Unicode Transformation Format

Unicode Transformation Format sometimes known as UTF, is a standardized technique for encoding written characters into digital form. This format specifies how Unicode characters will be converted into a sequence of bytes. The most common UTF forms are UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-32

A Unicode Transformation Format or UTF is a standardized method to encode text characters in digital form. It is a method in which computers understand and store text characters, like letters, numbers, and symbols. UTFs help computers to represent a wide range of characters from various languages and writing systems. Each character is assigned a unique code point, which is a numerical value.

• UTF-7: UTF-7 uses 7 bits to encode each character. It was created to handle ASCII characters in email messages that needed Unicode encoding.
• UTF-8: UTF-8 is the most used type of Unicode encoding. It uses varying numbers of bytes to represent different characters. For standard English letters and symbols, it uses one byte. Additional characters like Latin, Middle Eastern, and some Asian characters may require two or three bytes. More complex characters can be represented using four bytes. UTF-8 is compatible with ASCII, as the first 128 characters have the same values.
• UTF-16: UTF-16 is an extension of “UCS-2” encoding, it uses two bytes to represent 65,536 characters. It also supports four bytes to accommodate additional characters up to one million.
• UTF-32: UTF-32 uses 4 bytes for each character. It is less common but allows for direct representation of all Unicode characters.

• Open your computer and log into your Operating System.
• Opening unicode window.
  • On a Windows machine press the Windows Key (?) + period key (Dot key).
  • On Mac OS press Control + command + space
• This will open a small window with Unicode characters.
• Search for the character you want and click on it. The character will appear on the screen.

• Text Processing: It helps multilingual text be handled correctly in text processing programs including word processors, text editors, and document management systems.
• Web Development: It is important for web development to support multilingual content on websites. It allows the display of text in various languages and scripts.
• Database Management: It is used in database systems to store and retrieve text data in different languages.
• Communication Protocols: It is used in communication protocols, email systems, and messaging platforms to allow the exchange of text messages that contains characters from different languages and writing systems.

In Conclusion, the Unicode Standard assigns a unique number to each character, irrespective of platform, device, application, or language. All modern software companies have implemented it, allowing data to be transmitted over many different platforms, devices, and apps without any data loss.

What is ISCII?

ISCII is a method of encoding that can be used to encode a wide range of Indian languages, both written and spoken.

Are ASCII and Unicode the same?

No, ASCII and Unicode are not same. In fact, ASCII is a subset of Unicode.

Does Unicode support emojis?

Yes, Unicode supports emojis. Each emoji have a unique code like every other unicode character.

How Many Encoding Units are There in Unicode?

Among the encoding units of Unicode are UTF-8, UTF-16, and UTF-32. Each character’s number of bytes is determined by these units. For every character, UTF-8 may use one to four bytes, UTF-16 two or four bytes, and UTF-32 four bytes.