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Unicode vs Bamini: Understanding the Difference

Learn about the differences between Unicode Tamil and Bamini font encoding

Understanding the difference between Unicode and Bamini is essential for working with Tamil digital content.

What is Unicode Tamil?

Unicode is the universal character encoding standard that assigns a unique number to every character across all writing systems. Unicode Tamil was officially standardized in the 1990s and has become the global standard for Tamil text.

Benefits of Unicode Tamil:

  • Universal Compatibility - Works across all modern devices and platforms
  • Search Engine Friendly - Properly indexed by Google and other search engines
  • Future-Proof - Supported by all modern software and will continue to be supported
  • Accessibility - Compatible with screen readers and assistive technologies
  • No Font Dependency - Text displays correctly regardless of which font is installed

What is Bamini Font?

Bamini is a legacy Tamil font encoding system developed before Unicode became widespread. It was one of several proprietary encoding systems (including TAM, TSCII, and others) used in Tamil computing during the 1990s and early 2000s.

Characteristics of Bamini:

  • Font-Dependent - Requires the Bamini font to be installed to display correctly
  • Regional Popularity - Still widely used in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka
  • Legacy Systems - Many old documents and databases use Bamini encoding
  • Limited Compatibility - Doesn't work properly on devices without the Bamini font

Why Convert Between Them?

From Bamini to Unicode:

  • Modernize your content for better compatibility
  • Improve search engine visibility
  • Ensure long-term accessibility
  • Enable mobile device compatibility
  • Comply with government digital standards

From Unicode to Bamini:

  • Maintain compatibility with legacy systems
  • Work with older software that doesn't support Unicode
  • Share content with users who prefer Bamini
  • Print documents using Bamini-specific layouts

The Migration Challenge

Many organizations in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka have decades of content stored in Bamini format. Converting this content to Unicode is essential for:

  • Digital preservation
  • Web accessibility
  • Mobile app development
  • Modern content management systems
  • International collaboration

UniTamil makes this migration process simple and accurate, handling the complex character mapping automatically.