# ID3V2.3: UTF-16 vs ISO-8859-1
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/id3v2-3-utf-16-vs-iso-8859-1/5676
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [November 2, 2007, 1:16pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/id3v2-3-utf-16-vs-iso-8859-1/5676 "2007-11-02T13:16:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mcg0o](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/mcg0o)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2007, 1:16pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/id3v2-3-utf-16-vs-iso-8859-1/5676/1 "2007-11-02T13:16:31Z")
Can anyone give me a clear explanation on what the difference is between UTF-16 and ISO-8859-1 ? I know that UTF supports Unicode, and the ISO version is for devices or whatnot that don't support Unicode...but what exactly does that all mean ? From some reading around, it seems like ISO would be the most tolerant, so why isn't that the default rather then UTF-16 ? Are there specfic pros/cons to using each format ?
I have a music jukebox that I'm interested in using, and I've found that it won't read the tags in UTF-16 but does in ISO. Before I resave my entire collection in ISO, I would like to understand the implications, if any, in doing so.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
---
### Author:  [@dano](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dano)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/id3v2-3-utf-16-vs-iso-8859-1/5676/2 "2007-11-02T17:08:43Z")
The simple difference is UTF-16 can hold more different characters than ISO-8859-1
ISO can save these 191 charcters
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO\_8859-1#Code\_table](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8859-1#Code_table)
UTF-16 is an encoding for Unicode that can hold thousands of different chars. This is needed for tags in asian, russian or other languages.
[Similar discussion on Hydrogenaudio.org](http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=58718)
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2022, 4:57pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/id3v2-3-utf-16-vs-iso-8859-1/5676/3 "2022-06-16T16:57:02Z")
21 posts were split to a new topic: [Character encoding influences cover display?](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/character-encoding-influences-cover-display/57652)
---
### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2022, 5:30pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/id3v2-3-utf-16-vs-iso-8859-1/5676/4 "2022-06-16T17:30:31Z")