Unicode® 16.0.0 (DRAFT)
STATUS: This is a preliminary draft page for an upcoming release. Some details may be missing or incorrect, and some links may be wrong or broken. During the alpha review period, errors are expected and feedback is not necessary. During the beta review period, feedback on errors will be helpful and appreciated.
This page summarizes the important changes for the Unicode Standard, Version 16.0.0.
This version supersedes all previous versions of the Unicode Standard.
A. Summary
Unicode 16.0 adds 5187 characters,
for a total of 155,000 characters.
There are several significant themes for this release of the Unicode Standard.
- There has been a very substantial addition to the repertoire of Egyptian
hieroglyphs. Many of these additions are to cover the Ptolemaic period.
- TBD
Synchronization
Several other important Unicode specifications have been updated for Version 16.0.
The following four Unicode Technical Standards are versioned in
synchrony with the Unicode Standard, because their data files cover the same repertoire.
All have been updated to Version 16.0:
Some of the changes in Version 16.0 and associated Unicode Technical Standards
may require modifications
to implementations. For more information, see the migration and modification sections of
UTS #10, UTS #39, UTS #46, and UTS #51.
See Sections D through H below for additional details regarding the changes in this version of
the Unicode Standard, its associated annexes, and the other synchronized Unicode specifications.
See the following resource links for general information about Unicode versions
and other information about the Unicode Standard and other publications
of the Unicode Consortium.
B. Technical Overview
Version 16.0 of the Unicode Standard consists of:
- The core specification
- The code charts (delta and archival) for this version
- The Unicode Standard Annexes
- The Unicode Character Database (UCD)
The core specification gives the general principles,
requirements for conformance, and guidelines for implementers. The
code charts show representative glyphs for all the Unicode
characters. The Unicode Standard Annexes supply detailed normative
information about particular aspects of the standard. The Unicode
Character Database supplies normative and informative data for
implementers to allow them to implement the Unicode Standard.
Core Specification
STATUS: During the alpha review period, placeholder
pages for the core specification are deployed without content. This is merely to exercise deployment
and navigation. New content for the core specification will be available during the beta
review period. In the meantime,
reviewers are welcome to provide comments on the
currently published version
of the core specification (Version 15.0, 15MB), which can also be browsed on a per-chapter basis
from the Unicode 15.1 landing page.
The core specification for Version 16.0 is available for browsing online
as per-chapter web pages. An archival core specification will also be available as
a single pdf. (14 MB)
Code Charts
Several sets of code charts are available. They serve different
purposes:
Chart Type |
Description |
Latest Code Charts |
These charts are always the most current
code charts available, and may be updated at any time. The charts are organized by
scripts and blocks for easy reference.
An online index by character name
is also provided. |
Delta Code Charts |
These charts show the
new blocks and any blocks in which characters were added
specifically for Unicode 16.0.0. The new characters and any major updates to the
representative glyphs are visually highlighted in these charts. |
Archival Code Charts |
These charts contain
the entire set of characters, names and representative glyphs at the time of publication of Unicode 16.0.0.
|
The delta and archival code charts are a stable part of this release of the Unicode Standard. They will never be updated.
Han Radical-Stroke Indices
There are a number of radical-stroke indices available to assist in
the lookup of Han characters in the code charts.
Index Type |
Description |
Interactive |
An interactive CJK character lookup page that supports lookup
either by code point or by radical and stroke values. |
IICore (3.8 MB) |
A static pdf radical-stroke index limited to just the repertoire
of the IICore set. (This RS index page is seldom updated.) |
Unihan Core 2020 (8.2 MB) |
A static pdf radical-stroke index limited to just the Unihan
Core 2020 set. (This RS index page is seldom updated.) |
Full (43 MB) |
A static pdf radical-stroke index that covers the entire
unicode CJK ideograph repertoire for Unicode 16.0. |
The full radical-stroke index is a stable part of this release of the Unicode Standard. It will never be updated.
Unicode Standard Annexes
STATUS: During the alpha review and beta review periods,
links to individual UAXes (or UTSes) point to the proposed update for that document, if any.
If no proposed update has been posted for the document, links point to the last published
version of the document, for reference.
Links to the individual Unicode Standard Annexes for this
version are available in
Section I, List of Components below. The summary list of significant changes
in the content of each Unicode Standard Annex for Version 16.0 can be found
in Section G, Changes in the Unicode Standard Annexes below.
