Encodings

TextMate will do a few tests against your file:

  1. Does it have an UTF-8/16/32 BE/LE BOM? Do not take this to mean that UTF-8 BOMs are fine!
  2. Does it have a com.apple.TextEncoding extended attribute?
  3. Does it have an encoding setting via .tm_properties?
  4. Is it valid ASCII/UTF-8?

If all of these tests fail, it will ask you to pick the proper encoding.