Encoding a page in UTF-8

Question

What exactly is meant by encoding a page ? I mean when someone says page is encoded in UTF-8 or some other format say EUC-KR, what does that mean? Is it referring to some server-side thing or client-side encoding ? Is it the data which is rendered within the HTML OR to the HTML code which is rendered ?

Answer 1

It's the data itself. The page's data is just a sequence of bits, and the encoding is what programs use to interpret the bits.

So I guess it's a server-side thing. The server sends the data, and based on the encoding (chosen by the server), the client can decide how to appropriately display it.