DEC | OCT | HEX | BIN | Symbol | HTML Number | HTML Name | Description | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 | 000 | 00 | 00000000 | NUL | � | Null character | ||
1 | 001 | 01 | 00000001 | SOH |  | Start of Heading | ||
2 | 002 | 02 | 00000010 | STX |  | Start of Text | ||
3 | 003 | 03 | 00000011 | ETX |  | End of Text | ||
4 | 004 | 04 | 00000100 | EOT |  | End of Transmission | ||
5 | 005 | 05 | 00000101 | ENQ |  | Enquiry | ||
6 | 006 | 06 | 00000110 | ACK |  | Acknowledge | ||
7 | 007 | 07 | 00000111 | BEL |  | Bell, Alert | ||
8 | 010 | 08 | 00001000 | BS |  | Backspace | ||
9 | 011 | 09 | 00001001 | HT | 	 | Horizontal Tab | ||
10 | 012 | 0A | 00001010 | LF | | Line Feed | ||
11 | 013 | 0B | 00001011 | VT |  | Vertical Tabulation | ||
12 | 014 | 0C | 00001100 | FF |  | Form Feed | ||
13 | 015 | 0D | 00001101 | CR | | Carriage Return | ||
14 | 016 | 0E | 00001110 | SO |  | Shift Out | ||
15 | 017 | 0F | 00001111 | SI |  | Shift In | ||
16 | 020 | 10 | 00010000 | DLE |  | Data Link Escape | ||
17 | 021 | 11 | 00010001 | DC1 |  | Device Control One (XON) | ||
18 | 022 | 12 | 00010010 | DC2 |  | Device Control Two | ||
19 | 023 | 13 | 00010011 | DC3 |  | Device Control Three (XOFF) | ||
20 | 024 | 14 | 00010100 | DC4 |  | Device Control Four | ||
21 | 025 | 15 | 00010101 | NAK |  | Negative Acknowledge | ||
22 | 026 | 16 | 00010110 | SYN |  | Synchronous Idle | ||
23 | 027 | 17 | 00010111 | ETB |  | End of Transmission Block | ||
24 | 030 | 18 | 00011000 | CAN |  | Cancel | ||
25 | 031 | 19 | 00011001 | EM |  | End of medium | ||
26 | 032 | 1A | 00011010 | SUB |  | Substitute | ||
27 | 033 | 1B | 00011011 | ESC |  | Escape | ||
28 | 034 | 1C | 00011100 | FS |  | File Separator | ||
29 | 035 | 1D | 00011101 | GS |  | Group Separator | ||
30 | 036 | 1E | 00011110 | RS |  | Record Separator | ||
31 | 037 | 1F | 00011111 | US |  | Unit Separator |
DEC | OCT | HEX | BIN | Symbol | HTML Number | HTML Name | Description | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
32 | 040 | 20 | 00100000 | SP |   | Space | ||
33 | 041 | 21 | 00100001 | ! | ! | ! | Exclamation mark | |
34 | 042 | 22 | 00100010 | " | " | " | Double quotes (or speech marks) | |
35 | 043 | 23 | 00100011 | # | # | # | Number sign | |
36 | 044 | 24 | 00100100 | $ | $ | $ | Dollar | |
37 | 045 | 25 | 00100101 | % | % | % | Per cent sign | |
38 | 046 | 26 | 00100110 | & | & | & | Ampersand | |
39 | 047 | 27 | 00100111 | ' | ' | ' | Single quote | |
40 | 050 | 28 | 00101000 | ( | ( | &lparen; | Open parenthesis (or open bracket) | |
41 | 051 | 29 | 00101001 | ) | ) | &rparen; | Close parenthesis (or close bracket) | |
42 | 052 | 2A | 00101010 | * | * | * | Asterisk | |
43 | 053 | 2B | 00101011 | + | + | + | Plus | |
44 | 054 | 2C | 00101100 | , | , | , | Comma | |
45 | 055 | 2D | 00101101 | - | - | Hyphen-minus | ||
46 | 056 | 2E | 00101110 | . | . | . | Period, dot or full stop | |
47 | 057 | 2F | 00101111 | / | / | / | Slash or divide | |
48 | 060 | 30 | 00110000 | 0 | 0 | Zero | ||
49 | 061 | 31 | 00110001 | 1 | 1 | One | ||
50 | 062 | 32 | 00110010 | 2 | 2 | Two | ||
51 | 063 | 33 | 00110011 | 3 | 3 | Three | ||
52 | 064 | 34 | 00110100 | 4 | 4 | Four | ||
53 | 065 | 35 | 00110101 | 5 | 5 | Five | ||
