Bijoy vs. Unicode: Which is Better for Typing Bangla?
A deep dive into the two most popular methods for typing Bengali, helping you choose the right one for your needs.
The Short Answer
For almost all modern uses—websites, social media, email, and documents—Unicode is the clear winner. It is the universal standard that works everywhere without special fonts. Bijoy, while historically important, is an older, font-based system best suited for legacy print design (DTP) workflows.
What is Bijoy? (The Legacy System)
Bijoy is a keyboard layout and software system developed by Mustafa Jabbar. It maps Bengali characters onto an English (ASCII) keyboard. To see the text correctly, you must have a specific Bijoy font like SutonnyMJ installed. Without the font, the text appears as garbled English letters.
How Bijoy Works
This is what you type and store.
How It Displays (with font)
The font makes it look like "আমার বাংলা".
Pros of Bijoy:
- Dominance in Print: Still widely used in the Bangladeshi print and publishing industry.
- Familiarity: Many professional typists have used it for decades and are very fast with it.
Cons of Bijoy:
- Font Dependent: Text is not portable. If the recipient doesn't have the font, it's unreadable.
- Not Web-Friendly: Cannot be reliably used on websites, in databases, or for search.
- Proprietary: Requires licensed software for the full keyboard layout.
What is Unicode? (The Modern Standard)
Unicode is a global standard that assigns a unique number to every character, no matter the platform or language. For Bengali, this means that the character 'ক' has the same code (U+0995) on every computer, phone, and website in the world. Modern keyboards like Avro use Unicode by default.
How Unicode Works
The text is stored and displayed universally. It works on any device with a standard font.
Pros of Unicode:
- Universal: Works on all devices and platforms (Windows, Mac, Android, iOS).
- Web Standard: Essential for websites, social media, and search engines.
- Font Independent: Displays correctly with any Unicode-compliant font (like Kalpurush, SolaimanLipi, Noto Sans Bengali).
- Free and Open: The standard is free, and many excellent typing tools (like Avro) are available for free.
Cons of Unicode:
- Legacy DTP Issues: Some older versions of design software used in the print industry may have compatibility issues with Unicode's complex script rendering.
Comparison Table: Bijoy vs. Unicode
| Feature | Bijoy | Unicode |
|---|---|---|
| Portability | Poor (Requires specific fonts) | Excellent (Universal) |
| Web & Social Media | Not suitable | Standard |
| Primary Use Case | Legacy Print/DTP | Digital Communication (Web, Apps) |
| Cost | Commercial software | Free and open standard |
Conclusion: Which Should You Use?
For 99% of users today, the choice is simple: use Unicode. It is the modern, future-proof standard for Bengali. If you are a professional in the print industry using older software, you may still need Bijoy. For everyone else, learning to type with a Unicode keyboard like Avro is the best investment.
Need to switch between formats? Our free converter makes it easy.
Convert Bijoy ↔ Unicode