Encoding - the Cyrillic alphabet in your computer

The aim of this page is to help anybody who wants to understand what is really happening when the cyrillic alphabet is displayed on screen - and why sometimes it doesn't work as nicely as it should.

Warning: I'm not an expert on this matter. I've learned about the subject along with writing this page. All corrections are welcome.

First of all: this A is not an A

It is true that a computer can play music and display pictures. However, all a computer can store is numbers. All songs and images you have on the computer are, at the end of the day, a sequence of numbers written on the disk. After all, you can't wait too much from a simple box full of metal, plastic and silicon.

Not even text files are stored in memory directly as sequences of letters. They are also stored as sequences of numbers. Programs such as text editors or web browsers are programmed to read these numbers from disk and transform them into letters which are displayed on screen.

Wouldn't it be easier to store letters as letters? Not really. It is much easier to store numbers. Numbers are simple and universal. Letters are much more arbitrary.

Maybe you now understand what I mean when I say: this A is not an A. This A, as stored in the hard disk, is really a number (a 41, in fact) your web browser has translated into an understandable form for you. If you want to know which numbers correspond to the letters of the latin alphabet, google for ASCII charts. Make sure you see number 41 next to capital letter A. The encoding according to which letter 41 represents letter A in memory is called ASCII.

Which are the numbers for the Cyrillic letters?

Fortunately, all people nowadays use ASCII to represent letters in the computer. I mean, nobody has decided that it would be better to make a letter C appear on screen each time a 41 is read from disk, instead of the A most people use. Nobody has created an alternative encoding, and this is good because text files can be used in different computers without going through much trouble. There is a standard encoding to represent the latin alphabet.

Here come the bad news: there is not a standard encoding for representing Cyrillic letters in the computer.

Windows-1251

This is the chart for Windows-1251 encoding.

Letter	Hex	Dec	Letter	Hex	Dec	Letter	Hex	Dec	Letter	Hex	Dec	Letter	Hex	Dec	Letter	Hex	Dec
А	0xC0	192	К	0xCA	202	Х	0xD5	213	а	0xE0	224	к	0xEA	234	х	0xF5	245
Б	0xC1	193	Л	0xCB	203	Ц	0xD6	214	б	0xE1	225	л	0xEB	235	ц	0xF6	246
В	0xC2	194	М	0xCC	204	Ч	0xD7	215	в	0xE2	226	м	0xEC	236	ч	0xF7	247
Г	0xC3	195	Н	0xCD	205	Ш	0xD8	216	г	0xE3	227	н	0xED	237	ш	0xF8	248
Д	0xC4	196	О	0xCE	206	Щ	0xD9	217	д	0xE4	228	о	0xEE	238	щ	0xF9	249
Е	0xC5	197	П	0xCF	207	Ъ	0xDA	218	е	0xE5	229	п	0xEF	239	ъ	0xFA	250
Ё	0xA8	168	Р	0xD0	208	Ы	0xDB	219	ё	0xB8	184	р	0xF0	240	ы	0xFB	251
Ж	0xC6	198	С	0xD1	209	Ь	0xDC	220	ж	0xE6	230	с	0xF1	241	ь	0xFC	252
З	0xC7	199	Т	0xD2	210	Э	0xDD	221	з	0xE7	231	т	0xF2	242	э	0xFD	253
И	0xC8	200	У	0xD3	211	Ю	0xDE	222	и	0xE8	232	у	0xF3	243	ю	0xFE	254
Й	0xC9	201	Ф	0xD4	212	Я	0xDF	223	й	0xE9	233	ф	0xF4	244	я	0xFF	255

Each entry in the table has three columns: the Cyrillic letter and its numeric equivalent in the Windows-1251 encoding, which is a very common encoding (that's why I've shown you this chart). Both the decimal and hexadecimal representation of the letter appear on the chart. Decimal numbers are simply numbers as you know them. Hexadecimal numbers can be thought of as the numerical system we would use if we had 16 fingers (google for more detailed explanations). Hexadecimal is much more used than decimal in the encoding world, because it is more closely related to the system a computer uses to store numbers.

Look at the decimal column. Each Cyrillic letter, starting from А, has been assigned a number from 192 on. Only Ё and ё interrupt this sequence. Ё is a special letter, isn't it? It is always stressed, but Russians don't always write is with the two dots above, which means that one has to guess that a е isn't really an е but a soft o and has to be read like an o. But, sometimes, an е is really an ё which has lost the two dots and has to be read like an е... enough about this.

