Windows: Cursor Write tool creates UTF-16 LE files instead of UTF-8

[ismailkartt]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

On Windows 11, Cursor’s Write tool sometimes creates new files encoded as UTF-16 LE instead of UTF-8.
This causes text to appear with spaces between every character (UTF-16 interpreted incorrectly).
Restarted PC, still happens.
Editing existing files doesn’t cause it, mainly happens when creating new files via Write tool.
Workaround: creating files with PowerShell in UTF-8 works. Added .editorconfig + .vscode/settings.json to enforce UTF-8.
This seems like a Cursor Write tool encoding bug on Windows.

Steps to Reproduce

Steps to Reproduce

1. Use Cursor Write tool to create a new file (e.g., test-encoding.txt)
2. Cursor writes the file
3. Check encoding or open the file
4. It is saved as UTF-16 LE

Expected Behavior

Expected

UTF-8 (preferably without BOM)

Actual

UTF-16 LE causing spaced characters

Environment

Windows 11, latest Cursor

Workarounds

PowerShell UTF-8 write, .editorconfig, .vscode/settings.json

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 2.3.35 (user setup)
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: cf8353edc265f5e46b798bfb276861d0bf3bf120
Date: 2026-01-13T07:39:18.564Z
Electron: 37.7.0
Chromium: 138.0.7204.251
Node.js: 22.20.0
V8: 13.8.258.32-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26200

For AI issues: which model did you use?

all ai

For AI issues: add Request ID with privacy disabled

6c880d2b-af09-49b9-92ff-dab121c0425f

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Yes - Cursor is unusable

[deanrie]

Hey, thanks for the detailed report.

I see the screenshot with the encoding error. This is clearly a bug in the Write tool on Windows. There are a few similar encoding issues on Windows (Chinese characters in hooks, Korean in the terminal), but your case is specific. The Write tool is creating UTF-16 LE instead of UTF-8.

There’s no direct fix yet, but I’ve got a few questions for the team:

1. Does this happen with all file types, or only with specific extensions (txt, js, md)?
2. Can you share your .editorconfig and .vscode/settings.json contents that helped as a workaround?

I’ll pass this to the team to investigate. This is a known category of Windows bugs, but the Write tool creating UTF-16 hasn’t been tracked yet.