<!DOCTYPE html SYSTEM "about:legacy-compat">
<html lang="en"><head><META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" name="viewport">
<!--
        XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
              This file is generated from xml source: DO NOT EDIT
        XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
      -->
<title>mod_charset_lite - Apache HTTP Server Version 2.4</title>
<link href="../style/css/manual.css" rel="stylesheet" media="all" type="text/css" title="Main stylesheet">
<link href="../style/css/manual-loose-100pc.css" rel="alternate stylesheet" media="all" type="text/css" title="No Sidebar - Default font size">
<link href="../style/css/manual-print.css" rel="stylesheet" media="print" type="text/css"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../style/css/prettify.css">
<script src="../style/scripts/prettify.min.js">
</script>

<link href="../images/favicon.png" rel="shortcut icon"></head>
<body>
<div id="page-header">
<p class="menu"><a href="../mod/">Modules</a> | <a href="../mod/quickreference.html">Directives</a> | <a href="https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/httpd/FAQ">FAQ</a> | <a href="../glossary.html">Glossary</a> | <a href="../sitemap.html">Sitemap</a> | <a href="https://bz.apache.org/bugzilla/enter_bug.cgi?product=Apache%20httpd-2">Report a bug</a></p>
<p class="apache">Apache HTTP Server Version 2.4</p>
<img alt="" src="../images/feather.png"></div>
<div class="up"><a href="./"><img title="<-" alt="<-" src="../images/left.gif"></a></div>
<div id="path">
<a href="https://www.apache.org/">Apache</a> &gt; <a href="https://httpd.apache.org/">HTTP Server</a> &gt; <a href="https://httpd.apache.org/docs/">Documentation</a> &gt; <a href="../">Version 2.4</a> &gt; <a href="./">Modules</a></div>
<div id="page-content">
<div id="preamble"><h1>Apache Module mod_charset_lite</h1>
<button aria-label="Toggle language list" class="lang-toggle"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" stroke-width="2" stroke="currentColor" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 24 24" height="16" width="16"><circle r="10" cy="12" cx="12"/><line y2="12" x2="22" y1="12" x1="2"/><path d="M12 2a15.3 15.3 0 0 1 4 10 15.3 15.3 0 0 1-4 10 15.3 15.3 0 0 1-4-10 15.3 15.3 0 0 1 4-10z"/></svg></button>
<div class="toplang">
<p><span>Available Languages: </span><a href="../en/mod/mod_charset_lite.html" title="English">&nbsp;en&nbsp;</a> |
<a href="../fr/mod/mod_charset_lite.html" hreflang="fr" rel="alternate" title="Fran&ccedil;ais">&nbsp;fr&nbsp;</a> |
<a href="../ko/mod/mod_charset_lite.html" hreflang="ko" rel="alternate" title="Korean">&nbsp;ko&nbsp;</a></p>
</div>
<table class="module"><tr><th><a href="module-dict.html#Description">Description:</a></th><td>Specify character set translation or recoding</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="module-dict.html#Status">Status:</a></th><td>Extension</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="module-dict.html#ModuleIdentifier">Module&nbsp;Identifier:</a></th><td>charset_lite_module</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="module-dict.html#SourceFile">Source&nbsp;File:</a></th><td>mod_charset_lite.c</td></tr></table>
<h3>Summary</h3>

    <p><code class="module"><a href="../mod/mod_charset_lite.html">mod_charset_lite</a></code> allows the server to change
    the character set of responses before sending them to the client.
    In an EBCDIC environment, Apache always translates HTTP protocol
    content (e.g. response headers) from the code page of the Apache
    process locale to ISO-8859-1, but not the body of responses.  In
    any environment, <code class="module"><a href="../mod/mod_charset_lite.html">mod_charset_lite</a></code> can be used to
    specify that response bodies should be translated.  For example,
    if files are stored in EBCDIC, then
    <code class="module"><a href="../mod/mod_charset_lite.html">mod_charset_lite</a></code> can translate them to
    ISO-8859-1 before sending them to the client.</p>

    <p>This module provides a small subset of configuration
    mechanisms implemented by Russian Apache and its associated
    <code>mod_charset</code>.</p>
</div>
<div id="quickview"><h3>Topics</h3>
<ul id="topics">
<li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif"> <a href="#problems">Common Problems</a></li>
</ul><h3 class="directives">Directives</h3>
<ul id="toc">
<li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif"> <a href="#charsetdefault">CharsetDefault</a></li>
<li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif"> <a href="#charsetoptions">CharsetOptions</a></li>
<li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif"> <a href="#charsetsourceenc">CharsetSourceEnc</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Bugfix checklist</h3><ul class="seealso"><li><a href="https://www.apache.org/dist/httpd/CHANGES_2.4">httpd changelog</a></li><li><a href="https://bz.apache.org/bugzilla/buglist.cgi?bug_status=__open__&amp;list_id=144532&amp;product=Apache%20httpd-2&amp;query_format=specific&amp;order=changeddate%20DESC%2Cpriority%2Cbug_severity&amp;component=mod_charset_lite">Known issues</a></li><li><a href="https://bz.apache.org/bugzilla/enter_bug.cgi?product=Apache%20httpd-2&amp;component=mod_charset_lite">Report a bug</a></li></ul></div>
<div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif"></a></div>
<div class="section">
<h2 id="problems">Common Problems <a title="Permanent link" href="#problems" class="permalink">&para;</a></h2>

