Encoding Schemes

Encoding Schemes are the critical rulesets that map abstract data (like text characters or binary files) to a standardized binary format for reliable storage and network transmission.

This technology is fundamental: it defines how a computer converts human-readable data into machine-readable bits (0s and 1s). The scheme ensures compatibility across disparate systems. For text, early standards like ASCII used 7 bits to represent 128 characters, primarily English. Modern global systems rely on Unicode encodings: UTF-8, for instance, is a variable-width scheme using 1 to 4 bytes per character, making it the dominant choice for the web (over 98% of sites). Beyond character sets, schemes like Base64 convert binary data (images, files) into a 64-character ASCII string, allowing safe transmission over text-only protocols like email.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_encoding