References

Beginner-friendly references for web development, with live, editable examples.

The HTML charset attribute

Attribute All modern browsers Updated
Quick answer

The HTML charset attribute declares the character encoding of the HTML document. It is used on the <meta> element.

Overview

The charset attribute declares the document character encoding. It is used on document head elements like <meta>, <link> and <script>.

It belongs to the document head — metadata, stylesheet and script loading, encoding and resource hints. These attributes shape how the page is interpreted and how efficiently its resources load.

Syntax

<meta charset="utf-8">

Values

Value
A character-encoding label — always utf-8 for modern documents.

Best practices

  • Declare the character encoding with <meta charset="utf-8"> first in the <head>.
  • Load scripts with defer (or as modules) so they do not block parsing.
  • Protect third-party resources with integrity and crossorigin (Subresource Integrity).
  • Use resource hints like preload deliberately, paired with the right as value.

Frequently asked questions

What does the charset attribute do?
Declares the document character encoding.
Where do head attributes apply?
On the metadata elements in the <head> — <meta>, <link>, <script> and <base>.
What is the difference between async and defer?
async runs a script as soon as it loads in no set order; defer runs scripts in order after the document is parsed.
Which elements use the charset attribute?
It is an element-specific attribute, used on document head elements like <meta>, <link> and <script>.
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