FC0-U71 Unicode Practice Question
A developer is writing a program that needs to handle text in multiple languages, including Chinese and Arabic. Which TWO character encoding systems should they consider? (Choose two.)
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
UTF-8
UTF-8 (A) is correct because it is a Unicode encoding that can represent every character in the Unicode standard, including Chinese and Arabic, using variable-length byte sequences while remaining backward-compatible with ASCII. UTF-16 (B) is also correct because it is another Unicode encoding capable of representing all Unicode characters, including Chinese and Arabic, using 16-bit code units and surrogate pairs for supplementary characters. Base64 (C) is not a character encoding for text but a binary-to-text encoding scheme used to represent binary data as ASCII characters, so it does not directly handle multilingual text. ASCII (D) only defines 128 characters for English and basic control codes, so it cannot represent Chinese or Arabic. EBCDIC (E) is an IBM mainframe encoding that also lacks the range needed for Chinese and Arabic characters.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
UTF-8
Why this is correct
UTF-8 is a variable-width Unicode encoding covering every character in Chinese and Arabic, satisfying the multilingual requirement. Its ASCII-compatible single-byte design for Latin text also keeps storage efficient, unlike fixed-width UTF-32 or legacy code pages that cannot represent both scripts.
- ✓
UTF-16
Why this is correct
UTF-16 encodes the full Unicode repertoire, covering Chinese and Arabic characters that single-byte code pages cannot represent. Its variable 2- or 4-byte units handle CJK and right-to-left scripts, satisfying the multilingual text requirement without data loss.
- ✗
Base64
Why it's wrong here
Base64 is a binary-to-text transport encoding, not a character set; it cannot map Chinese or Arabic code points to glyphs. It correctly carries binary payloads such as email attachments or JSON-embedded images, but text representation requires Unicode.
- ✗
ASCII
Why it's wrong here
ASCII encodes only 128 characters, covering basic Latin letters, digits, and punctuation, so Chinese and Arabic glyphs cannot be represented. It remains the right choice for legacy English-only protocols and simple configuration files, not multilingual text.
- ✗
EBCDIC
Why it's wrong here
EBCDIC is an eight-bit IBM mainframe encoding whose code points differ from ASCII and still lack Chinese and Arabic coverage. It suits z/OS and midrange legacy data interchange, not modern multilingual applications needing full Unicode script support.
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Same concept, more angles
3 more ways this is tested on FC0-U71
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. Which of the following character encodings can represent characters from virtually all written languages?
medium- ✓ A.Unicode/UTF-8
- B.EBCDIC
- C.Extended ASCII
- D.ASCII
Why A: Unicode (UTF-8) is variable-width and supports all languages.
Variation 2. An IT specialist is explaining ASCII and Unicode to a trainee. Which statement accurately describes a difference between ASCII and Unicode?
hard- A.ASCII uses 8 bits per character and supports 256 characters.
- B.Unicode uses 16 bits per character, while ASCII uses 7 bits.
- C.ASCII is a variable-width encoding, while Unicode uses a fixed width.
- ✓ D.Unicode can represent characters from multiple languages, while ASCII is limited to English.
Why D: Unicode is designed to represent characters from virtually all writing systems, including non-Latin scripts, emojis, and symbols, whereas ASCII is limited to 128 (or 256 in extended versions) characters primarily for English and Western European languages. This is the fundamental difference in character repertoire. The other options contain factual errors about bit widths and encoding schemes.
Variation 3. Which of the following character encoding standards supports characters from most of the world's languages and uses a variable number of bytes per character?
medium- A.Base64
- B.EBCDIC
- ✓ C.Unicode/UTF-8
- D.ASCII
Why C: Unicode/UTF-8 is a variable-length encoding that can represent characters from virtually all of the world's writing systems, using 1 to 4 bytes per character. UTF-8 is backward-compatible with ASCII for the first 128 code points.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This FC0-U71 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the FC0-U71 exam.