Afin de fournir aux auteurs un moyen plus intuitif pour appeler les caractères du jeu de caractères du document, HTML propose un ensemble de références d'entités de caractères. Les références d'entités de caractères utilisent des noms symboliques de sorte que les auteurs n'aient pas à se remémorer les positions des codes. Par exemple, la référence d'entité de caractère å (se rapporte à la lettre "a" minuscule surmontée d'un anneau; "å") il est plus facile de se remémorer que å.
Les références d'entités de caractères sont sensibles à la casse. Ainsi, « Å » (A majuscule, anneau; Å) ne se rapporte pas au même caractère que « å » (a minuscule, anneau; å).
| Description | Caractère | Code numérique | Code texte | Description | Caractère | Code numérique | Code texte |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| no-break space |   | | ampersand | & | & | & | |
| middle dot | · | · | · | plus-minus sign | ± | ± | ± |
| multiplication sign | × | × | × | division sign | ÷ | ÷ | ÷ |
| asymptotic to, almost equal to | ≈ | ≈ | ≈ | partial differential | ∂ | ∂ | ∂ |
| sum of | ∑ | ∑ | ∑ | integral | ∫ | ∫ | ∫ |
| infinity | ∞ | ∞ | ∞ | square root | √ | √ | √ |
| per mille sign | ‰ | ‰ | ‰ | double arrow right (implies) | ⇒ | ⇒ | ⇒ |
| arrow left | ← | ← | ← | arrow right | → | → | → |
| arrow up | ↑ | ↑ | ↑ | arrow down | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ |
| less than | < | < | < | greater than | > | > | > |
| right-pointing | » | » | » | left-pointing | « | « | « |
| double quote | " | " | " | degree sign | ° | ° | ° |
| en dash | – | – | – | equivalence, identical to | ≡ | ≡ | ≡ |
| copyright sign | © | © | © | registered sign | ® | ® | ® |
| euro sign | € | € | € | pound sign | £ | £ | £ |
| inverted exclamation mark | ¡ | ¡ | ¡ | inverted question mark | ¿ | ¿ | ¿ |
| Description | Caractère | Code numérique | Code texte | Description | Caractère | Code numérique | Code texte |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| capital letter A with grave | À | À | À | small letter a with grave | à | à | à |
| capital letter A with acute | Á | Á | Á | small letter a with acute | á | á | á |
| capital letter A with circumflex | Â | Â | Â | small letter a with circumflex | â | â | â |
| capital letter A with tilde | Ã | Ã | Ã | small letter a with tilde | ã | ã | ã |
| capital letter A with diaeresis | Ä | Ä | Ä | small letter a with diaeresis | ä | ä | ä |
| capital letter A with ring above | Å | Å | Å | small letter a with ring above | å | å | å |
| capital letter AE dipthong | Æ | Æ | Æ | small letter ae dipthong | æ | æ | æ |
| capital letter C with cedilla | Ç | Ç | Ç | small letter c with cedilla | ç | ç | ç |
| capital letter E with grave | È | È | È | small letter e with grave | è | è | è |
| capital letter E with acute | É | É | É | small letter e with acute | é | é | é |
| capital letter E with circumflex | Ê | Ê | Ê | small letter e with circumflex | ê | ê | ê |
| capital letter E with diaeresis | Ë | Ë | Ë | small letter e with diaeresis | ë | ë | ë |
| capital letter I with grave | Ì | Ì | Ì | small letter i with grave | ì | ì | ì |
| capital letter I with acute | Í | Í | Í | small letter i with acute | í | í | í |
| capital letter I with circumflex | Î | Î | Î | small letter i with circumflex | î | î | î |
| capital letter I with diaeresis | Ï | Ï | Ï | small letter i with diaeresis | ï | ï | ï |
