How to fix fatal: CRLF would be replaced by LF in file.txt in Git

What this error means

This error occurs when Git detects that adding or committing a file would cause line ending changes that cannot be undone. Specifically, the file contains CRLF (Carriage Return + Line Feed, used by Windows) line endings, but Git is configured to convert them to LF (Line Feed only, used by Unix/Linux/macOS). The "fatal" designation indicates that Git's `core.safecrlf` setting is enabled and set to `true`, which causes Git to abort operations that would result in irreversible line ending conversions. This is a safety mechanism designed to prevent accidental corruption of binary files or files that genuinely need Windows-style line endings. Line endings differ between operating systems: - **Windows**: Uses CRLF (\r\n) - two characters - **Unix/Linux/macOS**: Uses LF (\n) - one character - **Legacy macOS (pre-OS X)**: Used CR (\r) - one character When Git is set to normalize line endings (via `core.autocrlf`), it can convert between these formats. However, if a file has mixed line endings or is a binary file incorrectly detected as text, this conversion can cause problems. The safecrlf option exists to catch these cases before they cause issues.

Typical symptoms

• 'git add' fails with 'fatal: CRLF would be replaced by LF'
• 'git commit' aborts with line ending conversion error
• Files with Windows line endings cannot be staged
• Error occurs on Windows when cloning Unix/Linux projects
• Error appears after changing core.autocrlf setting
• Working with cross-platform teams triggers the error
• CI/CD pipelines fail due to line ending issues
• Pull request checks fail with CRLF/LF conversion errors

Common causes

1. core.safecrlf is set to 'true' and would trigger irreversible conversion
2. File has CRLF endings and core.autocrlf is set to 'input' (convert to LF only)
3. Binary file is being incorrectly treated as text file
4. Mixed line endings within the same file
5. Windows user adding files to a Unix-normalized repository
6. .gitattributes file specifies LF endings but file has CRLF
7. Editor or IDE saved file with wrong line endings for the platform
8. File was edited on both Windows and Unix systems without normalization

How to fix "fatal: CRLF would be replaced by LF in file.txt"

# Check core.autocrlf setting
git config --get core.autocrlf

# Check core.safecrlf setting
git config --get core.safecrlf

# Check all line-ending related settings
git config --list | grep -E "(crlf|eol)"

# Disable safecrlf for current repository
git config core.safecrlf false

# Or set to warn instead of abort
git config core.safecrlf warn

# Now try adding the file again
git add file.txt

git config --global core.safecrlf false

git -c core.safecrlf=false add file.txt

git config core.safecrlf true

# Convert CRLF to LF using sed
sed -i 's/\r$//' file.txt

# Or using dos2unix (install if needed)
dos2unix file.txt

# Convert multiple files
find . -name "*.txt" -exec dos2unix {} \;

# dos2unix is available in Git Bash
dos2unix file.txt

# Or use Perl
perl -pi -e 's/\r\n/\n/g' file.txt

# Read content and write with Unix line endings
(Get-Content file.txt -Raw) -replace "\r\n", "\n" | Set-Content file.txt -NoNewline

# Create or edit .gitattributes in your repository root

# Set default behavior to automatically normalize line endings
* text=auto

# Explicitly declare text files to normalize
*.txt text
*.md text
*.js text
*.ts text
*.json text
*.css text
*.html text
*.xml text
*.yml text
*.yaml text

# Declare files that should always have LF endings, even on Windows
*.sh text eol=lf
*.bash text eol=lf
Makefile text eol=lf

# Declare files that should always have CRLF endings, even on Unix
*.bat text eol=crlf
*.cmd text eol=crlf
*.ps1 text eol=crlf

# Denote binary files that should not be modified
*.png binary
*.jpg binary
*.gif binary
*.ico binary
*.pdf binary
*.zip binary
*.exe binary
*.dll binary

git add .gitattributes
git commit -m "Add .gitattributes for line ending normalization"

