ASCII vs. Unicode

Key Differences

ASCII and Unicode are both character encoding standards, but they have key differences in terms of scope and functionality. Let’s compare ASCII and Unicode in a tabular format:

Feature	ASCII	Unicode
Definition	ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) is a character encoding standard that uses 7 or 8 bits to represent characters, mainly limited to the English alphabet, numerals, and a few special characters.	Unicode is a character encoding standard that aims to provide a unique code point for every character, regardless of platform, program, or language. It uses a variable number of bits (8, 16, or 32) to represent characters.
Scope	Originally designed for English and a few other Western languages.	Designed to be a universal character encoding standard that supports a vast range of languages, symbols, and characters from various writing systems.
Bit Usage	Typically uses 7 bits (extended ASCII uses 8 bits).	Can use 8, 16, or 32 bits per character, allowing it to represent a much larger number of characters.
Number of Characters	Limited to 128 (with 7 bits) or 256 (with 8 bits).	Can represent over a million unique characters.
Multilingual Support	Primarily supports English and a few Western languages.	Comprehensive support for almost all languages, including scripts like Cyrillic, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and many others.
Backward Compatibility	Limited, as it was primarily designed for English and does not have built-in support for characters from various languages.	Maintains backward compatibility with ASCII. The first 128 Unicode code points correspond to ASCII, ensuring compatibility with existing ASCII data.
Representation	Uses one byte (8 bits) per character.	Variable-length encoding, using 8, 16, or 32 bits per character.
Standard Organization	Developed by ANSI (American National Standards Institute).	Developed by the Unicode Consortium, a non-profit organization that maintains and develops the Unicode standard.

ASCII and Unicode differ in scope, with ASCII representing 128 characters and Unicode accommodating a vast array of characters from various scripts.

When to Use ASCII vs. Unicode

While ASCII is suitable for English and basic character encoding, Unicode is preferred for multilingual and diverse character requirements.

What is ASCII – A Complete Guide to Generating ASCII Code

The American Standard Code for Information Interchange, or ASCII, is a character encoding standard that has been a foundational element in computing for decades. It plays a crucial role in representing text and control characters in digital form.

Historical Background

ASCII has a rich history, dating back to its development in the early 1960s. Originating from telegraph code and Morse code, ASCII emerged as a standardized way to represent characters in computers, facilitating data interchange.

Importance in Computing

ASCII’s significance in computing lies in its universality. It provides a standardized method for encoding characters, allowing seamless communication and data exchange across diverse computing systems.

Table of Content

ASCII Encoding Standards
ASCII Representation
ASCII in Computing
ASCII Extended Sets
ASCII vs. Unicode
Practical Examples of ASCII
Limitations of ASCII
Handling Non-ASCII Characters