Which Unicode standard is predominantly used by websites?

The predominant Unicode standard used by websites is UTF-8. UTF-8 is designed to be backward compatible with ASCII and can represent any character in the Unicode standard, making it very versatile. This compatibility allows web pages to correctly display text in various languages and symbols without issues, which is vital in our globally interconnected digital environment.

Moreover, UTF-8 is efficient in terms of storage space, as it uses a variable-length encoding scheme. Characters from the ASCII set consume only one byte, while other characters can take two, three, or four bytes, depending on the character's code point. This has led to its widespread adoption in web development, as it allows for a more diverse set of characters while maintaining efficient data transfer.

Most modern web standards and protocols, including HTML and XML, are designed with UTF-8 in mind, further solidifying its position as the go-to encoding format for web content. Websites that use UTF-8 can cater to a wider audience and present content in multiple languages, which is increasingly important in a global market.