---
title: Which characters make my message Unicode, and which ones count as two?
description: "Two separate things affect your message length: whether a character is in the GSM character set, and whether it is an extended character that occupies two slots. ## Characters that switch the message to Unicode Anything outside the standard GSM…"
url: "https://www.smsgatewaycenter.com/blog/kb/which-characters-make-my-message-unicode-and-which-ones-count-as-two/"
updated: "2026-10-28"
category: "Bulk SMS / Message Length & Encoding"
---

# Which characters make my message Unicode, and which ones count as two?

Two separate things affect your message length: whether a character is in the GSM character set, and whether it is an extended character that occupies two slots.

## Characters that switch the message to Unicode

Anything outside the standard GSM character set, including:

- **Indian language text** — Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and so on
- **Emoji** and symbols such as ✓, ★, →
- **Curly quotes and dashes** — ' ' " " – — which Word, Google Docs and Excel insert automatically in place of plain ones
- **Accented letters** not in the GSM set
- **Rupee and other currency symbols** apart from a few the GSM set includes

One such character makes the entire message Unicode, cutting the limit from 160 to 70.

## Characters that count as two

These are in the GSM set, so they don't force Unicode, but each takes **two** character slots:

`[` `]` `` `^` `{` `}` `|` `~` `€` and every **line break**.

A message with five line breaks has already spent ten characters on formatting.

## Seeing exactly what you have

Open **Extra > SMS Length Calculator** and paste your message. The **Detailed View of SMS Build-up** shows every character as a coloured square: **green** for a normal GSM character, **red** for one that needs Unicode. The red squares are the ones to replace. The page also lists the full GSM character set for reference.

## The quickest fix for accidental Unicode

Retype quotes, apostrophes and dashes directly in the panel rather than pasting them, or paste into a plain-text editor first. The send box replaces curly quotes with plain ones automatically, but other pasted characters pass through untouched.

### More Related Articles

- [Why was my message charged as more than one SMS?](https://www.smsgatewaycenter.com/blog/kb/why-was-my-message-charged-as-more-than-one-sms/)
- [How many characters fit in one SMS?](https://www.smsgatewaycenter.com/blog/kb/how-many-characters-fit-in-one-sms/)

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