UTF-16

E453728

UTF-16 is a variable-length character encoding for Unicode that represents most common characters in one 16-bit code unit and others, including supplementary characters, in pairs of 16-bit code units.

All labels observed (3)

Label Occurrences
UTF-16 canonical 12
JavaScript (UTF-16 code units for strings) 1
UTF-16LE 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Unicode encoding form ⓘ
character encoding ⓘ
variable-length encoding ⓘ
backwardCompatibleWith UCS-2 for BMP range ⓘ
byteOrderMarkCodeUnit U+FEFF ⓘ
codeUnitType 16-bit code unit ⓘ
comparedTo UTF-32 ⓘ
UTF-8 ⓘ
definedInStandard ISO/IEC 10646 ⓘ
Unicode Standard ⓘ
designGoal efficient encoding for BMP characters ⓘ
support for full Unicode range ⓘ
differsFrom UCS-2 in handling of supplementary characters ⓘ
encodesBMPCharactersIn 1 code unit ⓘ
encodesSupplementaryCharactersIn 2 code units ⓘ
encodingOf Unicode code points ⓘ
endiannessDependent true ⓘ
hasVariant UTF-16 with BOM ⓘ
UTF-16BE ⓘ
UTF-16LE ⓘ
linked to: UTF-16
introducedToReplace UCS-2 ⓘ
isSelfSynchronizing false ⓘ
lessSpaceEfficientThan UTF-8 for ASCII-heavy text ⓘ
maximumBytesPerCharacter 4 bytes ⓘ
minimumBytesPerCharacter 2 bytes ⓘ
moreSpaceEfficientThan UTF-32 for BMP-heavy text ⓘ
notSuitableFor byte-oriented protocols without defined endianness ⓘ
relatedConcept Unicode code unit ⓘ
Unicode scalar value ⓘ
surrogate pair ⓘ
requiresGraphemeClusteringForUserCharacters true ⓘ
requiresSurrogateHandling true ⓘ
standardizedBy International Organization for Standardization ⓘ
Unicode Consortium ⓘ
supportsCodePointRange U+0000 to U+10FFFF ⓘ
surrogatePairSize 2 code units ⓘ
typicalUse internal string representation in programming languages ⓘ
operating system APIs ⓘ
text processing APIs ⓘ
usedBy .NET Framework ⓘ
Java (String internal representation in many versions) ⓘ
JavaScript (UTF-16 code units for strings) ⓘ
linked to: UTF-16

Microsoft Windows ⓘ
linked to: Windows
usesBasicMultilingualPlane true ⓘ
usesByteOrderMark optional ⓘ
usesCodeUnitSize 16 bits ⓘ
usesHighSurrogatesRange U+D800 to U+DBFF ⓘ
usesLowSurrogatesRange U+DC00 to U+DFFF ⓘ
usesSurrogatePairs true ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (14)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

UTF-16 → hasVariant → UTF-16LE ⓘ
linked to: UTF-16
UTF-16 → usedBy → JavaScript (UTF-16 code units for strings) ⓘ
linked to: UTF-16
UCS-2 → predecessorOf → UTF-16 ⓘ
UCS-2 → largelySupersededBy → UTF-16 ⓘ
Unicode 3.2 → supports → UTF-16 ⓘ