Encoding schemes

An encoding scheme standardizes the encoding of character sets by defining a set of rules for representing character data. Each encoding scheme consists of a number of code pages that adhere to its rules. For example, code pages 37, 500, and 1047 are all part of the EBCDIC encoding scheme.

The major encoding schemes are EBCDIC, ASCII, and Unicode. The EBCDIC encoding scheme is typically used on IBM® Z (z/OS®) and iSeries (AS/400). The ASCII encoding scheme is used on Intel-based systems, such as Windows, UNIX based systems, such as AIX®, and the Linux operating system. The Unicode encoding scheme is supported by many operating systems.