Unicode Character Database
STATUS: During the alpha review period, some of the data
files may not be posted. Later, during beta review, a complete set of consistent data files will
be posted, including data files associated with various Unicode Technical Standards.
Data files
for Version 16.0 of
the Unicode Character Database are available. The ReadMe.txt in that directory provides a roadmap
to the functions of the various subdirectories.
Detailed documentation about the data files can be found in
UAX #44, Unicode Character Database.
Zipped versions of the UCD
for bulk download are available, as well.
Version References
Version 16.0.0 of the Unicode Standard
should be referenced as:
The Unicode Consortium. The Unicode Standard, Version 16.0.0, (South San Francisco: The Unicode Consortium,
2024. ISBN 978-1-936213-34-4)
https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode16.0.0/
The terms “Version 16.0” or “Unicode 16.0” are abbreviations for the full version reference, Version 16.0.0.
The citation and permalink for the latest published version of the Unicode Standard is:
The Unicode Consortium. The Unicode Standard.
https://www.unicode.org/versions/latest/
A complete specification of the contributory files for Unicode
16.0 is found below in Section I, List of Components.
For examples of how to cite particular portions of the Unicode Standard, see also the Reference Examples.
Errata
Errata incorporated into Unicode 16.0 are listed by date in
a separate table. For corrigenda and errata after the release of Unicode 16.0, see the list of current
Updates and Errata.
C. Stability Policy Update
TBD
D. Textual Changes and Character Additions
Changes in the Unicode Standard Annexes are listed in Section G.
Character Assignment Overview
5187 characters have been added.
Most character additions are in new blocks, but there are also character additions to a number of existing blocks. For details, see the delta code charts.
New Blocks
There are nine newly-defined blocks in Version 16.0:
Range |
Block Name |
105C0..105FF |
Todhri |
10D40..10D8F |
Garay |
11380..113FF |
Tulu-Tigalari |
116D0..116FF |
Myanmar Extended-C |
11BC0..11BFF |
Sunuwar |
13460..1355F |
Egyptian Hieroglyphs Extended-A |
16100..1613F |
Gurung Khema |
16D40..16D7F |
Kirat Rai |
1CC00..1CEBF |
Symbols for Legacy Computing Supplement |
1E5D0..1E5FF |
Ol Onal |
E. Conformance Changes
There are no new conformance requirements for the core specification in Unicode 16.0.
F. Changes in the Unicode Character Database
The detailed listing of all changes to the contributory data files of the Unicode Character Database
for Version 16.0 can be found in
UAX #44, Unicode Character Database.
The changes listed there include character additions and property revisions to existing characters that will affect implementations.
Some of the important impacts on implementations migrating from earlier versions of the standard are highlighted in
Section M.
G. Changes in the Unicode Standard Annexes
In Version 16.0, some of the Unicode Standard Annexes have had significant revisions. The most important of these changes are listed below. For the full details of all changes, see the Modifications section
of each UAX, linked directly from the following list of UAXes.
Unicode Standard Annex |
Changes |
UAX #9 Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm
|
No significant changes in this version. |
UAX
#11 East Asian Width |
No significant changes in this version. |
UAX
#14 Unicode Line Breaking Algorithm |
The description of line break class AS was updated to mention that all
digits of scripts that use the Brahmic style of line breaking are assigned this class.
The documentation of plan 1 ranges defaulting to lb=ID was updated.
Most of Section 5.2 was moved to the core specification. The text of LB9 was
clarified. The regular expressions in LB28a were clarified. |
UAX
#15 Unicode Normalization Forms
|
No significant changes in this version. |
UAX
#24 Unicode Script Property
|
No significant changes in this version. |
UAX
#29 Unicode Text Segmentation |
The definition of GCB=V was updated to include Kirat Rai vowels. The
description of rules GB6 - GB8 was updated. |
UAX
#31 Unicode Identifiers and Syntax
|
A clarification was added that NFD must be applied before toNFKC_Casefold in order to correctly meet requirements UAX31-R4 and UAX-R5 with NFKC and full case folding. A reference to definition D147 of the Unicode Standard was added. |
UAX
#34 Unicode Named Character Sequences |
No significant changes in this version. |
UAX
#38 Unicode Han Database (Unihan) |
The sorting algorithm examples have been updated. The relationship between the Equivalent_Unified_Ideograph property and the Unihan database was clarified. A reference to the new RSIndex.txt data file was added. A new delimiter was added (semicolon). The delimiter of the kAccountingNumeric property was updated. The delimiter and syntax of the kDefinition property were changed. A description has been added for the new kFanqie property. The kFrequency property was removed. The syntax and description of the kPhonetic property were updated. The description of the kPrimaryNumeric property was updated. |
UAX
#41 Common References for Unicode Standard Annexes |
All references were updated for Unicode 16.0. |
UAX
#42 Unicode Character Database in XML |
New code point attributes, values, and patterns were added for Unicode 16.0. |
UAX
#44
Unicode Character Database |
The documentation was updated to describe the changes to the UCD for
Version 16.0.
