MySQL and MariaDB Character Set Changes: When Was utf8mb4 Introduced and utf8_general_ci Replaced?

 

The change from "utf8" to "utf8mb4" and the corresponding replacement of "utf8_general_ci" with "utf8mb4_general_ci" occurred in different versions for MySQL and MariaDB.

For MySQL, the "utf8mb4" character set was introduced in version 5.5.3, which was released in 2010. However, it was not made the default character set until version 5.7.8, which was released in 2015. From that point on, "utf8mb4" became the recommended character set for MySQL going forward.

For MariaDB, the "utf8mb4" character set was introduced in version 10.0.1, which was released in 2014. Like MySQL, it was made the default character set in a later version, specifically version 10.2.4, which was released in 2017.

So, to summarize, the first versions of MySQL and MariaDB that introduced the "utf8mb4" character set and replaced "utf8_general_ci" with "utf8mb4_general_ci" were:

• MySQL: "utf8mb4" was introduced in version 5.5.3 and made the default in version 5.7.8.
• MariaDB: "utf8mb4" was introduced in version 10.0.1 and made the default in version 10.2.4.