Is UTF-8 outdated?

No, UTF-8 is not outdated—it is the current standard for web encoding and continues to grow in dominance. UTF-8 now represents over 98% of all web pages and is the required encoding for JSON in web applications. It was designed to be future-proof, supporting all Unicode characters including emojis and symbols from every language. UTF-8's backward compatibility with ASCII ensures it works with legacy systems while supporting modern requirements. Major platforms like JSON, HTML5, XML, and all modern APIs mandate or strongly recommend UTF-8. The encoding efficiently handles international content, making it ideal for global applications. There is no successor planned because UTF-8 already solves the character encoding problem effectively. Our JSON tools at jsonconsole.com use UTF-8, ensuring your JSON files are encoded with the current industry standard for maximum compatibility and longevity.