ANSIcompatible

ANSIcompatible is an adjective used to describe hardware, software, or data that conforms to standards established by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) or that interoperates with products following those standards. ANSI is a private, nonprofit organization that coordinates the development and approval of American national standards and represents the United States in international standardization activities with ISO and IEC.

In information technology, ANSI compatibility is commonly asserted for standards such as programming language specifications (for example, ANSI C) and character encodings (such as ASCII, defined under ANSI standards). It is also used for terminal and display technologies that implement ANSI-defined control sequences, known as ANSI escape codes, which control cursor movement, color, and text formatting in compatible terminal emulators and printers.

The term is a broad descriptor and its exact meaning depends on the referenced standard and version. ANSI standards are periodically updated, and devices or software may claim ANSI compatibility for only a subset of features or for a specific version. Therefore, the claim should specify the standard and version to ensure precise interoperability expectations.