WebClient Unicode - Which UTF8?

Question

When I create a WebClient to consume some RESTful xml, I can specify the unicode encoding 2 ways:

WebClient wc = new WebClient ();
wc.Encoding = Encoding.UTF8;
wc.Encoding = UTF8Encoding.UTF8;

Which is correct/better ?

Answer 1

They're identical.

UTF8Encoding inherits Encoding .
Therefore, you can access all of the static members declared by Encoding through the UTF8Encoding qualifier.

In fact, you can even write ASCIIEncoding.UTF8 , and it will still work.

It will compile to identical IL, even in debug mode.

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I would recommend using Encoding.UTF8 , as it shows what's going on more clearly.