Character encoding schemes are systems that assign specific numerical values to characters, allowing computers to store and manipulate text. For example, the ASCII encoding scheme uses numbers from 0 to 127 to represent English letters, digits, and some symbols. This enables consistent communication between different devices and software. Another common encoding scheme is UTF-8, which can represent a much wider range of characters, including those from various languages and special symbols. UTF-8 is backward compatible with ASCII, making it a popular choice for web content and applications, ensuring that text appears correctly across different platforms.