UTF-32 BE vs UTF-8

UTF-32 BE

Unicode

Fixed-width encoding using 4 bytes per character. Big-endian byte order. Rarely used in practice.

IANA Name: UTF-32BE
Byte Width: 4–4 bytes
BOM: 00 00 FE FF
Introduced: 2003

UTF-8

Unicode

The dominant encoding for the web. Variable-width (1–4 bytes). Fully backwards-compatible with ASCII. The default encoding for HTML5, JSON, and most modern protocols.

IANA Name: UTF-8
Byte Width: 1–4 bytes
BOM: EF BB BF
Introduced: 1993

Both UTF-32 BE and UTF-8 are Unicode encodings — they represent the same 138,571 characters. The difference is in how the bytes are arranged. The table below shows how the first 128 codepoints (the ASCII range) are encoded in each.

ASCII Range (U+0000–U+007F)

Char	Codepoint	UTF-32 BE	UTF-8	Same?
	U+0000	00 00 00 00	00	≠
	U+0001	00 00 00 01	01	≠
	U+0002	00 00 00 02	02	≠
	U+0003	00 00 00 03	03	≠
	U+0004	00 00 00 04	04	≠
	U+0005	00 00 00 05	05	≠
	U+0006	00 00 00 06	06	≠
	U+0007	00 00 00 07	07	≠
	U+0008	00 00 00 08	08	≠
	U+0009	00 00 00 09	09	≠
	U+000A	00 00 00 0A	0A	≠
	U+000B	00 00 00 0B	0B	≠
	U+000C	00 00 00 0C	0C	≠
	U+000D	00 00 00 0D	0D	≠
	U+000E	00 00 00 0E	0E	≠
	U+000F	00 00 00 0F	0F	≠
	U+0010	00 00 00 10	10	≠
	U+0011	00 00 00 11	11	≠
	U+0012	00 00 00 12	12	≠
	U+0013	00 00 00 13	13	≠
	U+0014	00 00 00 14	14	≠
	U+0015	00 00 00 15	15	≠
	U+0016	00 00 00 16	16	≠
	U+0017	00 00 00 17	17	≠
	U+0018	00 00 00 18	18	≠
	U+0019	00 00 00 19	19	≠
	U+001A	00 00 00 1A	1A	≠
	U+001B	00 00 00 1B	1B	≠
	U+001C	00 00 00 1C	1C	≠
	U+001D	00 00 00 1D	1D	≠
	U+001E	00 00 00 1E	1E	≠
	U+001F	00 00 00 1F	1F	≠
	U+0020	00 00 00 20	20	≠
!	U+0021	00 00 00 21	21	≠
"	U+0022	00 00 00 22	22	≠
#	U+0023	00 00 00 23	23	≠
$	U+0024	00 00 00 24	24	≠
%	U+0025	00 00 00 25	25	≠
&	U+0026	00 00 00 26	26	≠
'	U+0027	00 00 00 27	27	≠
(	U+0028	00 00 00 28	28	≠
)	U+0029	00 00 00 29	29	≠
*	U+002A	00 00 00 2A	2A	≠
+	U+002B	00 00 00 2B	2B	≠
,	U+002C	00 00 00 2C	2C	≠
-	U+002D	00 00 00 2D	2D	≠
.	U+002E	00 00 00 2E	2E	≠
/	U+002F	00 00 00 2F	2F	≠
0	U+0030	00 00 00 30	30	≠
1	U+0031	00 00 00 31	31	≠
2	U+0032	00 00 00 32	32	≠
3	U+0033	00 00 00 33	33	≠
4	U+0034	00 00 00 34	34	≠
5	U+0035	00 00 00 35	35	≠
6	U+0036	00 00 00 36	36	≠
7	U+0037	00 00 00 37	37	≠
8	U+0038	00 00 00 38	38	≠
9	U+0039	00 00 00 39	39	≠
:	U+003A	00 00 00 3A	3A	≠
;	U+003B	00 00 00 3B	3B	≠
<	U+003C	00 00 00 3C	3C	≠
=	U+003D	00 00 00 3D	3D	≠
>	U+003E	00 00 00 3E	3E	≠
?	U+003F	00 00 00 3F	3F	≠
@	U+0040	00 00 00 40	40	≠
A	U+0041	00 00 00 41	41	≠
B	U+0042	00 00 00 42	42	≠
C	U+0043	00 00 00 43	43	≠
D	U+0044	00 00 00 44	44	≠
E	U+0045	00 00 00 45	45	≠
F	U+0046	00 00 00 46	46	≠
G	U+0047	00 00 00 47	47	≠
H	U+0048	00 00 00 48	48	≠
I	U+0049	00 00 00 49	49	≠
J	U+004A	00 00 00 4A	4A	≠
K	U+004B	00 00 00 4B	4B	≠
L	U+004C	00 00 00 4C	4C	≠
M	U+004D	00 00 00 4D	4D	≠
N	U+004E	00 00 00 4E	4E	≠
O	U+004F	00 00 00 4F	4F	≠
P	U+0050	00 00 00 50	50	≠
Q	U+0051	00 00 00 51	51	≠
R	U+0052	00 00 00 52	52	≠
S	U+0053	00 00 00 53	53	≠
T	U+0054	00 00 00 54	54	≠
U	U+0055	00 00 00 55	55	≠
V	U+0056	00 00 00 56	56	≠
W	U+0057	00 00 00 57	57	≠
X	U+0058	00 00 00 58	58	≠
Y	U+0059	00 00 00 59	59	≠
Z	U+005A	00 00 00 5A	5A	≠
[	U+005B	00 00 00 5B	5B	≠
\	U+005C	00 00 00 5C	5C	≠
]	U+005D	00 00 00 5D	5D	≠
^	U+005E	00 00 00 5E	5E	≠
_	U+005F	00 00 00 5F	5F	≠
`	U+0060	00 00 00 60	60	≠
a	U+0061	00 00 00 61	61	≠
b	U+0062	00 00 00 62	62	≠
c	U+0063	00 00 00 63	63	≠
d	U+0064	00 00 00 64	64	≠
e	U+0065	00 00 00 65	65	≠
f	U+0066	00 00 00 66	66	≠
g	U+0067	00 00 00 67	67	≠
h	U+0068	00 00 00 68	68	≠
i	U+0069	00 00 00 69	69	≠
j	U+006A	00 00 00 6A	6A	≠
k	U+006B	00 00 00 6B	6B	≠
l	U+006C	00 00 00 6C	6C	≠
m	U+006D	00 00 00 6D	6D	≠
n	U+006E	00 00 00 6E	6E	≠
o	U+006F	00 00 00 6F	6F	≠
p	U+0070	00 00 00 70	70	≠
q	U+0071	00 00 00 71	71	≠
r	U+0072	00 00 00 72	72	≠
s	U+0073	00 00 00 73	73	≠
t	U+0074	00 00 00 74	74	≠
u	U+0075	00 00 00 75	75	≠
v	U+0076	00 00 00 76	76	≠
w	U+0077	00 00 00 77	77	≠
x	U+0078	00 00 00 78	78	≠
y	U+0079	00 00 00 79	79	≠
z	U+007A	00 00 00 7A	7A	≠
{	U+007B	00 00 00 7B	7B	≠
\|	U+007C	00 00 00 7C	7C	≠
}	U+007D	00 00 00 7D	7D	≠
~	U+007E	00 00 00 7E	7E	≠
	U+007F	00 00 00 7F	7F	≠

Other Comparisons

UTF-32 BE Reference UTF-8 Reference All Encodings Swap comparison →