54 | 066 | 36 | 00110110 | 6 | 6 | Six | ||
55 | 067 | 37 | 00110111 | 7 | 7 | Seven | ||
56 | 070 | 38 | 00111000 | 8 | 8 | Eight | ||
57 | 071 | 39 | 00111001 | 9 | 9 | Nine | ||
58 | 072 | 3A | 00111010 | : | : | : | Colon | |
59 | 073 | 3B | 00111011 | ; | ; | ; | Semicolon | |
60 | 074 | 3C | 00111100 | < | < | < | Less than (or open angled bracket) | |
61 | 075 | 3D | 00111101 | = | = | = | Equals | |
62 | 076 | 3E | 00111110 | > | > | > | Greater than (or close angled bracket) | |
63 | 077 | 3F | 00111111 | ? | ? | ? | Question mark | |
64 | 100 | 40 | 01000000 | @ | @ | @ | At sign | |
65 | 101 | 41 | 01000001 | A | A | Uppercase A | ||
66 | 102 | 42 | 01000010 | B | B | Uppercase B | ||
67 | 103 | 43 | 01000011 | C | C | Uppercase C | ||
68 | 104 | 44 | 01000100 | D | D | Uppercase D | ||
69 | 105 | 45 | 01000101 | E | E | Uppercase E | ||
70 | 106 | 46 | 01000110 | F | F | Uppercase F | ||
71 | 107 | 47 | 01000111 | G | G | Uppercase G | ||
72 | 110 | 48 | 01001000 | H | H | Uppercase H | ||
73 | 111 | 49 | 01001001 | I | I | Uppercase I | ||
74 | 112 | 4A | 01001010 | J | J | Uppercase J | ||
75 | 113 | 4B | 01001011 | K | K | Uppercase K | ||
76 | 114 | 4C | 01001100 | L | L | Uppercase L | ||
77 | 115 | 4D | 01001101 | M | M | Uppercase M | ||
78 | 116 | 4E | 01001110 | N | N | Uppercase N | ||
79 | 117 | 4F | 01001111 | O | O | Uppercase O | ||
80 | 120 | 50 | 01010000 | P | P | Uppercase P | ||
81 | 121 | 51 | 01010001 | Q | Q | Uppercase Q | ||
82 | 122 | 52 | 01010010 | R | R | Uppercase R | ||
83 | 123 | 53 | 01010011 | S | S | Uppercase S | ||
84 | 124 | 54 | 01010100 | T | T | Uppercase T | ||
85 | 125 | 55 | 01010101 | U | U | Uppercase U | ||
86 | 126 | 56 | 01010110 | V | V | Uppercase V | ||
87 | 127 | 57 | 01010111 | W | W | Uppercase W | ||
88 | 130 | 58 | 01011000 | X | X | Uppercase X | ||
89 | 131 | 59 | 01011001 | Y | Y | Uppercase Y | ||
90 | 132 | 5A | 01011010 | Z | Z | Uppercase Z | ||
91 | 133 | 5B | 01011011 | [ | [ | [ | Opening bracket | |
92 | 134 | 5C | 01011100 | \ | \ | \ | Backslash | |
93 | 135 | 5D | 01011101 | ] | ] | ] | Closing bracket | |
94 | 136 | 5E | 01011110 | ^ | ^ | ^ | Caret - circumflex | |
95 | 137 | 5F | 01011111 | _ | _ | _ | Underscore | |
96 | 140 | 60 | 01100000 | ` | ` | ` | Grave accent | |
97 | 141 | 61 | 01100001 | a | a | Lowercase a | ||
98 | 142 | 62 | 01100010 | b | b | Lowercase b | ||
99 | 143 | 63 | 01100011 | c | c | Lowercase c | ||
100 | 144 | 64 | 01100100 | d | d | Lowercase d | ||
101 | 145 | 65 | 01100101 | e | e | Lowercase e | ||
102 | 146 | 66 | 01100110 | f | f | Lowercase f | ||
103 | 147 | 67 | 01100111 | g | g | Lowercase g | ||
104 | 150 | 68 | 01101000 | h | h | Lowercase h | ||
105 | 151 | 69 | 01101001 | i | i | Lowercase i | ||
106 | 152 | 6A | 01101010 | j | j | Lowercase j | ||
107 | 153 | 6B | 01101011 | k | k | Lowercase k | ||
108 | 154 | 6C | 01101100 | l | l | Lowercase l | ||
109 | 155 | 6D | 01101101 | m | m | Lowercase m | ||
110 | 156 | 6E | 01101110 | n | n | Lowercase n | ||
111 | 157 | 6F | 01101111 | o | o | Lowercase o | ||
112 | 160 | 70 | 01110000 | p | p | Lowercase p | ||
113 | 161 | 71 | 01110001 | q | q | Lowercase q | ||
114 | 162 | 72 | 01110010 | r | r | Lowercase r | ||
