# of bytes used to store a Unicode character

[insearchofanswers87]

I read somewhere that Python 3 uses 2 or 4 byte Unicode characters depending on how the particular implementation was built.

1. Does Python 3 always use 2 or 4 bytes by default?

2. How can I check my system to determine which size is actually being used?

Thanks.

[ichabod801]

By default, Python 3.0+ uses UTF-8. UTF-8 does not have a consistent character width. Details on the default are here.

[insearchofanswers87]

do you happen to know whether any python implementations default to an encoding other than UTF-8?

[ichabod801]

I have no idea.