Whether the varchar length in MySQL is a byte or a character

Today in the design of the table, there is a small problem, because do not know how long the future will be stored data (data is provided through the third-party HTTP interface, according to sample display, the data is probably as follows:)

That is, 6 characters.

When I was designing the table, I hesitated, and was prepared to design varchar (6), but the fear was that it would be a byte-count, which would lead to a deposit. (Database with UTF8 encoding)

So I tried it myself,

Can hold 5 UTF8 characters. It seems that MySQL's varchar is calculated according to the characters.

And then look at the answers on the Web:

That is, before version4, by byte;

After Version5, press the character.

Whether the varchar length in MySQL is a byte or a character