115 | 163 | 73 | 01110011 | s | s | Lowercase s | ||
116 | 164 | 74 | 01110100 | t | t | Lowercase t | ||
117 | 165 | 75 | 01110101 | u | u | Lowercase u | ||
118 | 166 | 76 | 01110110 | v | v | Lowercase v | ||
119 | 167 | 77 | 01110111 | w | w | Lowercase w | ||
120 | 170 | 78 | 01111000 | x | x | Lowercase x | ||
121 | 171 | 79 | 01111001 | y | y | Lowercase y | ||
122 | 172 | 7A | 01111010 | z | z | Lowercase z | ||
123 | 173 | 7B | 01111011 | { | { | { | Opening brace | |
124 | 174 | 7C | 01111100 | | | | | | | Vertical bar | |
125 | 175 | 7D | 01111101 | } | } | } | Closing brace | |
126 | 176 | 7E | 01111110 | ~ | ~ | ˜ | Equivalency sign - tilde | |
127 | 177 | 7F | 01111111 | DEL |  | Delete |
DEC | OCT | HEX | BIN | Symbol | HTML Number | HTML Name | Description | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
128 | 200 | 80 | 10000000 | € | € | € | Euro sign | |
129 | 201 | 81 | 10000001 | Unused | ||||
130 | 202 | 82 | 10000010 | ‚ | ‚ | ‚ | Single low-9 quotation mark | |
131 | 203 | 83 | 10000011 | ƒ | ƒ | ƒ | Latin small letter f with hook | |
132 | 204 | 84 | 10000100 | „ | „ | „ | Double low-9 quotation mark | |
133 | 205 | 85 | 10000101 | … | … | … | Horizontal ellipsis | |
134 | 206 | 86 | 10000110 | † | † | † | Dagger | |
135 | 207 | 87 | 10000111 | ‡ | ‡ | ‡ | Double dagger | |
136 | 210 | 88 | 10001000 | ˆ | ˆ | ˆ | Modifier letter circumflex accent | |
137 | 211 | 89 | 10001001 | ‰ | ‰ | ‰ | Per mille sign | |
138 | 212 | 8A | 10001010 | Š | Š | Š | Latin capital letter S with caron | |
139 | 213 | 8B | 10001011 | ‹ | ‹ | ‹ | Single left-pointing angle quotation | |
140 | 214 | 8C | 10001100 | Œ | Œ | Œ | Latin capital ligature OE | |
141 | 215 | 8D | 10001101 | Unused | ||||
142 | 216 | 8E | 10001110 | Ž | Ž | Ž | Latin capital letter Z with caron | |
143 | 217 | 8F | 10001111 | Unused | ||||
144 | 220 | 90 | 10010000 | Unused | ||||
145 | 221 | 91 | 10010001 | ‘ | ‘ | ‘ | Left single quotation mark | |
146 | 222 | 92 | 10010010 | ’ | ’ | ’ | Right single quotation mark | |
147 | 223 | 93 | 10010011 | “ | “ | “ | Left double quotation mark | |
148 | 224 | 94 | 10010100 | ” | ” | ” | Right double quotation mark | |
149 | 225 | 95 | 10010101 | • | • | • | Bullet | |
150 | 226 | 96 | 10010110 | – | – | – | En dash | |
151 | 227 | 97 | 10010111 | — | — | — | Em dash | |
152 | 230 | 98 | 10011000 | ˜ | ˜ | ˜ | Small tilde | |
153 | 231 | 99 | 10011001 | ™ | ™ | ™ | Trade mark sign | |
154 | 232 | 9A | 10011010 | š | š | š | Latin small letter S with caron | |
155 | 233 | 9B | 10011011 | › | › | › | Single right-pointing angle quotation mark | |
156 | 234 | 9C | 10011100 | œ | œ | œ | Latin small ligature oe | |
157 | 235 | 9D | 10011101 | Unused | ||||
158 | 236 | 9E | 10011110 | ž | ž | ž | Latin small letter z with caron | |
159 | 237 | 9F | 10011111 | Ÿ | Ÿ | Ÿ | Latin capital letter Y with diaeresis | |
160 | 240 | A0 | 10100000 | NBSP |   | | Non-breaking space | |
161 | 241 | A1 | 10100001 | ¡ | ¡ | ¡ | Inverted exclamation mark | |
162 | 242 | A2 | 10100010 | ¢ | ¢ | ¢ | Cent sign | |
163 | 243 | A3 | 10100011 | £ | £ | £ | Pound sign | |
164 | 244 | A4 | 10100100 | ¤ | ¤ | ¤ | Currency sign | |
165 | 245 | A5 | 10100101 | ¥ | ¥ | ¥ | Yen sign | |
