File name has � (invalid encoding)

[ridgeland]

For me this is happening in mp3 files in French with accented vowels. I'm in the U.S.
So for instance the file:
12 - La Bottine Souriante - � Travers La Vitre.mp3 (invalid encoding)
should be:
12 - La Bottine Souriante - À Travers La Vitre.mp3

I can fix this. Enable composite keys Menu -> System -> Preferences -> Keyboard. Tab Layouts - select US click [Layout Options] expand "Compose Key Position" then select [x] Left Win. Now to compose an accented key: Press and release the "Compose Key" Left Win then the accent like ` then A -> À (the back quote, next to the 1). Nice to find a use for that MS-key.
But the challenge is what was that � anyway? convmv requires me to know the original locale, I haven't a clue. I found EasyTag shows the name as it was meant to be so I copy and paste from EasyTag to Nautilus and I have the name right again.

$ locale
LANG=en_US.UTF-8

Set in /etc/defaults/locale

What should I have done to avoid the error in the first place? Why does EasyTag understand it but Nautilus does not? Was there an easier way than EasyTag? convmv proved useless or I just do not know how to use it.

[michy99]

Try this:

sudo apt-get install unifont

[ridgeland]

I tried unifont from synaptics GUI - no change - booted - no change
Tried apt-get ---> already latest version --- � still there.

Is more required than just installing it?

[michy99]

Just thought it was worth a try. Sorry, I don't have any other ideas on this one.

[80aless]

maybe try this
convmv -r --notest -f windows-1255 -t UTF-8 *

[negativism]

maybe try this
convmv -r --notest -f windows-1255 -t UTF-8 *

this old post just made my day. thank you, dear sir

[mrsfixit]

maybe try this
convmv -r --notest -f windows-1255 -t UTF-8 *

I just ran into the problem- and this old post helped me as well.

Thank goodness for the Ubuntu forums, I'd be lost without them.

[wingnux]

maybe try this
convmv -r --notest -f windows-1255 -t UTF-8 *

You, sir, are a genius!

[pulsarunlimited]

maybe try this
convmv -r --notest -f windows-1255 -t UTF-8 *

Awesome!

For me the source encoding was different, but this did the trick!

My command was:

convmv -r --notest -f windows-1252 -t UTF-8 *

(so 1252 instead of 1255)

[mrguga]

1252 is Latin
1255 is Hebrew

For brazilian Windows users, like me, 1252 is the one that works flawlessly.

Thanks for the post!