What is a Byte Order Mark (BOM)? - Definition from Techopedia

The byte order mark (BOM) is a piece of information used to signify that a text file employs Unicode encoding, while also communicating the text stream's ... Dictionary Dictionary TermoftheDay FeatureEngineering Featureengineeringistheprocessofassigningattribute-valuepairstoadatasetthat'sstoredasatable.Attribute-valuepairsmayalsobereferredtoasfeaturesordescriptiveproperties.Inmachinelearning,featureengineeringplaysanimportantroleinpre-processingdataforusein... ViewFullTerm TrendingTerms App Broadband Website Computer InformationandCommunicationsTechnology Tag File DatabaseManagementSystem Media Firmware TechopediaTerms # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z ArtificialIntelligence CloudComputing DataManagement Networking Cybersecurity Careers More AllTopics Tutorials Q&A Downloads Webinars About AdvertisingInfo Contributors Newsletters WriteforUs Connectwithus SubscribeToOurNewsletters Signup TermoftheDay BestofTechopedia(weekly) NewsandSpecialOffers(occasional) Byclickingsignup,youagreetoreceiveemailsfromTechopediaandagreetoourTermsofUseandPrivacyPolicy. Don'tmissaninsight.SubscribetoTechopediaforfree. Subscribe Advertisement Dictionary DevOps ProgrammingLanguages ByteOrderMark(BOM) ByteOrderMark(BOM) TableofContents WhatDoesByteOrderMark(BOM)Mean? TechopediaExplainsByteOrderMark(BOM) WhatDoesByteOrderMark(BOM)Mean? Thebyteordermark(BOM)isapieceofinformationusedtosignifythatatextfileemploysUnicodeencoding,whilealsocommunicatingthetextstream’sendianness.TheBOMisnotinterpretedasalogicalpartofthetextstreamitself,butisratheraninvisibleindicatoratitshead.Thebyteordermark’sUnicodecharacterisU+FEFF. Advertisement TechopediaExplainsByteOrderMark(BOM) Unicodeisagroupofstandardsdevelopedinthe1980sand'90sinordertointegrateallofthemajorcomputerlanguagesintoonecodinglexicon.Unicodecomesinseveraliterations,includingUTF-8,UTF-16andUTF-32(whichuse8,16and32bitspercharacter,respectively). BeforeUTF-8wasintroducedin1993,Unicodetextwastransferredusing16-bitcodeunits.Theseunitshadaqualitycalledendianness,whichessentiallyidentifiedthebyteordereitherbyleastsignificantfirstormostsignificantfirst.Thebyteordermarkisgenerallyanoptionalfeatureintypical,closed-environmenttext-processing,howeveritisneededinsituationsinvolvingtextinterchange. Advertisement SharethisTerm RelatedTerms Unicode Endian UnicodeTransformationFormat Header Big-Endian Little-Endian Middle-Endian RelatedReading MovingfromFlashtoHTML5 UnderstandingBits,BytesandTheirMultiples 5ChallengesinBigDataAnalyticstoWatchOutFor InternationalizationandLocalization:WhyItMatters DataWarehousing101 InterestingFactsAboutComputerTimekeeping Tags PrivacyandComplianceProgrammingLanguagesDevOps TrendingArticles ArtificialIntelligence 7WomenLeadersinAI,MachineLearningandRobotics ArtificialIntelligence MachineLearningfromHome:Top5eBooksforBeginners PersonalTech 7SneakyWaysHackersCanGetYourFacebookPassword Techmovesfast!StayaheadofthecurvewithTechopedia! Joinnearly200,000subscriberswhoreceiveactionabletechinsightsfromTechopedia. Signup Thankyouforsubscribingtoournewsletter! LatestArticles 10BiggestDataBreachesofAllTime-AndHowtoPreventThem By:AnasBaig |Manager UncleSamintheCloud?FederalTrendsinCloudUse By:JustinStoltzfus |Contributor,Reviewer TheTransactionProcessingSystemin2022:ABlockchainWorld By:JustinStoltzfus |Contributor,Reviewer 10WaystoPrepareYourBusinessITForaNaturalDisaster By:JohnMeah |CertifiedCybersecurityConsultant Advertisement Advertisement close