    <h3>Invalid character set names</h3>

      <p>The character set name parameters of <code class="directive"><a href="#charsetsourceenc">CharsetSourceEnc</a></code> and
      <code class="directive"><a href="#charsetdefault">CharsetDefault</a></code>
      must be acceptable to the translation mechanism used by
      <a class="glossarylink" href="../glossary.html#apr" title="see glossary">APR</a> on the system where
      <code class="module"><a href="../mod/mod_charset_lite.html">mod_charset_lite</a></code> is deployed.  These character
      set names are not standardized and are usually not the same as
      the corresponding values used in http headers.  Currently, APR
      can only use iconv(3), so you can easily test your character set
      names using the iconv(1) program, as follows:</p>

      <div class="example"><p><code>
        iconv -f charsetsourceenc-value -t charsetdefault-value
      </code></p></div>
    

    <h3>Mismatch between character set of content and translation
    rules</h3>

      <p>If the translation rules don't make sense for the content,
      translation can fail in various ways, including:</p>

      <ul>
      <li>The translation mechanism may return a bad return code,
      and the connection will be aborted.</li>

      <li>The translation mechanism may silently place special
      characters (e.g., question marks) in the output buffer when
      it cannot translate the input buffer.</li>
      </ul>
    
</div>
<div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif"></a></div>
<div class="directive-section"><h2 id="charsetdefault"><span id="CharsetDefault">CharsetDefault</span> Directive <a title="Permanent link" href="#charsetdefault" class="permalink">&para;</a></h2>
<table class="directive">
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Description">Description:</a></th><td>Charset to translate into</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Syntax">Syntax:</a></th><td><code>CharsetDefault <var>charset</var></code></td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Context">Context:</a></th><td>server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Override">Override:</a></th><td>FileInfo</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Status">Status:</a></th><td>Extension</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Module">Module:</a></th><td>mod_charset_lite</td></tr>
</table>
    <p>The <code class="directive">CharsetDefault</code> directive specifies the
    charset that content in the associated container should be
    translated to.</p>

    <p>The value of the <var>charset</var> argument must be accepted
    as a valid character set name by the character set support in
    <a class="glossarylink" href="../glossary.html#apr" title="see glossary">APR</a>. Generally, this means that it must be
    supported by iconv.</p>

    <div class="example"><h3>Example</h3><pre class="prettyprint lang-config">&lt;Directory "/export/home/trawick/apacheinst/htdocs/convert"&gt;
    CharsetSourceEnc  UTF-16BE
    CharsetDefault    ISO-8859-1
&lt;/Directory&gt;</pre>
</div>

     <div class="note">
     Specifying the same charset for both <code class="directive"><a href="#charsetsourceenc">CharsetSourceEnc</a></code>
     and <code class="directive">CharsetDefault</code> disables translation. The charset
     need not match the charset of the response, but it must be a valid charset on the system.
     </div>


</div>
<div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif"></a></div>
<div class="directive-section"><h2 id="charsetoptions"><span id="CharsetOptions">CharsetOptions</span> Directive <a title="Permanent link" href="#charsetoptions" class="permalink">&para;</a></h2>
<table class="directive">
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Description">Description:</a></th><td>Configures charset translation behavior</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Syntax">Syntax:</a></th><td><code>CharsetOptions <var>option</var> [<var>option</var>] ...</code></td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Default">Default:</a></th><td><code>CharsetOptions ImplicitAdd</code></td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Context">Context:</a></th><td>server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Override">Override:</a></th><td>FileInfo</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Status">Status:</a></th><td>Extension</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Module">Module:</a></th><td>mod_charset_lite</td></tr>
</table>
    <p>The <code class="directive">CharsetOptions</code> directive configures certain
    behaviors of <code class="module"><a href="../mod/mod_charset_lite.html">mod_charset_lite</a></code>. <var>Option</var> can
    be one of</p>

