Is `utf8` in MariaDB still `utf8mb3`?

Question

From MySQL 8 is utf8 charset really 4byte utf8mb4 and not 3byte utf8mb3, but what about MariaDB?

Does MariaDB got the same update in some version?

Is it safe to use utf8 when we need to save characters like emojis nowadays with latest MariaDB/MySQL servers?

user_476 · Answer

utf8 is still utf8mb3, and only utf8mb4 is actual UTF-8. See the documentation:

This is unlikely to ever change, since it breaks the behaviour of existing code.