[json] JSON Invalid UTF-8 middle byte

This error happens when the (Jackson, this case) JSON engine tries to parse some JSON that is not encoded in UTF-8.

How to tell the engine that it should expect something different from UTF-8, such as UTF-16?

HttpHeaders requestHeaders = createSomeHeader();
RestTemplate restTemplate = new RestTemplate();
HttpEntity<?> requestEntity = new HttpEntity<Object>(requestHeaders);
String url = "someurl"
ResponseEntity<MyObject[]> arrayResponseEntity = restTemplate.exchange(url, HttpMethod.GET, requestEntity, MyObject[].class);

error log:

Caused by: org.springframework.http.converter.HttpMessageNotReadableException: Could not read JSON: Invalid UTF-8 middle byte 0x20
at [Source: org.apache.http.conn.EofSensorInputStream@44d397b0; line: 92, column: 42]; nested exception is org.codehaus.jackson.JsonParseException: Invalid UTF-8 middle byte 0x20
at [Source: org.apache.http.conn.EofSensorInputStream@44d397b0; line: 92, column: 42]
at org.springframework.http.converter.json.MappingJacksonHttpMessageConverter.readInternal(MappingJacksonHttpMessageConverter.java:138)
at org.springframework.http.converter.AbstractHttpMessageConverter.read(AbstractHttpMessageConverter.java:154)
at org.springframework.web.client.HttpMessageConverterExtractor.extractData(HttpMessageConverterExtractor.java:74)
at org.springframework.web.client.RestTemplate$ResponseEntityResponseExtractor.extractData(RestTemplate.java:622)
at org.springframework.web.client.RestTemplate$ResponseEntityResponseExtractor.extractData(RestTemplate.java:608)
at org.springframework.web.client.RestTemplate.doExecute(RestTemplate.java:449)
at org.springframework.web.client.RestTemplate.execute(RestTemplate.java:404)
at org.springframework.web.client.RestTemplate.exchange(RestTemplate.java:380)
... 4 more
Caused by: org.codehaus.jackson.JsonParseException: Invalid UTF-8 middle byte 0x20
at [Source: org.apache.http.conn.EofSensorInputStream@44d397b0; line: 92, column: 42]
at org.codehaus.jackson.JsonParser._constructError(JsonParser.java:1213)
at org.codehaus.jackson.impl.JsonParserMinimalBase._reportError(JsonParserMinimalBase.java:375)
at org.codehaus.jackson.impl.Utf8StreamParser._reportInvalidOther(Utf8StreamParser.java:2132)
at org.codehaus.jackson.impl.Utf8StreamParser._reportInvalidOther(Utf8StreamParser.java:2139)
at org.codehaus.jackson.impl.Utf8StreamParser._decodeUtf8_3fast(Utf8StreamParser.java:1962)

I got this exception when in the Java Client Application I was serializing a JSON like this

String json = mapper.writeValueAsString(contentBean);

and on the Server Side I was using Spring Boot as REST Endpoint. Exception was:

nested exception is com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException: Invalid UTF-8 start byte 0xaa

My problem was, that I was not setting the correct encoding on the HTTP Client. This solved my problem:

updateRequest.setHeader("Content-Type", "application/json;charset=UTF-8");
StringEntity entity= new StringEntity(json, "UTF-8");
updateRequest.setEntity(entity);

Android set content type HttpPost

This awnser solved my problem. Below is a copy of it:

Make sure to start you JVM with -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8. You JVM defaults to the operating system charset

This is a JVM argument which could be added, for example, either to JBoss standalone or JBoss running from Eclipse.

In my case, this problem happened isolatelly on only one of my team people's computer. All the others was working without this problem.

On the off chance it may help others I'll share a related anecdote.

I encountered this exact error (Invalid UTF-8 middle byte 0x3f) running a PowerShell script via the PowerShell Integrated Script Environment (ISE). The identical script, executed outside the ISE, works fine. The code uses the Confluence v3 and v5.x REST APIs and this error is logged on the Confluence v5.x server - presumably because the ISE somehow mucks with the request.

I had this problem inconsistently between different platforms, as I got JSON as String from Mapper and did the writing myself. Sometimes it went into file as ansi and other times correctly as UTF8. I switched to

mapper.writeValue(file, data);

letting Mapper do the file operations, and it started working fine.

I got this after saving the JSON file using Notepad2, so I had to open it with Notepad++ and then say "Convert to UTF-8". Then it worked.

client text protocol

POST http://127.0.0.1/bom/create HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
User-Agent: PostmanRuntime/7.25.0
Accept: */*
Postman-Token: 50ecfbfe-741f-4a2b-a3d3-cdf162ada27f
Host: 127.0.0.1
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate, br
Connection: keep-alive
Content-Length: 405

{
  "fwoid": 1,
  "list": [
    {
      "bomIndex": "10001",
      "desc": "?GH 1.25 13pin ???? ??",
      "pn": "084.0001.0036",
      "preUse": 1,
      "type": "?? ???-??PCB??"
    },
     {
      "bomIndex": "10002",
      "desc": "????-?????",
      "pn": "Z.08.013.0051",
      "preUse": 1,
      "type": "E060A0302301"
    }
  ]
}
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Connection: keep-alive
Vary: Origin
Vary: Access-Control-Request-Method
Vary: Access-Control-Request-Headers
Content-Type: application/json
Date: Mon, 01 Jun 2020 11:23:42 GMT
Content-Length: 40

{"code":"0","message":"BOM????"}

a springboot Controller code as below:

@PostMapping("/bom/create")
@ApiOperation(value = "??BOM")
@BusinessOperation(module = "BOM",methods = "??BOM")
public JsonResult save(@RequestBody BOMSaveQuery query)
{
    return bomService.saveBomList(query);
}

when i debug on loopback interface,it works ok. while deploy on internet server via bat command, i got an error

ServletInvocableHandlerMethod - Could not resolve parameter [0] in public XXXController.save(com.h2.mes.query.BOMSaveQuery): JSON parse error: Invalid UTF-8 middle byte 0x3f; nested exception is com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException: Invalid UTF-8 middle byte 0x3f
 at [Source: (PushbackInputStream); line: 9, column: 32] (through reference chain: com.h2.mes.query.BOMSaveQuery["list"]->java.util.ArrayList[0]->com.h2.mes.vo.BOMVO["type"])
2020-06-01 15:37:50.251 MES [XNIO-1 task-13] WARN  o.s.w.s.m.s.DefaultHandlerExceptionResolver - Resolved [org.springframework.http.converter.HttpMessageNotReadableException: JSON parse error: Invalid UTF-8 middle byte 0x3f; nested exception is com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException: Invalid UTF-8 middle byte 0x3f
 at [Source: (PushbackInputStream); line: 9, column: 32] (through reference chain: com.h2.mes.query.BOMSaveQuery["list"]->java.util.ArrayList[0]->com.h2.mes.vo.BOMVO["type"])]
2020-06-01 15:37:50.251 MES [XNIO-1 task-13] DEBUG o.s.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet - Completed 400 BAD_REQUEST
2020-06-01 15:37:50.251 MES [XNIO-1 task-13] DEBUG o.s.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet - "ERROR" dispatch for POST "/error", parameters={}

add a jvm arguement works for me. java -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8