    <dl>
      <dt><code>ImplicitAdd | NoImplicitAdd</code></dt>

      <dd>The <code>ImplicitAdd</code> keyword specifies that
      <code class="module"><a href="../mod/mod_charset_lite.html">mod_charset_lite</a></code> should implicitly insert its
      filter when the configuration specifies that the character
      set of content should be translated. If the filter chain is
      explicitly configured using the <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/mod_mime.html#addoutputfilter">AddOutputFilter</a></code> directive, <code>NoImplicitAdd</code>
      should be specified so that <code class="module"><a href="../mod/mod_charset_lite.html">mod_charset_lite</a></code>
      doesn't add its filter.</dd>

      <dt><code>TranslateAllMimeTypes | NoTranslateAllMimeTypes</code></dt>
      <dd>Normally, <code class="module"><a href="../mod/mod_charset_lite.html">mod_charset_lite</a></code> will only perform
      translation on a small subset of possible mimetypes.  When the
      <code>TranslateAllMimeTypes</code> keyword is specified for a given
      configuration section, translation is performed without regard for
      mimetype.</dd>

    </dl>

</div>
<div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif"></a></div>
<div class="directive-section"><h2 id="charsetsourceenc"><span id="CharsetSourceEnc">CharsetSourceEnc</span> Directive <a title="Permanent link" href="#charsetsourceenc" class="permalink">&para;</a></h2>
<table class="directive">
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Description">Description:</a></th><td>Source charset of files</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Syntax">Syntax:</a></th><td><code>CharsetSourceEnc <var>charset</var></code></td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Context">Context:</a></th><td>server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Override">Override:</a></th><td>FileInfo</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Status">Status:</a></th><td>Extension</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Module">Module:</a></th><td>mod_charset_lite</td></tr>
</table>
    <p>The <code class="directive">CharsetSourceEnc</code> directive specifies the
    source charset of files in the associated container.</p>

    <p>The value of the <var>charset</var> argument must be accepted
    as a valid character set name by the character set support in
    <a class="glossarylink" href="../glossary.html#apr" title="see glossary">APR</a>. Generally, this means that it must be
    supported by iconv.</p>

    <div class="example"><h3>Example</h3><pre class="prettyprint lang-config">&lt;Directory "/export/home/trawick/apacheinst/htdocs/convert"&gt;
    CharsetSourceEnc  UTF-16BE
    CharsetDefault    ISO-8859-1
&lt;/Directory&gt;</pre>
</div>

    <p>The character set names in this example work with the iconv
    translation support in Solaris 8.</p>

     <div class="note">
     Specifying the same charset for both <code class="directive">CharsetSourceEnc</code>
     and <code class="directive"><a href="#charsetdefault">CharsetDefault</a></code> disables translation. The charset
     need not match the charset of the response, but it must be a valid charset on the system.
     </div>


</div>
</div>
<div class="bottomlang">
<p><span>Available Languages: </span><a href="../en/mod/mod_charset_lite.html" title="English">&nbsp;en&nbsp;</a> |
<a href="../fr/mod/mod_charset_lite.html" hreflang="fr" rel="alternate" title="Fran&ccedil;ais">&nbsp;fr&nbsp;</a> |
<a href="../ko/mod/mod_charset_lite.html" hreflang="ko" rel="alternate" title="Korean">&nbsp;ko&nbsp;</a></p>
</div><div id="footer">
<p class="apache">Copyright 2026 The Apache Software Foundation.<br>Licensed under the <a href="https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0">Apache License, Version 2.0</a>.</p>
<p class="menu"><a href="../mod/">Modules</a> | <a href="../mod/quickreference.html">Directives</a> | <a href="https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/httpd/FAQ">FAQ</a> | <a href="../glossary.html">Glossary</a> | <a href="../sitemap.html">Sitemap</a> | <a href="https://bz.apache.org/bugzilla/enter_bug.cgi?product=Apache%20httpd-2">Report a bug</a></p></div><script><!--//--><![CDATA[//><!--
if (typeof(prettyPrint) !== 'undefined') {
    prettyPrint();
}
var langToggle = document.querySelector('.lang-toggle');
var topLang = document.querySelector('.toplang');
if (langToggle && topLang) {
    langToggle.addEventListener('click', function() { topLang.classList.toggle('open'); });
}
var qv = document.getElementById('quickview');
if (qv) {
    document.body.appendChild(qv);
    var qvBtn = document.createElement('button');
    qvBtn.className = 'qv-toggle';
    qvBtn.setAttribute('aria-label', 'Toggle page navigation');
    qvBtn.innerHTML = '&#9776;';
    document.body.appendChild(qvBtn);
    qvBtn.addEventListener('click', function() {
        var isOpen = qv.classList.toggle('open');
        if (isOpen) {
            qv.style.top = window.scrollY + 10 + 'px';
        }
    });
    window.addEventListener('scroll', function() { qv.classList.remove('open'); });
}
//--><!]]></script>
</body></html>