catflap.org Online Dictionary Query

  eight-bit clean
       
           A term which describes a system that deals
          correctly with extended character sets which (unlike ASCII)
          use all eight bits of a byte.  Many programs and
          communications systems assume that all characters have codes
          in the range 0 to 127.  This leaves the top bit of each byte
          free for use as a parity bit or some kind of flag bit.
          These assumptions break down when the program is used in some
          non-english-speaking countries with larger alphabets.
       
          If a binary file is transmitted via a communications link
          which is not eight-bit clean, it will be corrupted.  To combat
          this you can encode it with uuencode which uses only ASCII
          characters.  There are some links however which are not even
          "seven-bit clean" and cause problems even for uuencoded data.
       
          (1995-01-05)