How to pipe the output of a command to a file without powershell changing the encoding?

Question

I want to pipe the output of a command to a file:

PS C:\\Temp> create-png > binary.png

I noticed that Powershell changes the encoding

Answer 1

Try using set-content:

create-png | set-content -path myfile.png -encoding byte

If you need additional info on set-content just run

get-help set-content

You can also use 'sc' as a shortcut for set-content.

Tested with the following, produces a readable PNG:

function create-png()
{
    [System.Drawing.Bitmap] $bitmap = new-object 'System.Drawing.Bitmap'([Int32]32,[Int32]32);
    $graphics = [System.Drawing.Graphics]::FromImage($bitmap);
    $graphics.DrawString("TEST",[System.Drawing.SystemFonts]::DefaultFont,[System.Drawing.SystemBrushes]::ActiveCaption,0,0);
    $converter = new-object 'System.Drawing.ImageConverter';
    return([byte[]]($converter.ConvertTo($bitmap, [byte[]])));
}

create-png | set-content -Path 'fromsc.png' -Encoding Byte

If you are calling out to a non-PowerShell executable like ipconfig and you just want to capture the bytes from Standard Output, try Start-Process:

Start-Process -NoNewWindow -FilePath 'ipconfig' -RedirectStandardOutput 'output.dat'