R 4.2 for Windows will support UTF-8 as native encoding, which will be a major improvement in encoding support, allowing Windows R users to work with international text and data. This new feature will require at least Windows 10 (version 1903) on desktop systems, Windows Server 2022 on long-term support server systems or Windows Server 1903 from the semi-annual channel. Older Windows systems will be able to run R, but with the same limitations in the encoding support as in R …