166 | 246 | A6 | 10100110 | ¦ | ¦ | ¦ | Pipe, broken vertical bar | |
167 | 247 | A7 | 10100111 | § | § | § | Section sign | |
168 | 250 | A8 | 10101000 | ¨ | ¨ | ¨ | Spacing diaeresis - umlaut | |
169 | 251 | A9 | 10101001 | © | © | © | Copyright sign | |
170 | 252 | AA | 10101010 | ª | ª | ª | Feminine ordinal indicator | |
171 | 253 | AB | 10101011 | « | « | « | Left double angle quotes | |
172 | 254 | AC | 10101100 | ¬ | ¬ | ¬ | Negation | |
173 | 255 | AD | 10101101 | SHY | ­ | ­ | Soft hyphen | |
174 | 256 | AE | 10101110 | ® | ® | ® | Registered trade mark sign | |
175 | 257 | AF | 10101111 | ¯ | ¯ | ¯ | Spacing macron - overline | |
176 | 260 | B0 | 10110000 | ° | ° | ° | Degree sign | |
177 | 261 | B1 | 10110001 | ± | ± | ± | Plus-or-minus sign | |
178 | 262 | B2 | 10110010 | ² | ² | ² | Superscript two - squared | |
179 | 263 | B3 | 10110011 | ³ | ³ | ³ | Superscript three - cubed | |
180 | 264 | B4 | 10110100 | ´ | ´ | ´ | Acute accent - spacing acute | |
181 | 265 | B5 | 10110101 | µ | µ | µ | Micro sign | |
182 | 266 | B6 | 10110110 | ¶ | ¶ | ¶ | Pilcrow sign - paragraph sign | |
183 | 267 | B7 | 10110111 | · | · | · | Middle dot - Georgian comma | |
184 | 270 | B8 | 10111000 | ¸ | ¸ | ¸ | Spacing cedilla | |
185 | 271 | B9 | 10111001 | ¹ | ¹ | ¹ | Superscript one | |
186 | 272 | BA | 10111010 | º | º | º | Masculine ordinal indicator | |
187 | 273 | BB | 10111011 | » | » | » | Right double angle quotes | |
188 | 274 | BC | 10111100 | ¼ | ¼ | ¼ | Fraction one quarter | |
189 | 275 | BD | 10111101 | ½ | ½ | ½ | Fraction one half | |
190 | 276 | BE | 10111110 | ¾ | ¾ | ¾ | Fraction three quarters | |
191 | 277 | BF | 10111111 | ¿ | ¿ | ¿ | Inverted question mark | |
192 | 300 | C0 | 11000000 | À | À | À | Latin capital letter A with grave | |
193 | 301 | C1 | 11000001 | Á | Á | Á | Latin capital letter A with acute | |
194 | 302 | C2 | 11000010 | Â | Â | Â | Latin capital letter A with circumflex | |
195 | 303 | C3 | 11000011 | Ã | Ã | Ã | Latin capital letter A with tilde | |
196 | 304 | C4 | 11000100 | Ä | Ä | Ä | Latin capital letter A with diaeresis | |
197 | 305 | C5 | 11000101 | Å | Å | Å | Latin capital letter A with ring above | |
198 | 306 | C6 | 11000110 | Æ | Æ | Æ | Latin capital letter AE | |
199 | 307 | C7 | 11000111 | Ç | Ç | Ç | Latin capital letter C with cedilla | |
200 | 310 | C8 | 11001000 | È | È | È | Latin capital letter E with grave | |
201 | 311 | C9 | 11001001 | É | É | É | Latin capital letter E with acute | |
202 | 312 | CA | 11001010 | Ê | Ê | Ê | Latin capital letter E with circumflex | |
203 | 313 | CB | 11001011 | Ë | Ë | Ë | Latin capital letter E with diaeresis | |
204 | 314 | CC | 11001100 | Ì | Ì | Ì | Latin capital letter I with grave | |
205 | 315 | CD | 11001101 | Í | Í | Í | Latin capital letter I with acute | |
206 | 316 | CE | 11001110 | Î | Î | Î | Latin capital letter I with circumflex | |
207 | 317 | CF | 11001111 | Ï | Ï | Ï | Latin capital letter I with diaeresis | |
208 | 320 | D0 | 11010000 | Ð | Ð | Ð | Latin capital letter ETH | |
209 | 321 | D1 | 11010001 | Ñ | Ñ | Ñ | Latin capital letter N with tilde | |
210 | 322 | D2 | 11010010 | Ò | Ò | Ò | Latin capital letter O with grave | |
211 | 323 | D3 | 11010011 | Ó | Ó | Ó | Latin capital letter O with acute | |
