Unicode 17.0 Alpha Review Opens for Feedback

The repertoire for Unicode Version 17.0 is now open for early review and comment. During alpha review, the repertoire is reasonably mature and stable but is not yet completely locked down. Discussion regarding whether certain characters should be removed from the repertoire for publication is welcome. Character names and code point assignments are reasonably firm, but suggestions for improvement may still be considered.

For the alpha review, preliminary data files are also available, with data covering existing and new character repertoire. In addition, a draft for the core specification is available, with new block descriptions for some of the newly added blocks and scripts.

The primary focus for the alpha review should be on the new character repertoire. This early review is provided so that reviewers may consider the repertoire and data file issues prior to the start of beta review (currently scheduled to start in May 2025). Once beta review begins, the repertoire, code points, and character names will all be locked down, and no longer be subject to changes.

Notable Changes

The planned repertoire for Unicode 17.0 adds 4,836 new characters, bringing the total number of characters to 159,834. The most significant addition for this release is the new CJK Unified Ideographs Extension J block with 4,298 characters. Also added are five new scripts: Beria Erfe, Chisoi, Sidetic, Tolong Siki, and Tai Yo. See The Pipeline and the delta code charts for details.

In addition to new characters, 46 standardized variation sequences will be added for rotational variants of Egyptian Hieroglyphs and “Sibe” forms of quotation marks.

Unicode Emoji 17.0 will include eight new emoji characters plus additional RGI sequences—see PRI #515 Unicode Emoji 17.0 Alpha Repertoire.

Feedback for the alpha review should be reported under PRI #514 using the Unicode contact form by April 2, 2025.