# Character Encoding Type

**URL:** <https://forum.fixtrading.org/t/character-encoding-type/4511>\
**Category:** General Q&A\
**Tags:** general-qa, xid\_167593, imported\
**Created:** [February 25, 2008, 6:38am UTC](https://forum.fixtrading.org/t/character-encoding-type/4511 "2008-02-25T06:38:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![hirany\_x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c0e974/32.png) [@hirany\_x](https://forum.fixtrading.org/u/hirany_x)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 6:38am UTC](https://forum.fixtrading.org/t/character-encoding-type/4511/1 "2008-02-25T06:38:25Z")

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Imported from previous forum

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**Author:** ![hirany\_x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c0e974/32.png) [@hirany\_x](https://forum.fixtrading.org/u/hirany_x)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 6:38am UTC](https://forum.fixtrading.org/t/character-encoding-type/4511/2 "2008-02-25T06:38:25Z")

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What is the character encoding method used in FIX? Is it always ASCII? Or can we use different types of encodings?

Thanks

Best Regards,  
Hiranya

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**Author:** ![fplpo\_x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ab992/32.png) [@fplpo\_x](https://forum.fixtrading.org/u/fplpo_x)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 8:37am UTC](https://forum.fixtrading.org/t/character-encoding-type/4511/3 "2008-02-25T08:37:36Z")

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[original email was from Rikard Hedberg - [rikard.hedberg@omxgroup.com](mailto:rikard.hedberg@omxgroup.com) ]  
Hiranya,

the FIX standard for String fields is ASCII (i.e. 7-bit). Local Non-English-only implementions sometimes use extended ASCII (8-bit), but this is not recognized by the standard. Note that there are also fields that allow other encoding as e.g. EncodedText (355), those fields have the DataType = data and the encoding used should be provided in the MessageEncoding (347) field of the StandardHeader. Please refer to the FIX Transport specification (FIX 5.0 and forward) or Volume 2 (FIX 4.4 and earlier).

Regards

Rikard

> What is the character encoding method used in FIX? Is it always ASCII?  
> Or can we use different types of encodings?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Best Regards, Hiranya