Sometimes, Russian looks like anything but Russian. Why?

Perhaps you have downloaded Russian music, and your playlist looks like this:

Perhaps you've come across pages looking like this while surfing in the Russian web (click to enlarge):

With what you know, you can make an educated guess of why this happens. This chart gives even more clues:

Windows-1252 Western alphabet

Letter	Hex	Dec	Letter	Hex	Dec	Letter	Hex	Dec	Letter	Hex	Dec	Letter	Hex	Dec	Letter	Hex	Dec
À	0xC0	192	Ê	0xCA	202	Õ	0xD5	213	à	0xE0	224	ê	0xEA	234	õ	0xF5	245
Á	0xC1	193	Ë	0xCB	203	Ö	0xD6	214	á	0xE1	225	ë	0xEB	235	ö	0xF6	246
Â	0xC2	194	Ì	0xCC	204	×	0xD7	215	â	0xE2	226	ì	0xEC	236	÷	0xF7	247
Ã	0xC3	195	Í	0xCD	205	Ø	0xD8	216	ã	0xE3	227	í	0xED	237	ø	0xF8	248
Ä	0xC4	196	Î	0xCE	206	Ù	0xD9	217	ä	0xE4	228	î	0xEE	238	ù	0xF9	249
Å	0xC5	197	Ï	0xCF	207	Ú	0xDA	218	å	0xE5	229	ï	0xEF	239	ú	0xFA	250
¨	0xA8	168	Ð	0xD0	208	Û	0xDB	219	¸	0xB8	184	ð	0xF0	240	û	0xFB	251
Æ	0xC6	198	Ñ	0xD1	209	Ü	0xDC	220	æ	0xE6	230	ñ	0xF1	241	ü	0xFC	252
Ç	0xC7	199	Ò	0xD2	210	Ý	0xDD	221	ç	0xE7	231	ò	0xF2	242	ý	0xFD	253
È	0xC8	200	Ó	0xD3	211	Þ	0xDE	222	è	0xE8	232	ó	0xF3	243	þ	0xFE	254
É	0xC9	201	Ô	0xD4	212	ß	0xDF	223	é	0xE9	233	ô	0xF4	244	ÿ	0xFF	255

Read the title of this chart. Do you get it?

UTF-8

UTF-8 is what this site uses to represent Cyrillic. Here is the chart:

Letter	Hex	Dec	Letter	Hex	Dec	Letter	Hex	Dec	Letter	Hex	Dec	Letter	Hex	Dec	Letter	Hex	Dec
А	U+0410	1040	К	U+041A	1050	Х	U+0425	1061	а	U+0430	1072	к	U+043A	1082	х	U+0445	1093
Б	U+0411	1041	Л	U+041B	1051	Ц	U+0426	1062	б	U+0431	1073	л	U+043B	1083	ц	U+0446	1094
В	U+0412	1042	М	U+041C	1052	Ч	U+0427	1063	в	U+0432	1074	м	U+043C	1084	ч	U+0447	1095
Г	U+0413	1043	Н	U+041D	1053	Ш	U+0428	1064	г	U+0433	1075	н	U+043D	1085	ш	U+0448	1096
Д	U+0414	1044	О	U+041E	1054	Щ	U+0429	1065	д	U+0434	1076	о	U+043E	1086	щ	U+0449	1097
Е	U+0415	1045	П	U+041F	1055	Ъ	U+042A	1066	е	U+0435	1077	п	U+043F	1087	ъ	U+044A	1098
Ё	U+0401	1025	Р	U+0420	1056	Ы	U+042B	1067	ё	U+0451	1105	р	U+0440	1088	ы	U+044B	1099
Ж	U+0416	1046	С	U+0421	1057	Ь	U+042C	1068	ж	U+0436	1078	с	U+0441	1089	ь	U+044C	1100
З	U+0417	1047	Т	U+0422	1058	Э	U+042D	1069	з	U+0437	1079	т	U+0442	1090	э	U+044D	1101
И	U+0418	1048	У	U+0423	1059	Ю	U+042E	1070	и	U+0438	1080	у	U+0443	1091	ю	U+044E	1102
Й	U+0419	1049	Ф	U+0424	1060	Я	U+042F	1071	й	U+0439	1081	ф	U+0444	1092	я	U+044F	1103

Observe that Ё and ё are exceptions - again.

By the way, if you ask "which letters are represented by numbers 192 to 255 (or, in hexadecimal, C0 to FF) in this UTF-8 encoding?" the answer is "Look at the previous second table".

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