BOM Remover

Strip Byte Order Mark characters from text.

freeworks offlinenothing uploaded
Input
Output

About bom remover

BOM Remover is a small tool that does one job while you watch. Nothing is saved, so a reload gives you a clean start.

Load the page once and it works offline from then on. Nothing about the tool needs a connection after that first request.

You will find it under Symbols, alongside 9 other tools for the same sort of job.

Detects and removes UTF-8, UTF-16 BE, and UTF-16 LE BOMs from the start and middle of text.

How to use it

01
Start it
Every control is on the tool itself. Keyboard shortcuts, where there are any, are listed beside it.
02
Watch it run
It updates in the page as you go. Nothing is sent anywhere, so it keeps working with the network off.
03
Close when done
Nothing is stored between visits. Reloading gives you a clean start rather than picking up where you left off.

Examples

Remove UTF-8 BOM
Strip the invisible BOM character from the start of text
Input
Hello, World!
Output
Hello, World!

Questions

Does BOM Remover work offline?+

Yes. It is JavaScript running in this tab, so once the page has loaded it needs nothing further from the network. Put the machine in flight mode and it carries on. Nothing you do here is sent anywhere, because there is nowhere for it to go.

Does it remember anything between visits?+

No. Reload the page and it starts from nothing. There is no account, no saved state and no cookie holding your last session. That is a deliberate trade: it cannot lose your data because it never keeps any.

Is it accurate?+

Timing comes from performance.now(), the high resolution clock the browser provides, rather than from setInterval, which drifts by a few milliseconds every tick and compounds over minutes. What can still shift things is the browser throttling a tab in the background, so leave it visible if the timing matters.

Does it make a sound?+

Where a sound makes sense, it is generated with the Web Audio API rather than loaded as a file, so there is nothing to download and nothing to block. Browsers refuse to start audio until you have interacted with the page, which is why the first press is what switches it on.

Can I use BOM Remover on a phone?+

Yes. The controls are sized for touch and the layout collapses to one column on a narrow screen. Bear in mind that a phone locking its screen will suspend the page, and timing stops with it.