What does ANSI stand for? It stands for the American National Standards Institute, a private nonprofit group that oversees and coordinates voluntary standards in the United States. Standards are shared rules for how products, tests and systems should work, from the strength of safety glasses to the layout of a keyboard.
ANSI does not write most of those rules itself. Instead, it accredits the trade groups and professional societies that do, checks that their process is open and fair, and approves the results as American National Standards. It also speaks for the US in international standards bodies.
Quick facts
Stands for
American National Standards InstituteType
Acronym, said AN-seeWhat it is
A private nonprofit, not a government agencyStarted
1918, under an earlier nameSeen on
Safety glasses, hard hats, signs, keyboards, software settingsRelated terms
ISO, ASTM, OSHA, ASCII
What does ANSI stand for? Letters and sound
Line the name up under the letters: American, National, Standards, Institute. People say it as one word, "AN-see," and that spoken form is why it gets filed with acronyms.
The group began in 1918 as the American Engineering Standards Committee, formed by engineering societies and government departments that wanted one place to coordinate standards. It changed names more than once over the decades before settling on American National Standards Institute in 1969.
What ANSI actually does
- Accredits standards developers: groups such as engineering societies and industry associations follow ANSI rules for openness, balance and due process.
- Approves American National Standards: a standard that passes this process can carry the ANSI label.
- Represents the US abroad: ANSI is the US member of the International Organization for Standardization, known as ISO.
- Accredits testing and certification programs: so that a claim like "meets the standard" means something.
Using an ANSI standard is voluntary in itself. It becomes required when a law, a building code or a contract points to it. For example, workplace safety rules from OSHA refer to certain ANSI standards for protective gear.
ANSI codes you might see on products
Approved standards carry a code made of letters and numbers. A few show up in everyday life:
| Code | What it covers | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|
| Z87.1 | Eye and face protection | Stamped on safety glasses and goggles |
| Z89.1 | Industrial head protection | Labels inside hard hats |
| Z535 | Safety signs and colors | DANGER, WARNING and CAUTION signs |
| A117.1 | Accessible buildings | Building plans and codes |
On a pair of safety glasses: the frame is marked "Z87+." That tells a supervisor the glasses meet the ANSI eye protection standard for high impact use.
ANSI in computers and software
Tech users see the letters in a few places that have little to do with hard hats:
- ANSI keyboard: the common US layout with a wide, short Enter key, as opposed to the taller ISO style Enter key used in much of Europe.
- ANSI C and ANSI SQL: versions of the C programming language and of SQL that were set as standards.
- ANSI escape codes: hidden sequences that color text or move the cursor in a terminal window.
- "ANSI" text encoding: an option in some text editors. The name is loose. It usually means an older, region specific character set, not a true ANSI standard. Modern files are safer in UTF-8.
The basic character set known as ASCII was first published by the same organization under an earlier name. More computer terms live in the tech acronyms section.
ANSI vs ISO, ASTM and NIST
- ISO is the worldwide standards body. ANSI is the US member and helps shape its work.
- ASTM is a standards developer that writes thousands of test methods and material specs. Many of its documents are also approved through the ANSI process.
- NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, is a federal agency focused on measurement science. ANSI is private.
A simple way to remember it: ANSI sets the rules for writing standards, while groups like ASTM do much of the writing.
Questions people ask
Is ANSI a government agency?
No. ANSI is a private nonprofit organization. Government agencies take part in its work and often cite its standards in their own rules.
What does ANSI Z87.1 mean?
It is the American National Standard for eye and face protection. Safety glasses marked Z87 meet its tests for impact and coverage.
What does ANSI mean on a keyboard?
It refers to the common US keyboard layout, which has a wide horizontal Enter key and a long left Shift key.
How do you pronounce ANSI?
Say it as one word, "AN-see." Spelling out the letters is rare.
What is the difference between ANSI and ISO?
ANSI coordinates standards within the United States. ISO is the international body, and ANSI represents the US there.