utf8
option for the LaTeX distribution
inputenc package; the coverage of that option is limited to
Unicode characters that can be represented using “LaTeX standard
encodings”. The separate package ucs provides wider, but
less robust, coverage via an inputenc option
utf8x
. As a general rule, you should never use
utf8x
until you have convinced yourself that
utf8
can not do the job for you.
‘Modern’ TeX-alike applications, XeTeX and
LuaTeX read their input using UTF-8
representations of Unicode as standard. They also use TrueType or
OpenType fonts for output; each such font has tables that tell the
application which part(s) of the Unicode space it covers; the tables
enable the engines to decide which font to use for which character
(assuming there is any choice at all).
This answer last edited: 2012-04-20
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