Foundation or terminal standard

CHARSET

Telnet Charset Option

Widely used Documented current use

Negotiates the character encoding used for session text, with UTF-8 the practical modern target.

Protocol overview

First seen: 1997
Present-day status: Widely used
In use today?: Yes, with documented current use.
Legacy?: No.
Layer: Foundation or terminal standard
Transport: Telnet option 42
Telnet option: 42
Research validated: 2026-08-29

Current use and fit

Common in current protocol-capable engines and clients.

Implementation essentials

Prefer UTF-8 and negotiate before relying on non-ASCII text.
Keep Telnet and option framing byte-oriented.

Compatibility and safety notes

A selected encoding does not change protocol control-byte rules.
Handle clients that decline or misreport support.

Original specifications and sources

RFC 2066 Charset Option Standard

Where an original site has disappeared, a preservation archive is linked and identified as such. MUDVerse does not claim authorship of the original protocol.