Why does the Java char primitive take up 2 bytes of memory?

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When Java was originally designed, it was anticipated that any Unicode character would fit in 2 bytes (16 bits), so char and Character were designed accordingly. In fact, a Unicode character can now require up to 4 bytes. Thus, UTF-16, the internal Java encoding, requires supplementary characters use 2 code units. Characters in the Basic Multilingual Plane (the most common ones) still use 1. A Java char is used for each code unit. This Sun article explains it well.

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