+**Character encoding** is the foundational system that translates human-readable text into a language computers understand. It assigns a unique numerical value to each character, bridging the gap between abstract symbols and machine-processable [Text](/wiki/text) data, essential for proper [Data Storage](/wiki/data_storage) and display. Without it, characters would be mere garbled bytes.
+## See also
+- [ASCII](/wiki/ascii)
+- [Unicode](/wiki/unicode)
+- [UTF-8](/wiki/utf-8)
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