HTML Character Encoding: UTF-8 and Other Character Sets Explained

Learn about HTML character encoding and why UTF-8 is the recommended standard. This tutorial covers common character sets like ASCII, ANSI, ISO-8859-1, and UTF-8, explaining their differences and benefits for web development.

HTML Character Encoding: Understanding Character Sets

For web browsers to correctly display an HTML page, they need to know which character set (also known as character encoding) to use. This determines how the numbers in the HTML code are translated into the characters and symbols you see on the screen.

The `charset` Attribute

The character set is specified using the `charset` attribute within the `<meta>` tag inside the `<head>` section of your HTML document.

Example: Specifying UTF-8


<meta charset="UTF-8">

The HTML5 standard strongly recommends using UTF-8, as it supports a vast range of characters from virtually every language.

Common Character Sets

Here's a look at some common character sets:

ASCII

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) was an early standard. It defined 128 characters, including basic English letters, numbers, and punctuation. It's limited in its character support.

ANSI (Windows-1252)

ANSI, also known as Windows-1252, extended ASCII by adding more characters to support Western European languages. It's largely compatible with ASCII for the first 127 characters.

ISO-8859-1

ISO-8859-1, the default for HTML 4, supports 256 characters, primarily focusing on Western European languages. While it supported more characters than ASCII, it's now largely superseded by UTF-8.

UTF-8

UTF-8 is the most widely used character set today. It's backward compatible with ASCII (the first 127 characters are identical) but also supports tens of thousands of characters from various languages and scripts. It's highly recommended for web development.

HTML Character Sets

The default character set in HTML5 is UTF-8. This table provides a complete reference to ASCII, ANSI, ISO 8859-1, and UTF-8 character codes.