# First, commit or stash any uncommitted changes
git stash

# Remove everything from the index
git rm --cached -r .

# Re-add all files (they will be normalized according to .gitattributes)
git reset --hard

# Alternatively, refresh the index
git add --renormalize .

# Check what changed
git status
git diff

# Commit the normalized files
git commit -m "Normalize line endings"

git add --renormalize .
git status
git commit -m "Normalize all line endings"

# Mark specific files as binary
path/to/file.dat binary
*.dat binary
*.bin binary

# Or mark them as not having text conversion
path/to/file.dat -text

# Check how Git sees the file
git check-attr -a filename

# Example output for text file:
# filename: text: auto
# filename: diff: set

# Example output for binary file:
# filename: binary: set
# filename: diff: unset

# Convert LF to CRLF on checkout, CRLF to LF on commit
git config --global core.autocrlf true

# Only convert CRLF to LF on commit (in case of Windows files)
git config --global core.autocrlf input

# No automatic conversion - rely entirely on .gitattributes
git config --global core.autocrlf false

# Apply to all team members
git config --global core.autocrlf false

Advanced notes

Original:  line1\r\n line2\n line3\r\n (mixed endings)
Commit:    line1\n line2\n line3\n (normalized to LF)
Checkout:  line1\r\n line2\r\n line3\r\n (all become CRLF)

# In .gitattributes - disable normalization for specific files
file-with-mixed-endings.txt -text

# Always use LF (Unix style)
*.sh text eol=lf

# Always use CRLF (Windows style)
*.bat text eol=crlf

# See actual line endings in a file
cat -A file.txt | head
# LF shows as $, CRLF shows as ^M$

# Or with hexdump
hexdump -C file.txt | head
# 0a = LF, 0d 0a = CRLF

# Check what Git would store
git ls-files -s file.txt
git hash-object file.txt

# Compare with what's in the index
git diff --cached file.txt

# In GitHub Actions or similar
- name: Configure Git
  run: git config --global core.autocrlf false

- name: Fix line endings for scripts
  run: |
    git ls-files -z '*.sh' | xargs -0 dos2unix

# In .gitattributes
*.psd filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text

{
  "files.eol": "\n"
}

[*]
end_of_line = lf

[*.{bat,cmd}]
end_of_line = crlf

Frequently asked questions

What does "fatal: CRLF would be replaced by LF in file.txt" mean?

This error occurs when Git detects that adding or committing a file would cause line ending changes that cannot be undone. Specifically, the file contains CRLF (Carriage Return + Line Feed, used by Windows) line endings, but Git is configured to convert them to LF (Line Feed only, used by Unix/Linux/macOS). safecrlf setting is enabled and set to true, which causes Git to abort operations that would result in irreversible line ending conversions.

How do I fix "fatal: CRLF would be replaced by LF in file.txt"?

This Git error occurs when Git's core.autocrlf or core.safecrlf settings prevent automatic line ending conversion. The safecrlf setting blocks changes that would irreversibly convert CRLF (Windows) line endings to LF (Unix), protecting your files from unintended modifications.

What causes "fatal: CRLF would be replaced by LF in file.txt"?

core.safecrlf is set to 'true' and would trigger irreversible conversion File has CRLF endings and core.autocrlf is set to 'input' (convert to LF only) Binary file is being incorrectly treated as text file

Is the "fatal: CRLF would be replaced by LF in file.txt" error serious?

It is a low-severity error — more of a blocker than a risk. The steps above resolve it.

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Official resources & further reading

• 📚Git Official Documentation
• 📖
  Git Book - core.autocrlf Configuration(Official Docs)
• 📖
  Git Docs - core.autocrlf(Official Docs)
• 📖
  Git Docs - gitattributes(Official Docs)
• 📖
  GitHub Docs - Configuring Git to handle line endings(Official Docs)
• 💬
  Stack Overflow - Git replacing LF with CRLF(Stack Overflow)
• 💬
  Stack Overflow - Git status shows files as changed (line endings)(Stack Overflow)