212 | 324 | D4 | 11010100 | Ô | Ô | Ô | Latin capital letter O with circumflex | |
213 | 325 | D5 | 11010101 | Õ | Õ | Õ | Latin capital letter O with tilde | |
214 | 326 | D6 | 11010110 | Ö | Ö | Ö | Latin capital letter O with diaeresis | |
215 | 327 | D7 | 11010111 | × | × | × | Multiplication sign | |
216 | 330 | D8 | 11011000 | Ø | Ø | Ø | Latin capital letter O with slash | |
217 | 331 | D9 | 11011001 | Ù | Ù | Ù | Latin capital letter U with grave | |
218 | 332 | DA | 11011010 | Ú | Ú | Ú | Latin capital letter U with acute | |
219 | 333 | DB | 11011011 | Û | Û | Û | Latin capital letter U with circumflex | |
220 | 334 | DC | 11011100 | Ü | Ü | Ü | Latin capital letter U with diaeresis | |
221 | 335 | DD | 11011101 | Ý | Ý | Ý | Latin capital letter Y with acute | |
222 | 336 | DE | 11011110 | Þ | Þ | Þ | Latin capital letter THORN | |
223 | 337 | DF | 11011111 | ß | ß | ß | Latin small letter sharp s - ess-zed | |
224 | 340 | E0 | 11100000 | à | à | à | Latin small letter a with grave | |
225 | 341 | E1 | 11100001 | á | á | á | Latin small letter a with acute | |
226 | 342 | E2 | 11100010 | â | â | â | Latin small letter a with circumflex | |
227 | 343 | E3 | 11100011 | ã | ã | ã | Latin small letter a with tilde | |
228 | 344 | E4 | 11100100 | ä | ä | ä | Latin small letter a with diaeresis | |
229 | 345 | E5 | 11100101 | å | å | å | Latin small letter a with ring above | |
230 | 346 | E6 | 11100110 | æ | æ | æ | Latin small letter ae | |
231 | 347 | E7 | 11100111 | ç | ç | ç | Latin small letter c with cedilla | |
232 | 350 | E8 | 11101000 | è | è | è | Latin small letter e with grave | |
233 | 351 | E9 | 11101001 | é | é | é | Latin small letter e with acute | |
234 | 352 | EA | 11101010 | ê | ê | ê | Latin small letter e with circumflex | |
235 | 353 | EB | 11101011 | ë | ë | ë | Latin small letter e with diaeresis | |
236 | 354 | EC | 11101100 | ì | ì | ì | Latin small letter i with grave | |
237 | 355 | ED | 11101101 | í | í | í | Latin small letter i with acute | |
238 | 356 | EE | 11101110 | î | î | î | Latin small letter i with circumflex | |
239 | 357 | EF | 11101111 | ï | ï | ï | Latin small letter i with diaeresis | |
240 | 360 | F0 | 11110000 | ð | ð | ð | Latin small letter eth | |
241 | 361 | F1 | 11110001 | ñ | ñ | ñ | Latin small letter n with tilde | |
242 | 362 | F2 | 11110010 | ò | ò | ò | Latin small letter o with grave | |
243 | 363 | F3 | 11110011 | ó | ó | ó | Latin small letter o with acute | |
244 | 364 | F4 | 11110100 | ô | ô | ô | Latin small letter o with circumflex | |
245 | 365 | F5 | 11110101 | õ | õ | õ | Latin small letter o with tilde | |
246 | 366 | F6 | 11110110 | ö | ö | ö | Latin small letter o with diaeresis | |
247 | 367 | F7 | 11110111 | ÷ | ÷ | ÷ | Division sign | |
248 | 370 | F8 | 11111000 | ø | ø | ø | Latin small letter o with slash | |
249 | 371 | F9 | 11111001 | ù | ù | ù | Latin small letter u with grave | |
250 | 372 | FA | 11111010 | ú | ú | ú | Latin small letter u with acute | |
251 | 373 | FB | 11111011 | û | û | û | Latin small letter u with circumflex | |
252 | 374 | FC | 11111100 | ü | ü | ü | Latin small letter u with diaeresis | |
253 | 375 | FD | 11111101 | ý | ý | ý | Latin small letter y with acute | |
