Localizable.strings encoding

If you're developing iPhone applications and want to reach international markets, then you've probably learned about .strings files and the NSLocalizedString() family of macros. (If not, then look here.)

One small but important fact that I didn't find documented was the required text encoding for .strings files. I assumed that UTF-8 would work fine, and indeed, the iPhone simulator is happy with UTF-8 encoding. Unfortunately a real phone (running iPhone OS 2.2) silently ignores UTF-8 encoded .strings files. Seems that UTF-16 encoding is required.

You can convert a file in Xcode by ctrl-clicking in it, selecting Get Info and changing the File Encoding: drop-down and click the Convert button in the file encoding dialog.

Strangely enough however, the InfoPlist.strings file works fine whether encoded as UTF-8 or UTF-16, but it's probably best to be consistent and encode all your .strings files as UTF-16. Also, the genstrings utility only writes out .strings files as UTF-16, so it seems like the way to go.