Number	ASCII	ANSI	ISO 8859-1	UTF-8	Description
32					space
33	!	!	!	!	exclamation mark
34	"	"	"	"	quotation mark
35	#	#	#	#	number sign
36	$	$	$	$	dollar sign
37	%	%	%	%	percent sign
38	&	&	&	&	ampersand
39	'	'	'	'	apostrophe
40	(	(	(	(	left parenthesis
41	)	)	)	)	right parenthesis
42	*	*	*	*	asterisk
43	+	+	+	+	plus sign
44	,	,	,	,	comma
45	-	-	-	-	hyphen-minus
46	.	.	.	.	full stop
47	/	/	/	/	solidus
48	0	0	0	0	digit zero
49	1	1	1	1	digit one
50	2	2	2	2	digit two
51	3	3	3	3	digit three
52	4	4	4	4	digit four
53	5	5	5	5	digit five
54	6	6	6	6	digit six
55	7	7	7	7	digit seven
56	8	8	8	8	digit eight
57	9	9	9	9	digit nine
58	:	:	:	:	colon
59	;	;	;	;	semicolon
60	<	<	<	<	less-than sign
61	=	=	=	=	equals sign
62	>	>	>	>	greater-than sign
63	?	?	?	?	question mark
64	@	@	@	@	commercial at
65	A	A	A	A	Latin capital letter A
66	B	B	B	B	Latin capital letter B
67	C	C	C	C	Latin capital letter C
68	D	D	D	D	Latin capital letter D
69	E	E	E	E	Latin capital letter E
70	F	F	F	F	Latin capital letter F
71	G	G	G	G	Latin capital letter G
72	H	H	H	H	Latin capital letter H
73	I	I	I	I	Latin capital letter I
74	J	J	J	J	Latin capital letter J
75	K	K	K	K	Latin capital letter K
76	L	L	L	L	Latin capital letter L
77	M	M	M	M	Latin capital letter M
78	N	N	N	N	Latin capital letter N
79	O	O	O	O	Latin capital letter O
80	P	P	P	P	Latin capital letter P
81	Q	Q	Q	Q	Latin capital letter Q
82	R	R	R	R	Latin capital letter R
83	S	S	S	S	Latin capital letter S
84	T	T	T	T	Latin capital letter T
85	U	U	U	U	Latin capital letter U
86	V	V	V	V	Latin capital letter V
87	W	W	W	W	Latin capital letter W
88	X	X	X	X	Latin capital letter X
89	Y	Y	Y	Y	Latin capital letter Y
90	Z	Z	Z	Z	Latin capital letter Z
91	[	[	[	[	left square bracket
92	\	\	\	\	backslash
93	]	]	]	]	right square bracket
94	^	^	^	^	circumflex accent
95	_	_	_	_	underscore
96	`	`	`	`	grave accent
97	a	a	a	a	Latin small letter a
98	b	b	b	b	Latin small letter b
99	c	c	c	c	Latin small letter c
100	d	d	d	d	Latin small letter d
101	e	e	e	e	Latin small letter e
102	f	f	f	f	Latin small letter f
103	g	g	g	g	Latin small letter g
104	h	h	h	h	Latin small letter h
105	i	i	i	i	Latin small letter i
106	j	j	j	j	Latin small letter j
107	k	k	k	k	Latin small letter k
108	l	l	l	l	Latin small letter l
109	m	m	m	m	Latin small letter m
110	n	n	n	n	Latin small letter n
111	o	o	o	o	Latin small letter o
112	p	p	p	p	Latin small letter p
113	q	q	q	q	Latin small letter q
114	r	r	r	r	Latin small letter r
115	s	s	s	s	Latin small letter s
116	t	t	t	t	Latin small letter t
117	u	u	u	u	Latin small letter u
118	v	v	v	v	Latin small letter v
119	w	w	w	w	Latin small letter w
120	x	x	x	x	Latin small letter x
121	y	y	y	y	Latin small letter y
122	z	z	z	z	Latin small letter z
123	{	{	{	{	left curly bracket
124	\|	\|	\|	\|	vertical bar
125	}	}	}	}	right curly bracket
126	~	~	~	~	tilde
127	DEL	DEL	DEL	DEL	delete
128	€	€	€	€	Euro sign
129					Undefined
130	‚	‚	‚	‚	Single low-9 quotation mark
131	ƒ	ƒ	ƒ	ƒ	Latin small letter f with hook
132	„	„	„	„	Double low-9 quotation mark
133	…	…	…	…	Horizontal ellipsis
134	†	†	†	†	Dagger
135	‡	‡	‡	‡	Double dagger
136	ˆ	ˆ	ˆ	ˆ	Modifier letter circumflex accent
137	‰	‰	‰	‰	Per mille sign
138	Š	Š	Š	Š	Latin capital letter S with caron
139	‹	‹	‹	‹	Single left-pointing angle quotation mark
140	Œ	Œ	Œ	Œ	Latin capital ligature OE
141					Undefined
142	Ž	Ž	Ž	Ž	Latin capital letter Z with caron
143					Undefined
144					Undefined
145	‘	‘	‘	‘	Left single quotation mark
146	’	’	’	’	Right single quotation mark
147	“	“	“	“	Left double quotation mark
148	”	”	”	”	Right double quotation mark
149	•	•	•	•	Bullet
150	–	–	–	–	En dash
151	—	—	—	—	Em dash
152	˜	˜	˜	˜	Small tilde
153	™	™	™	™	Trade mark sign
154	š	š	š	š	Latin small letter s with caron
155	›	›	›	›	Single right-pointing angle quotation mark
156	œ	œ	œ	œ	Latin small ligature oe
157					Undefined
158	ž	ž	ž	ž	Latin small letter z with caron
159	Ÿ	Ÿ	Ÿ	Ÿ	Latin capital letter Y with diaeresis
160					No-break space
161	¡	¡	¡	¡	Inverted exclamation mark
