This module converts strings from and to 2-byte Unicode UCS2 format. All mappings happen via 2 byte UTF16 encodings, not via 1 byte UTF8 encoding. To transform these use Unicode::String. This module can't deal directly with utf8. Use Unicode::String to convert utf8 to utf16 and vice versa. Character mapping is according to the data of binary mapfiles in Unicode::Map hierarchy. Binary mapfiles can also be created with this module, enabling you to install own specific character sets.