decode utf16

utf16toascii.py

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import sys
import codecs

encoded_text = open(sys.argv[-1], 'rb').read()
bom= codecs.BOM_UTF16_LE              
assert encoded_text.startswith(bom)
encoded_text= encoded_text[len(bom):]

decoded_text= encoded_text.decode('utf-16le')
sys.stdout.write(decoded_text)