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Encoding conversion refers to the process of changing data from one character encoding scheme to another. Character encodings are systems that assign numerical values to characters, allowing computers to represent and process text. Common examples include ASCII, UTF-8, UTF-16, and ISO-8859-1. When data is created or transmitted using one encoding, it may need to be converted to a different encoding to be correctly interpreted by another system or application.

The need for encoding conversion arises frequently in computing. For instance, a web page might be encoded in UTF-8, a widely used standard that supports a vast range of characters from different languages, but a legacy system might only be able to process data in ASCII. In such cases, a conversion from UTF-8 to ASCII would be necessary, though this might result in data loss if the original text contains characters not present in ASCII. Conversely, converting from a limited encoding like ASCII to a more comprehensive one like UTF-8 is generally safe and preserves all original information.

The conversion process typically involves interpreting the bytes of the source data according to its original encoding and then reinterpreting those same bytes, or a transformed sequence of bytes, according to the target encoding. This requires knowledge of both the source and target encoding schemes. Tools and programming libraries are readily available to perform these conversions, ensuring compatibility across different platforms and software. Proper handling of encoding conversion is crucial for accurate data display, storage, and inter-system communication.