This Javascript library provides the most performant tiny polyfill for window.TextEncoder
and window.TextDecoder
for use in the browser, in NodeJS, in RequireJS, in web Workers, in SharedWorkers, and in ServiceWorkers.
Quick Start
Add the following HTML Code to your head:
<script src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/r55397ld512etib/EncoderDecoderTogether.min.js?dl=0" type="text/javascript"></script>
If you know that no script on the page requires this library until the DOMContentLoaded event, then you can switch to the much less blocking version below:
<script defer="" src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/r55397ld512etib/EncoderDecoderTogether.min.js?dl=0" type="text/javascript"></script>
Alternatively, either use https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/47481btie8pb95h/FastestTextEncoderPolyfill.min.js?dl=0
to polyfill window.TextEncoder
for converting a String
into a Uint8Array
or use https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/qmoknmp86sytc74/FastestTextDecoderPolyfill.min.js?dl=0
to only polyfill window.TextDecoder
for converting a Uint8Array
/ArrayBuffer
/[typedarray]/global.Buffer
into a String
.
RequireJS and NodeJS
For dropping into either RequireJS or NodeJS, please use the fastestsmallesttextencoderdecoder
npm repository, this minified file, or the corresponding source code file. To install via npm, use the following code,
npm install fastestsmallesttextencoderdecoder
Browser Support
This polyfill will bring
support for TextEncoder/TextDecoder to the following browsers.
Also note that while this polyfill may work in these old browsers, it is very likely that the rest of your website will not (unless if you make a concious effort about it which I would not reccomend because noone uses or should use these old browsers).
* Partial polyfill means that Array
(or Buffer
in NodeJS) will be used instead of Uint8Array
/[typedarray].
** This is the first public release of the browser
API Documentation
Please review the MDN at window.TextEncoder
and window.TextDecoder
for information on how to use TextEncoder and TextDecoder.
As for NodeJS, calling require("EncoderAndDecoderNodeJS.min.js")
yields the following object:
module.exports = {
TextEncoder: function TextEncoder(){},
TextDecoder: function TextEncoder(){},
encode: TextEncoder.prototype.encode,
decode: TextDecoder.prototype.decode
}
Thus, in NodeJS, you do not ever have to use new
just to get the encoder/decoder (although you still can do so if you want to). All of the code snippets below function identically (aside from unused local variables introduced into the scope). There are an innumerable number of ways to rewrite this same snippet of code, thus I only chose the three which I thought would be most useful.
const {TextEncoder, TextDecoder} = require("fastestsmallesttextencoderdecoder");
const encode = (new TextEncoder).encode;
const decode = (new TextDecoder).decode;
const {encode, decode} = require("fastestsmallesttextencoderdecoder");
const encodeAndDecodeModule = require("fastestsmallesttextencoderdecoder");
const encode = encodeAndDecodeModule.encode;
const decode = encodeAndDecodeModule.decode;
Note that fastestsmallesttextencoderdecoder must be installed via the following snippet in the terminal in order for the require("fastestsmallesttextencoderdecoder")
to work.
npm install fastestsmallesttextencoderdecoder
Demonstration
Visit the GithubPage to see a demonstation. As seen in the Web Worker hexWorker.js, the Github Pages demonstration uses a special encoderAndDecoderForced.src.js version of this library to forcefully install the TextEncoder and TextDecoder even when there is native support. That way, this demonstraton should serve to truthfully demonstrate this polyfill.
NPM Project
You can find this project on npm here at this link.