charset="UTF-8" ensures that the browser correctly parses web characters, 1. Prevent special characters from appearing as garbled, such as é or world becomes ?? or? ? ; 2. Support global languages, covering almost all writing systems such as Chinese, Arabic, emoji, etc.; 3. Improve compatibility and SEO, which helps search engine indexing, consistent rendering across browsers and avoids encoding errors; <meta charset="UTF-8"> should be placed at the beginning of HTML documents
to ensure quick recognition. Although HTML5 uses UTF-8 by default, explicit declarations can ensure the correct handling of old systems and edge cases, which is of great significance to global content display. The charset="UTF-8"
attribute tells the browser how to interpret the characters in an HTML document. Specifically, it sets the character encoding to UTF-8 , which is a widely used encoding standard capable of representing almost all characters from all human languages — including English, Chinese, Arabic, emojis, and special symbols.

Here's what it actually does:
1. Prevents Garbled Text
Without a proper charset, browsers might misinterpret special characters (like é, £, or world), turning them into gibberish like or ??. Setting charset="UTF-8"
ensures that text displays correctly across different devices and languages.

2. Enables Global Language Support
UTF-8 can encode over a million characters from various writing systems. This makes your webpage accessible and readable for users worldwide, no matter what language they use.
3. Improves Compatibility and SEO
Search engines and modern web standards expect UTF-8. Using it helps with:

- Better indexing of content
- Consistent rendering across browsers
- Avoiding encoding-related bugs
Where and How to Use It
You should include the charset declaration early in the of your HTML document:
<meta charset="UTF-8">
It's best practice to place this as early as possible because:
- Browsers start parsing text immediately
- Delaying the charset hint can cause rendering issues or text re-parsing
? Note: UTF-8 is now the default in HTML5, but explicitly declaring it ensures older systems or edge cases handle it correctly.
Summary
-
charset="UTF-8"
ensures text is interpreted correctly - Prevents garbled characters
- Supports all major languages and symbols
- Should be set early in the HTML
Basically, it's a small tag with a big impact on how your content is seen around the world.
The above is the detailed content of What does charset='UTF-8' do?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

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