mutf-8

This package contains simple pure-python as well as C encoders and decoders for the MUTF-8 character encoding. In most cases, you can also parse the even-rarer CESU-8.

These days, you'll most likely encounter MUTF-8 when working on files or protocols related to the JVM. Strings in a Java .class file are encoded using MUTF-8, strings passed by the JNI, as well as strings exported by the object serializer.

This library was extracted from Lawu, a Python library for working with JVM class files.

🎉 Installation

Install the package from PyPi:

pip install amulet-mutf8

Binary wheels are available for the following:

If binary wheels are not available, it will attempt to build the C extension from source with any C99 compiler. If it could not build, it will fall back to a pure-python version.

Usage

Encoding and decoding is simple:

from mutf8 import encode_modified_utf8, decode_modified_utf8

unicode = decode_modified_utf8(byte_like_object)
bytes = encode_modified_utf8(unicode)

This module does not register itself globally as a codec, since importing should be side-effect-free.

📈 Benchmarks

The C extension is significantly faster - often 20x to 40x faster.

MUTF-8 Decoding

MUTF-8 Encoding

C Extension

The C extension is optional. If a binary package is not available, or a C compiler is not present, the pure-python version will be used instead. If you want to ensure you're using the C version, import it directly:

from mutf8.cmutf8 import decode_modified_utf8

decode_modified_utf(b'\xED\xA1\x80\xED\xB0\x80')