diff --git a/src/kits/textencoding/utf8_conversions.cpp b/src/kits/textencoding/utf8_conversions.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e322828695
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/kits/textencoding/utf8_conversions.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+#include <UTF8.h>
+#include <iconv.h>
+#include <CharacterSet.h>
+#include <CharacterSetRoster.h>
+#include <Errors.h>
+#include <errno.h>
+
+using namespace BPrivate;
+
+typedef char ** input_buffer_t;
+
+status_t
+convert_encoding(const char * from, const char * to,
+                 const char * src, int32 * srcLen,
+                 char * dst, int32 * dstLen,
+                 int32 * state)
+{
+	if (*srcLen == 0) {
+		// nothing to do!
+		return B_OK;
+	}
+	iconv_t conversion = iconv_open(to,from);
+	if (conversion == (iconv_t)-1) {
+		return B_ERROR;
+	}
+	if (state == 0) {
+		return B_ERROR;
+	}	
+	if (*state == 0) {
+		iconv(conversion,0,0,0,0);
+	}	
+	input_buffer_t inputBuffer = const_cast<input_buffer_t>(&src);
+	size_t inputLeft = *srcLen;
+	size_t outputLeft = *dstLen;
+	size_t nonReversibleConversions = iconv(conversion,inputBuffer,&inputLeft,&dst,&outputLeft);
+	*srcLen -= inputLeft;
+	*dstLen -= outputLeft;
+	iconv_close(conversion);
+	if (nonReversibleConversions == -1) {
+		switch (errno) {
+		case EILSEQ: // invalid multibyte sequence in the source
+			return B_ERROR;
+		case EINVAL: // incomplete multibyte sequence in the input
+			return B_OK;
+		case E2BIG: // not enough room in the output buffer for the next converted character
+			return B_OK;
+		default:
+			// unknown error
+			int err = errno;
+		}
+	}
+	if (*srcLen != 0) {
+		// able to convert at least one character
+		return B_OK;
+	} else {
+		// not able to convert at least one character
+		return B_ERROR;
+	}
+}
+
+status_t
+convert_to_utf8(uint32 srcEncoding,
+                const char * src, int32 * srcLen, 
+                char * dst, int32 * dstLen,
+                int32 * state, char substitute = B_SUBSTITUTE)
+{
+	const BCharacterSet * charset = BCharacterSetRoster::GetCharacterSetByConversionID(srcEncoding);
+	if (charset == 0) {
+		return B_ERROR;
+	}
+	return convert_encoding(charset->GetName(),"UTF-8",src,srcLen,dst,dstLen,state);
+}
+
+status_t
+convert_from_utf8(uint32 dstEncoding,
+                  const char * src, int32 * srcLen, 
+                  char * dst, int32 * dstLen,
+                  int32 * state, char substitute = B_SUBSTITUTE)
+{
+	const BCharacterSet * charset = BCharacterSetRoster::GetCharacterSetByConversionID(dstEncoding);
+	if (charset == 0) {
+		return B_ERROR;
+	}	
+	return convert_encoding("UTF-8",charset->GetName(),src,srcLen,dst,dstLen,state);
+}