[1] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

eight-bit clean
     
         a term which describes a system that deals
        correctly with extended character sets which unlike ascii
        use all eight bits of a byte.  many programs and
        communications systems assume that all characters have codes
        in the range 0 to 127.  this leaves the top bit of each byte
        free for use as a parity bit or some kind of flag bit.
        these assumptions break down when the program is used in some
        non-english-speaking countries with larger alphabets.
     
        if a binary file is transmitted via a communications link
        which is not eight-bit clean, it will be corrupted.  to combat
        this you can encode it with uuencode which uses only ascii
        characters.  there are some links however which are not even
        "seven-bit clean" and cause problems even for uuencoded data.
     
        1995-01-05
     
     
see also:
character sets bits byte parity flag bit uuencode 
ascii 

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