Documentation was added for the new property Modifier_Combining_Mark. A clarification
was added regarding the derivation of Numeric_Value from various Unihan properties. |
UAX #45
U-Source Ideographs |
No significant changes in this version. |
UAX #50
Unicode Vertical Text Layout |
Section 3.2.4 and Table 2 were added to explain the tailoring of fullwidth
quotation marks. |
UAX #53
Unicode Arabic Mark Rendering |
This specification was changed from a UTR to a UAX for Unicode 16.0.
The image for Example 3 was corrected. An implementation note was added after
the description fo the algorithm. A section was added for U+10EFC ARABIC COMBINING ALEF OVERLAY. |
UAX #57
Unicode Egyptian Hieroglyph Database (Unikemet) |
This UAX is new for Unicode 16.0, and describes the Unikemet.txt data
file for the UCD. |
H. Changes in Synchronized Unicode Technical Standards
There are also significant revisions in the Unicode Technical Standards whose
versions are synchronized with the Unicode Standard. The most important of these changes are listed below.
For the full details of all changes, see the Modifications section
of each UTS, linked directly from the following list of UTSes.
Unicode Technical Standard |
Changes |
UTS #10 Unicode Collation Algorithm |
Table 18 in appendix B was extended to include a CTT Name column. Text was added
to Appendix B to enable ISO/IEC 14651 to refer to the CTT tables published (starting
with Unicode 16.0) on the Unicode website. A note was added to Section 10.1.3, Implicit Weights, explaining how the CTT for ISO/IEC 14651 uses the implicit weight calculated in Table 16. |
UTS #39 Unicode Security Mechanisms |
The definitions of skeleton and confusable were updated. |
UTS #46 Unicode IDNA Compatibility Processing |
No significant changes in this version. |
UTS #51 Unicode Emoji |
All references were updated for Unicode 16.0. |
I. List of Components
This section lists the components of Version 16.0.0 of the Unicode
Standard. The version numbering and the role of each component are
explained in
Versions of The Unicode Standard.
M. Implications for Migration
There are a significant number of changes in Unicode 16.0 which may impact implementations upgrading
to Version 16.0 from earlier versions of the standard. The most important of these are listed
and explained here, to help focus on the issues most likely to cause unexpected trouble during upgrades.
Core Specification Changes
The core specification has been completely revamped for Unicode 16.0.0.
The text has all been converted to HTML, and has been deployed on a self-contained
subsite. For alpha review, only the prototype subsite has been posted, to demonstrate the
new structure and navigation between chapters. For beta review, all of the current content will also
be rolled out and be available for review and comment. The text is no longer published
in per-chapter pdf files, but prior bookmarked links into those chapter files will resolve
correctly in the new per-chapter HTML files. An archival pdf version of the entire core
specification will be produced for the release, and will look and behave very similarly
to the corresponding archival pdf files for prior releases.
Script-related Changes
General Character Property Issues
- Starting with U+11F5A KAWI SIGN NUKTA in Unicode 16.0, newly encoded nukta characters use Canonical_Combining_Class (ccc) 0 or positional ccc values such as 220 or 230. Nukta characters encoded in earlier versions typically, but not always, use ccc=7. Software that needs to identify nuktas in Brahmic scripts should check for Indic_Syllabic_Category=Nukta.
Segmentation
Numeric Property Issues
CJK/Unihan Changes
See UAX
#38, Unicode Han Database (Unihan) for further details on these changes,
especially Section 4.2, Listing
by Date of Addition to the Unicode Standard, and Section 4.3, Listing by
Location within Unihan.zip.
UAX #38 also has updated regex values for numerous
Unihan properties.
UTS #46 (IDNA) Changes
Changes to Code Charts
Collation-related Changes
Emoji Changes
TBD. For details, see the Unicode 16.0 emoji charts and Emoji Recently Added, v16.0.