SPE	1145	Spain Euro
SPI	500	Spain Multinational
SPM	1148	Spain Multinational Euro
SQB	1025	Serbia (Cyrillic)	2914	915
SQE	1154	Serbia (Cyrillic) Euro
SSB	284	Spanish Speaking
SSE	1145	Spanish Speaking Euro
SSI	500	Spanish Speaking Multinational
SSM	1148	Spanish Speaking Multinational Euro
SWB	278	Sweden	2937	819
SWE	1143	Sweden Euro
SWI	500	Sweden Multinational
SWM	1148	Sweden Multinational Euro
TAB	937	Traditional Chinese	2987	950
THB	838	Thailand	2972? > 9030	1066
THE	1160	Thailand Euro
TKB	1026	Turkey	2956	920
TKE	1155	Turkey (Qwerty) Euro
TRB	1026	Turkey (F)
TRE	1155	Turkey (F) Euro
UAB	1123	Ukraine
UAE	1158	Ukraine Euro
UKB	285	United Kingdom
UKE	1146	United Kingdom Euro
UKI	500	United Kingdom Multinational
UKM	1148	United Kingdom Multinational Euro
USB	37	United States/Canada	2924	819
USE	1140	United States/Canada Euro
USI	500	United States/Canada Multinational
USM	1148	United States/Canada Multinational Euro
VNB	1130	Vietnam	2905	1258
VNE	1164	Vietnam Euro
YGI	870	Croatia, Serbia (Latin), and Slovenia	2912, 2911	912
YGM	1153	Croatia, Serbia (Latin), and Slovenia Euro