---
id: opencc
version: "1.4.1"
license: Apache License 2.0
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# OpenCC — Conversion between Traditional and Simplified Chinese

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 472.7K/mo

## What it is and what it does

OpenCC is a Python binding to an open-source Chinese character conversion engine that handles bidirectional conversion between Simplified and Traditional Chinese, plus Japanese Kanji (Shinjitai). It operates at both character and phrase level, preserving context-aware meaning and supporting regional vocabulary differences across Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

The package wraps a compiled C++ library and ships prebuilt wheels for modern Python versions on major platforms. It has no runtime dependencies and is designed for text processing pipelines where Chinese normalization or localization is needed. The conversion is deterministic and does not perform translation between languages or dialects.

Use it for:

- Normalize Chinese text in a document processing pipeline to a single script (e.g., all Simplified for consistency)
- Localize Chinese content for specific regions by converting vocabulary (e.g., '鼠标' to '滑鼠' for Taiwan)
- Prepare training data for NLP models by standardizing character representation across mixed-script corpora
- Convert user-generated content in web applications to a canonical form before storage or search indexing
- Handle Japanese Kanji modernization (Shinjitai) in text that mixes modern and historical forms

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Converts text between Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese Kanji, supporting character-level and phrase-level conversion with regional vocabulary variants.

Yes. The package is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, uses a permissive license, and solves a specific, well-defined problem for Chinese text processing. Install friction is moderate but manageable via prebuilt wheels. Recommended for any project requiring Chinese character normalization or regional text adaptation.

## Install

pip install opencc
uv add opencc
poetry add opencc

## Installing OpenCC

Before you install: Medium install friction due to compiled wheels; prebuilt binaries available for Python 3.10–3.13 on Windows, macOS (Intel and ARM), and Linux. Package is actively maintained with a recent release and no known vulnerabilities.

License in practice: Licensed under Apache License 2.0 (permissive); safe for commercial and proprietary use with standard attribution requirements.

Quickstart:

pip install opencc

import opencc
converter = opencc.OpenCC('s2t.json')
result = converter.convert('汉字')
print(result)  # 漢字

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package includes pre-downloaded conversion dictionaries or requires separate resource installation
- Performance characteristics for large-scale text conversion (throughput, latency)
- Whether custom conversion chains or inline configurations are accessible from the Python API

## Package facts

- License: Apache License 2.0 (permissive)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: medium
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 472.7K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

chinese character conversion, simplified to traditional chinese, chinese text normalization, regional chinese variants, japanese kanji conversion, chinese language processing, phrase-level chinese conversion, chinese-nlp, text-normalization, localization

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/opencc) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/opencc/)