Unicode 18.0.0

How is the replacement character different from a missing glyph?

U+FFFD is a real character. It is used when bytes or code units could not be decoded. Code points: U+FFFD. A hollow box, a hex box, or a boxed question mark drawn by a font is not this character. Copying that box does not put U+FFFD in the string. No fallback is suggested. Font coverage, shaping, and application acceptance were not tested, so those results are unknown.

Code points

� U+FFFD

What was checked

Replacement character

U+FFFD is a real character. It is used when bytes or code units could not be decoded.

A hollow box, a hex box, or a boxed question mark drawn by a font is not this character. Copying that box does not put U+FFFD in the string.

Inspect the code points. If the string contains U+FFFD, repair the original bytes. If it contains another scalar that only looks like a box, the font lacks a glyph for that scalar.

What this does not prove

No OS, font, browser, application, field policy or rendering engine was tested. Unicode validity and segmentation do not establish actual display or acceptance.

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