MySQL 8.0 Reference Manual
MySQL 8.0 Release Notes
utf8 has been used by MySQL is an alias for
the utf8mb3 character set, but this usage is
being phased out; as of MySQL 8.0.28, SHOW
statements and columns of Information Schema tables display
utf8mb3 instead. For more information, see
Section 1.9.2, “The utf8mb3 Character Set (3-Byte UTF-8 Unicode Encoding)”.
Note
The utf8mb3 character set is deprecated and
you should expect it to be removed in a future MySQL release.
Please use utf8mb4 instead.
utf8 is currently an alias for
utf8mb3, but it is now deprecated as such,
and utf8 is expected subsequently to become
a reference to utf8mb4. Beginning with
MySQL 8.0.28, utf8mb3 is also displayed in
place of utf8 in columns of Information
Schema tables, and in the output of SQL
SHOW statements.
To avoid ambiguity about the meaning of
utf8, consider specifying
utf8mb4 explicitly for character set
references.