


How do I set the character encoding of an HTML document using the tag?
Jun 25, 2025 am 12:53 AMTo set the character encoding of the HTML document, add the <meta charset="UTF-8"> tag in the
section and ensure that the server configuration is consistent. 1. Put the tag at the beginning of to avoid browser parsing errors; 2. Use lowercase format and keep the syntax correct, it is recommended to use UTF-8 encoding; 3. Check the Content-Type header sent by the server, configure the server if necessary or use PHP to set the response header to ensure that it is consistent with the definition in HTML. To set the character encoding of an HTML document using the <meta charset="">
tag, you simply place it inside the section of your HTML file. The most common and recommended value is
UTF-8
, which supports a wide range of characters from different languages.
Here's how it looks in practice:
<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <title>My Web Page</title> </head> <body> <!-- Content goes here --> </body> </html>
This tells the browser to interpret the page using UTF-8 encoding.
Use the correct syntax
The <meta charset="">
tag should always be placed within the <head>
section of your HTML document. It must come before any content that might contain non-ASCII characters (like special symbols or letters with accents).
Make sure the syntax is exactly like this:
<meta charset="UTF-8">
You don't need to close the tag — it's self-closing by default. Also, avoid using uppercase letters inside the quotes; while browsers are generally forgiving, sticking to lowercase ensures better compatibility.
Some older pages may use other encodings like ISO-8859-1
, but unless you have a specific reason to use those, always go with UTF-8
. It's modern, widely supported, and future-proof.
Place it early in the head for best results
While browsers are pretty smart these days, placing the <meta charset>
tag as early as possible in the <head>
helps prevent rendering issues.
For example, if you have a script or another meta tag before it that contains special characters, the browser might guess the wrong encoding, causing text to appear garbled.
So instead of doing this:
<head>My Page <meta charset="UTF-8">
Do this:
<head> <meta charset="UTF-8">My Page
It's a small detail, but one that can save you from hard-to-debug display problems later.
Don't forget server-side settings
Setting <meta charset="UTF-8">
in your HTML is important, but it's not the only factor. Your web server might also send a character encoding header (like Content-Type
) that overrides what's in the HTML.
For example, Apache or Nginx might be configured to send files as ISO-8859-1
by default. In that case, even though your HTML says UTF-8
, the browser will follow the server's instruction first.
To fix this, you can configure your server to send this header:
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
Or, if you're using PHP, you can add this at the top of your file:
<?php header('Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8'); ?>
If you're unsure, check both the HTTP headers and the HTML meta tag to make sure they match.
That's all there is to it. Set the tag early in the , use
UTF-8
, and double-check your server configuration.
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