Microsoft code pages
How Microsoft code pages works
Microsoft's Windows code pages (CP1250-CP1258) succeeded DOS code pages in the Windows 3.1 era. Each covers a different language region: CP1250 for Central European, CP1251 for Cyrillic, CP1252 for Western European, CP1253 for Greek, CP1254 for Turkish, CP1255 for Hebrew, CP1256 for Arabic, CP1257 for Baltic, CP1258 for Vietnamese.
CP1252 is the most widely encountered because it was the default for English and Western European Windows installations for decades. It is nearly identical to ISO-8859-1, differing only in positions 128-159 where Microsoft added curly quotes, the euro sign, and other typographic characters. Compare all Windows code pages in our side-by-side reference or see how they differ from ISO standards on the comparison page.
CP1252 is the most widely encountered because it was the default for English and Western European Windows installations for decades. It is nearly identical to ISO-8859-1, differing only in positions 128-159 where Microsoft added curly quotes, the euro sign, and other typographic characters. Compare all Windows code pages in our side-by-side reference or see how they differ from ISO standards on the comparison page.