162	¢	¢	¢	¢	Cent sign
163	£	£	£	£	Pound sign
164	¤	¤	¤	¤	Currency sign
165	¥	¥	¥	¥	Yen sign
166	¦	¦	¦	¦	Broken bar
167	§	§	§	§	Section sign
168	¨	¨	¨	¨	Diaeresis
169	©	©	©	©	Copyright sign
170	ª	ª	ª	ª	Feminine ordinal indicator
171	«	«	«	«	Left-pointing double angle quotation mark
172	¬	¬	¬	¬	Not sign
173					Soft hyphen
174	®	®	®	®	Registered sign
175	¯	¯	¯	¯	Macron
176	°	°	°	°	Degree sign
177	±	±	±	±	Plus-minus sign
178	²	²	²	²	Superscript two
179	³	³	³	³	Superscript three
180	´	´	´	´	Acute accent
181	µ	µ	µ	µ	Micro sign
182	¶	¶	¶	¶	Pilcrow sign
183	·	·	·	·	Middle dot
184	¸	¸	¸	¸	Cedilla
185	¹	¹	¹	¹	Superscript one
186	º	º	º	º	Masculine ordinal indicator
187	»	»	»	»	Right-pointing double angle quotation mark
188	¼	¼	¼	¼	Vulgar fraction one-quarter
189	½	½	½	½	Vulgar fraction one-half
190	¾	¾	¾	¾	Vulgar fraction three-quarters
191	¿	¿	¿	¿	Inverted question mark
192	À	À	À	À	Latin capital letter A with grave
193	Á	Á	Á	Á	Latin capital letter A with acute
194	Â	Â	Â	Â	Latin capital letter A with circumflex
195	Ã	Ã	Ã	Ã	Latin capital letter A with tilde
196	Ä	Ä	Ä	Ä	Latin capital letter A with diaeresis
197	Å	Å	Å	Å	Latin capital letter A with ring above
198	Æ	Æ	Æ	Æ	Latin capital ligature AE
199	Ç	Ç	Ç	Ç	Latin capital letter C with cedilla
200	È	È	È	È	Latin capital letter E with grave
201	É	É	É	É	Latin capital letter E with acute
202	Ê	Ê	Ê	Ê	Latin capital letter E with circumflex
203	Ë	Ë	Ë	Ë	Latin capital letter E with diaeresis
204	Ì	Ì	Ì	Ì	Latin capital letter I with grave
205	Í	Í	Í	Í	Latin capital letter I with acute
206	Î	Î	Î	Î	Latin capital letter I with circumflex
207	Ï	Ï	Ï	Ï	Latin capital letter I with diaeresis
208	Ð	Ð	Ð	Ð	Latin capital letter Eth
209	Ñ	Ñ	Ñ	Ñ	Latin capital letter N with tilde
210	Ò	Ò	Ò	Ò	Latin capital letter O with grave
211	Ó	Ó	Ó	Ó	Latin capital letter O with acute
212	Ô	Ô	Ô	Ô	Latin capital letter O with circumflex
213	Õ	Õ	Õ	Õ	Latin capital letter O with tilde
214	Ö	Ö	Ö	Ö	Latin capital letter O with diaeresis
215	×	×	×	×	Multiplication sign
216	Ø	Ø	Ø	Ø	Latin capital letter O with stroke
217	Ù	Ù	Ù	Ù	Latin capital letter U with grave
218	Ú	Ú	Ú	Ú	Latin capital letter U with acute
219	Û	Û	Û	Û	Latin capital letter U with circumflex
220	Ü	Ü	Ü	Ü	Latin capital letter U with diaeresis
221	Ý	Ý	Ý	Ý	Latin capital letter Y with acute
222	Þ	Þ	Þ	Þ	Latin capital letter Thorn
223	ß	ß	ß	ß	Latin small letter sharp s
224	à	à	à	à	Latin small letter a with grave
225	á	á	á	á	Latin small letter a with acute
226	â	â	â	â	Latin small letter a with circumflex
227	ã	ã	ã	ã	Latin small letter a with tilde
228	ä	ä	ä	ä	Latin small letter a with diaeresis
229	å	å	å	å	Latin small letter a with ring above
230	æ	æ	æ	æ	Latin small ligature ae
231	ç	ç	ç	ç	Latin small letter c with cedilla
232	è	è	è	è	Latin small letter e with grave
233	é	é	é	é	Latin small letter e with acute
234	ê	ê	ê	ê	Latin small letter e with circumflex
235	ë	ë	ë	ë	Latin small letter e with diaeresis
236	ì	ì	ì	ì	Latin small letter i with grave
237	í	í	í	í	Latin small letter i with acute
238	î	î	î	î	Latin small letter i with circumflex
239	ï	ï	ï	ï	Latin small letter i with diaeresis
240	ð	ð	ð	ð	Latin small letter eth
241	ñ	ñ	ñ	ñ	Latin small letter n with tilde
242	ò	ò	ò	ò	Latin small letter o with grave
243	ó	ó	ó	ó	Latin small letter o with acute
244	ô	ô	ô	ô	Latin small letter o with circumflex
245	õ	õ	õ	õ	Latin small letter o with tilde
246	ö	ö	ö	ö	Latin small letter o with diaeresis
247	÷	÷	÷	÷	Division sign
248	ø	ø	ø	ø	Latin small letter o with stroke
249	ù	ù	ù	ù	Latin small letter u with grave
250	ú	ú	ú	ú	Latin small letter u with acute
251	û	û	û	û	Latin small letter u with circumflex
252	ü	ü	ü	ü	Latin small letter u with diaeresis
253	ý	ý	ý	ý	Latin small letter y with acute
254	þ	þ	þ	þ	Latin small letter thorn
255	ÿ	ÿ	ÿ	ÿ	Latin small letter y with diaeresis

Choosing the right character set ensures your web pages display correctly across different browsers and operating systems, making UTF-8 the ideal choice for virtually all web projects.