One thing I don't like about this automatic conversion is that it is hidden magic - and could catch people out. Let's say I don't want to use it... How can I do the following (ie what are the new API calls): Open a file with a name that is invalid in the current locale (say a zip disc from a computer with a different locale setting). Open a file with contents in an unknown encoding. What are the new binary API calls for file IO? What type is returned from 'getChar' on a binary file. Should it even be called getChar? what about getWord8 (getWord16, getWord32 etc...) Does the encoding translation occur just on the filename or the contents as well? What if I have an encoded filename with binary contents and vice-versa. Keean. (I guess I now have to rewrite a lot of file IO code!)