Difference Between UTF-8 and UTF-16 Encoding

UTF-8 and UTF-16 are encoding characters and both are used in making different programmes. However, there is a considerable difference between the two coding characters. UTF-8 are the encoding characters which uses only a byte at the minimum whereas UTF-16 uses two bytes at the minimum for the coding.

Furthermore, the files which are encoded with UTF-8 are quite smaller as compared to ones which are encoded with UTF-16. In addition, UTF-8 is very well compatible with ASCII. On the other hand, UTF-16 is not compatible with ASCII. Moreover, UTF-8 is byte oriented but UTF-16 is not byte oriented. Besides, UTF-8 recovers from errors well than UTF-16.

Instructions

  • 1

    UTF-8

    It is a variable-width encoding which represents each and every character in the Unicode set of characters. You must know that it was developed for the backward compatibility with ASCII. In addition, it was designed to avoid any kind of problems of the endianness and byte order marks.

    It has been widely used for the encoding of the characters in World-Wide Web. Besides, it is also one of the most common programming languages and is used in the development of operating systems, software applications and APIs.

    You can simply learn about the coding procedure of UTF-8 from the internet. Additionally, there are many institutions which offer various programmes in the field of computer sciences related to UTF-8.  You can join any programme which suits you to get the basic and advanced level education regarding the encoding characters.

    Image courtesy: gettyimages.co.uk

  • 2

    UTF-16

    It is also a character encoding for the Unicode and is capable of encoding code points. It is a variable length encoding and takes 16-bit code units. There have been some considerable developments in the encoding characters of UTF-16 over the past few years. The latest version is much more helpful for encoding different programmes as compared to older versions.

    It has been used in developing some of the major operating systems which mainly include Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista and CE. Besides, it is also used to create different kinds of software applications and programmes which you can use according to your requirements. However, the encoding files are quite heavy and you need some huge space in your hard disk to save them. The programme designed with this encoding may take a bit longer to work because of the file size.

    Image courtesy: gettyimages.co.uk

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