Multibytekodninger

Multibytekodninger, often referred to as multibyte character encodings, are systems used to represent characters in computing where a single character may be represented by more than one byte. This stands in contrast to single-byte encodings, where each character is assigned a unique byte value. Multibytekodninger are crucial for supporting a wide range of characters, especially those found in non-Latin scripts such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, which require a much larger character set than what can be accommodated by a single byte.

The concept of multibyte encodings emerged as computing expanded globally. Early encodings like ASCII were limited to 128 characters, sufficient for English but inadequate for other languages. To address this, various multibyte encodings were developed. A common example is the use of different byte sequences to represent different characters. For instance, in some encodings, a specific byte might indicate the start of a multibyte sequence, followed by one or more subsequent bytes that together form the complete representation of a character.

One of the most prevalent multibyte encoding systems today is Unicode, particularly in its UTF-8 implementation. UTF-8 is a variable-width encoding, meaning it uses one byte for standard ASCII characters and then uses two, three, or even four bytes for other characters. This design allows for backward compatibility with ASCII while efficiently encoding the vast number of characters in Unicode, making it a de facto standard for web content and many modern operating systems. Understanding multibytekodninger is essential for developers and users dealing with internationalized text and ensuring proper display and processing of diverse character sets.