Convert an ANSEL GEDCOM file to UTF-8: free, in your browser
· 5 min read · The Memory Palace Team
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To convert an ANSEL GEDCOM file to UTF-8, open it in our free GEDCOM checker and download the repaired file. The checker reads ANSEL itself, accents included, and writes the same family tree as UTF-8 with 1 CHAR UTF-8 in the header, in your browser and without uploading anything.
Last checked: 7 October 2026. The checker is ours; what it does is described below exactly as it works.
What ANSEL is, and why it causes trouble
ANSEL is a character set from the library world (ANSI Z39.47). The GEDCOM 5.5.1 standard called it the preferred character set for GEDCOM, so many family tree files from the 1990s and 2000s use it. GEDCOM 7.0 dropped it: version 7 only allows UTF-8.
ANSEL stores accents in an unusual way. An accent is a separate byte that comes before the letter it belongs to. In UTF-8 an accented letter is one character. A program that does not read ANSEL gets confused by that order.
The name René in ANSEL (bytes in hex):
1 NAME Ren [E2] e E2 = acute accent, placed before the e
Read as UTF-8: 1 NAME Ren�e
Read as Windows text: 1 NAME Renâe
Read as ANSEL, saved as UTF-8:
1 NAME RenéHow to tell that your file is ANSEL
- The header near the top of the file says
1 CHAR ANSEL. You can see it by opening the .ged file in any text editor, without saving it. - In our checker, the character set at the top of the result says ANSEL and there is a note Old character set: ANSEL.
- In a program that reads it wrongly, accented names show a question mark, a black diamond or an extra letter such as â or è.
A header that says ANSEL is not always right. Some programs write 1 CHAR ANSEL while the text is really UTF-8. The checker looks at the bytes: if they are valid UTF-8, it reads the file as UTF-8 and tells you that the header names the wrong character set.
Convert it, step by step
- Open the GEDCOM checker and choose your .ged file (up to 100 MB). It is read in your browser.
- Look at Do these names look right?: up to eight lines with accented letters, as the checker read them. If they look right here, they will look right in the repaired file.
- Click Download repaired file. You get a copy whose name ends in -repaired.ged. Your original file is not changed.
- Import the copy into your genealogy program, or open it in our GEDCOM viewer. The viewer reads UTF-8, which is why you convert first.
What the conversion does, exactly
- Each ANSEL accent is moved behind its letter and joined with it, so e plus an acute accent becomes one é.
- The ANSEL special letters, such as Ø, Æ, Œ, Ł and ß, become their UTF-8 equivalents.
- The header gets
1 CHAR UTF-8. A2 VERSline directly under the old CHAR line, which belonged to the old character set, is removed. The GEDCOM version line (GEDC VERS) stays as it is. - The file is saved as UTF-8 with a byte order mark, with Windows line endings (CRLF), without empty lines or indentation, and with a header and end marker if one was missing.
- Names, dates, places, notes and links are not changed.
What it cannot do: a byte that matches no ANSEL character is counted under Characters could not be read and becomes a question mark. And if a file says ANSEL but was really written as Windows text with bytes that are not valid UTF-8, the header points the wrong way and the accents come out wrong. That is what the sample names are for: check them before you use the copy.
Other ways to convert ANSEL
| Way | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Our free GEDCOM checker | Nothing to install; shows sample names before you download; also fixes the header and line structure | Unknown bytes cannot be restored |
| Gramps (free desktop program) | When the header says ANSEL, Gramps asks on import whether to read it as ANSEL, ANSI, ASCII or UTF-8; its GEDCOM export writes version 5.5.1 in UTF-8 | You have to install it and import the whole tree |
| The program that made the file | If it can still export, look for a character set option and choose UTF-8 | Older programs may only offer ANSEL or ANSI |
| A text editor such as Notepad++ | Looking at the header | Its encoding menu works with Unicode and code pages; the manual does not mention ANSEL, so accents come out wrong |
Our other free tools, GEDCOM to Excel and the printable family tree, read ANSEL directly as well.
Related: garbled characters such as é in a GEDCOM file, which GEDCOM version your file is and free online GEDCOM viewers compared.
Sources
- The GEDCOM Standard, release 5.5.1 (character sets, line length, cross-reference IDs, dates): gedcom.io/specifications/ged551.pdf
- FamilySearch GEDCOM 7.0 specification (UTF-8 only, no CONC, GEDZIP): gedcom.io/specifications/FamilySearchGEDCOMv7.html
- Gramps source code, GEDCOM import (encoding choice for files marked ANSEL): github.com/gramps-project/gramps/blob/maintenance/gramps60/gramps/plugins/importer/importgedcom.py
- Gramps source code, GEDCOM export (writes GEDCOM 5.5.1 with CHAR UTF-8): github.com/gramps-project/gramps/blob/maintenance/gramps60/gramps/plugins/export/exportgedcom.py
- Notepad++ User Manual, Encoding: npp-user-manual.org/docs/encoding
Questions people ask
What is ANSEL in a GEDCOM file?
ANSEL is a character set from library catalogues (ANSI Z39.47). The GEDCOM 5.5.1 standard calls it the preferred character set, so many older genealogy files use it. You can see it in the header: 1 CHAR ANSEL.
How do I convert an ANSEL GEDCOM file to UTF-8 for free?
Open our free GEDCOM checker, choose the file and download the repaired file. The checker reads the ANSEL accents and special letters and writes the file as UTF-8, with 1 CHAR UTF-8 in the header. The file is read in your browser and is not uploaded.
Why do accents disappear when I open an ANSEL file?
In ANSEL, an accent is a separate byte stored before the letter it belongs to. A program that reads the file as UTF-8 or Windows text does not know this, so it shows a question mark, a black diamond or a different letter, and the accent ends up in the wrong place.
Does converting to UTF-8 change my family tree?
No. The conversion only changes how the letters are stored and a few things about the form of the file: the CHAR line, line endings, empty lines and indentation. Names, dates, places, notes and links stay exactly the same.
My file says ANSEL but the names already look fine. Should I still convert it?
Possibly the header is wrong and the text is already UTF-8. That happens often. The checker looks at the bytes, not just the header, and if the text is UTF-8 it reports that the header names the wrong character set. The repaired file then simply says 1 CHAR UTF-8.
Can I convert ANSEL with Notepad or another text editor?
Not reliably. A text editor reads the file as one of the character sets it knows, and the Notepad++ manual, for example, does not mention ANSEL. Use a tool that reads ANSEL itself, such as our checker or the GEDCOM import of a genealogy program.
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