254 | 376 | FE | 11111110 | þ | þ | þ | Latin small letter thorn | |
255 | 377 | FF | 11111111 | ÿ | ÿ | ÿ | Latin small letter y with diaeresis |
ASCII characters, including those from the extended ASCII character sets, are stored in memory as 8-bit bytes. Each ASCII character has a unique 7-bit binary code, with values ranging from 0000000 (0 in decimal) to 1111111 (127 in decimal). When storing an ASCII character in memory, the 7-bit binary code is placed in a byte with the most significant bit (MSB) set to 0, effectively making it an 8-bit value.
Extended ASCII character sets, such as ISO-8859-1 (Latin-1) or Windows-1252 (CP1252), use the full capacity of an 8-bit byte to represent 256 unique characters instead of just 128. When storing extended ASCII characters in memory, each character is represented by an 8-bit byte, just like the original ASCII characters. The 8-bit representation allows for the full range of 256 characters, including both the original ASCII characters (0 to 127) and the extended characters (128 to 255).
For example, the letter 'A' has an ASCII value of 65, which corresponds to the 7-bit binary code 1000001. When storing this character in memory, the binary code is placed in an 8-bit byte with the MSB set to 0: 01000001. In the case of an extended ASCII character like 'Ñ' in the ISO-8859-1 character set, it has a decimal value of 209, which corresponds to the 8-bit binary code 11010001.
When processing or transmitting text data, computer systems and communication protocols use these byte representations of ASCII and extended ASCII characters to encode, store, and transfer information. However, due to the lack of standardization among extended ASCII character sets, compatibility issues may arise when transferring data between systems that use different character sets.An ASCII character is a character from the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) character set. The ASCII character set consists of 128 characters, including 33 non-printable control characters and 95 printable characters. The printable characters include English letters (uppercase and lowercase), digits (0-9), punctuation marks, and some common symbols, such as the space character.
ASCII characters are represented by 7-bit binary numbers, with each character having a unique binary code ranging from 0000000 (0 in decimal) to 1111111 (127 in decimal). These codes are used to store, process, and transmit text data in computer systems and across various communication protocols.ASCII is limited to 128 characters because it was designed to use 7-bit binary numbers for encoding. With 7 bits, you can represent 2^7, or 128, unique values. The decision to use 7 bits was mainly based on the technical limitations and requirements of the time when ASCII was developed in the 1960s.
During that period, computer systems and communication protocols were less advanced and needed simpler, more compact encoding schemes. By using a 7-bit encoding, ASCII could be easily stored and transmitted over early telecommunication systems. The 128 characters in ASCII were sufficient to represent the most commonly used characters in English text and some control characters for basic communication and formatting tasks.