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A '''variable-width encoding''' is a type of [[character encoding]] scheme in which codes of differing lengths are used to encode a [[character set]] (a repertoire of symbols) for representation in a [[computer]]. Most common variable-width encodings are '''multibyte encodings''', which use varying numbers of [[byte]]s ([[octet (computing)|octet]]s) to encode different characters.
(Some authors, notably in Microsoft documentation,
▲Some authors, notably Microsoft documentation, uses the term '''Multi-byte character set''', which is a [[misnomer]], as the multi-byten-ess is an attribute of the encoding, not of the character set.
Early variable width encodings using less than a byte per character were sometimes used to pack English text into less bytes in [[adventure game]]s for early [[microcomputers]]. However [[disk storage|disk]]s (which unlike tapes allowed random access allowing text to be loaded on demand), increases in computer memory and general purpose [[compression algorithm]]s have rendered such tricks largely redundant.
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