You may need to convert text files or message catalogs. There are several standard converters for this purpose. When a program sends data to another program residing on a remote host, the data can require conversion from the code set of the source machine to that of the receiver.
Code sets define character and control function assignments to code points.
These coded characters must be converted when a program receives data in one code set but displays it in another code set. The system provides a library of converters that is ready to use. You supply the name of the converter you want to use. In addition to code set converters, the converter library also provides a set of network interchange converters. In a network environment, the code sets of the communications systems and the protocols of communication determine how the data should be converted.