Call str.encode() to convert Python text into bytes. Specify the encoding the receiving file, API, or protocol expects; UTF-8 is a common choice when the destination supports it.
text = "Hello, world!"
data = text.encode("utf-8")
print(data) # b'Hello, world!'What does converting a string to bytes mean?
In Python 3, a str is Unicode text, while bytes is a sequence of encoded bytes. Encoding maps text to bytes using a codec such as UTF-8; decoding performs the reverse operation. Python does not automatically convert between these types, so combining a string and bytes directly can raise TypeError. The Python documentation explains these types and their behavior in Built-in Types.
The displayed form b'...' is Python’s representation of a bytes value, not a different kind of text. The bytes contain the encoded data.
How to encode a string
Use text.encode(encoding). If you omit the encoding, Python uses UTF-8; errors are handled with strict by default, meaning encoding fails rather than silently changing unrepresentable text.
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text = "café"
data = text.encode("utf-8")
print(data) # b'cafxc3xa9'For portable and understandable code, state the encoding explicitly, especially at interfaces with files, APIs, and network protocols. Use UTF-8 when the destination expects it, not simply because UTF-8 is common. The receiving system’s specified format takes priority.
How to convert the bytes back to text
Decode the bytes with the encoding used to create them, or with the encoding declared by their source or format.
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text = "café"
data = text.encode("utf-8")
restored = data.decode("utf-8")
assert restored == textWithout knowing the encoding, bytes cannot in general be reliably interpreted as the original text. Python’s Unicode HOWTO describes this distinction and recommends keeping Unicode strings internally, decoding input early and encoding output at the boundary.
Choose the encoding the destination requires
UTF-8 supports all Unicode code points, and ordinary ASCII characters have the same byte values in ASCII and UTF-8. A character outside ASCII can take multiple bytes in UTF-8, so the byte count is not necessarily the character count.
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Some legacy systems or formats require another encoding. Latin-1, for example, maps code points U+0000 through U+00FF; it cannot encode characters outside that range with the default strict handling. Consult Python’s codec documentation when an interface specifies a particular codec.
text = "café"
utf8_data = text.encode("utf-8")
latin1_data = text.encode("latin-1") # only if the destination expects Latin-1
# text.encode("ascii") # raises UnicodeEncodeError because of "é"UTF-16, UTF-32, and legacy single-byte encodings may also be appropriate when required by a particular interface. Their byte layouts and constraints differ, so do not substitute one for another without checking the format specification.
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What happens when a character cannot be encoded?
With the default errors="strict", Python raises UnicodeEncodeError if the selected encoding cannot represent a character. This makes the mismatch visible instead of silently corrupting the text.
The optional errors argument can change that behavior. For example, ignore drops unencodable characters, while replace substitutes them. These choices can lose or alter information; use them only when that result is acceptable to the application.
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text = "café"
# Raises UnicodeEncodeError: ASCII cannot represent "é"
# text.encode("ascii")
lossy = text.encode("ascii", errors="replace")Should you use bytes() instead?
Not for encoding a string. The bytes constructor requires an encoding when its input is text, so use text.encode("utf-8") (or the required encoding) rather than bytes(text).
For text files, use text I/O
If your goal is simply to read or write a text file, let Python’s text I/O encode and decode the content. Give open() an explicit encoding instead of manually converting the whole file to bytes.
with open("notes.txt", "w", encoding="utf-8") as file:
file.write("café")
with open("notes.txt", "r", encoding="utf-8") as file:
text = file.read()Use binary I/O when the program specifically needs to handle raw bytes, such as when an API or format requires a byte sequence. The Unicode HOWTO documents text I/O’s encoding and errors parameters at docs.python.org.
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