| Capital N, tilde mark | Ñ | Ñ | Ñ | Small N, tilde mark | ñ | ñ | ñ |
| capital letter O with grave | Ò | Ò | Ò | small letter o with grave | ò | ò | ò |
| capital letter O with acute | Ó | Ó | Ó | small letter o with acute | ó | ó | ó |
| capital letter O with circumflex | Ô | Ô | Ô | small letter o with circumflex | ô | ô | ô |
| capital letter O with tilde | Õ | Õ | Õ | small letter o with tilde | õ | õ | õ |
| capital letter O with diaeresis | Ö | Ö | Ö | small letter o with diaeresis | ö | ö | ö |
| capital letter o with stroke | Ø | Ø | Ø | small letter o with stroke | ø | ø | ø |
| capital letter U with grave | Ù | Ù | Ù | small letter u with grave | ù | ù | ù |
| capital letter U with acute | Ú | Ú | Ú | small letter u with acute | ú | ú | ú |
| capital letter U with circumflex | Û | Û | Û | small letter u with circumflex | û | û | û |
| capital letter U with diaeresis | Ü | Ü | Ü | small letter u with diaeresis | ü | ü | ü |
| capital letter Y with acute | Ý | Ý | Ý | small letter y with acute | ý | ý | ý |
| capital letter Y with diaeresis | Ÿ | ß | Ÿ | small letter y with diaeresis | ÿ | ÿ | ÿ |
| micro sign | µ | µ | µ | small letter sharp s | ß | ß | ß |
| Description | Caractère | Code numérique | Code texte | Description | Caractère | Code numérique | Code texte |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| capital letter Alpha | Α | Α | Α | small letter alpha | α | α | α |
| capital letter Beta | Β | Β | Β | small letter beta | β | β | β |
| capital letter Gamma | Γ | Γ | Γ | small letter gamma | γ | γ | γ |
| capital letter Delta | Δ | Δ | Δ | small letter delta | δ | δ | δ |
| capital letter Epsilon | Ε | Ε | Ε | small letter epsilon | ε | ε | ε |
| capital letter Zeta | Ζ | Ζ | Ζ | small letter zeta | ζ | ζ | ζ |
| capital letter Eta | Η | Η | Η | small letter eta | η | η | η |
| capital letter Theta | Θ | Θ | Θ | small letter theta | θ | θ | θ |
| capital letter Iota | Ι | Ι | Ι | small letter iota | ι | ι | ι |
| capital letter Kappa | Κ | Κ | Κ | small letter kappa | κ | κ | κ |
| capital letter Lambda | Λ | Λ | Λ | small letter lambda | λ | λ | λ |
| capital letter Mu | Μ | Μ | Μ | small letter mu | μ | μ | μ |
| capital letter Nu | Ν | Ν | Ν | small letter nu | ν | ν | ν |
| capital letter Xi | Ξ | Ξ | Ξ | small letter xi | ξ | ξ | ξ |
| capital letter Omicron | Ο | Ο | Ο | small letter omicron | ο | ο | ο |
| capital letter Pi | Π | Π | Π | small letter pi | π | π | π |
| capital letter Rho | Ρ | Ρ | Ρ | small letter rho | ρ | ρ | ρ |
| capital letter Sigma | Σ | Σ | Σ | small letter sigma | σ | σ | σ |
| capital letter Tau | Τ | Τ | Τ | small letter tau | τ | τ | τ |
| capital letter Upsilon | Υ | Υ | Υ | small letter upsilon | υ | υ | υ |
| capital letter Phi | Φ | Φ | Φ | small letter phi | φ | φ | φ |
| capital letter Chi | Χ | Χ | Χ | small letter chi | χ | χ | χ |
| capital letter Psi | Ψ | Ψ | Ψ | small letter psi | ψ | ψ | ψ |
| capital letter Omega | Ω | Ω | Ω | small letter omega | ω | ω | ω |
Un agent utilisateur n'est pas toujours en mesure de restituer de manière significative tous les caractères d'un document, par exemple, si l'agent utilisateur ne dispose pas d'une police appropriée, la valeur d'un caractère peut ne pas s'exprimer au travers de l'encodage de caractères interne de l'agent utilisateur, etc.