There is a pretty complete description of the origination of UTF-8 here: https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/utf-8-history.txt https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/

There is a pretty complete description of the origination of UTF-8 here: https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/utf-8-history.txt https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/utf-8-history.txt Rob Pike opens with: > Looking around at some UTF-8 background, I see the same incorrect story being repeated over and over. The incorrect version is: 1. IBM designed UTF-8. 2. Plan 9 implemented it. > That's not true. UTF-8 was designed, in front of my eyes, on a placemat in a New Jersey diner one night in September or so 1992.