What are the potential pitfalls of saving PHP files with a UTF-8 BOM, and how can this impact file downloads and compatibility with other programs?

Saving PHP files with a UTF-8 BOM can cause issues with file downloads and compatibility with other programs because the BOM characters can be interpreted as output before the actual PHP code, leading to errors or unexpected behavior. To solve this issue, you should save PHP files without the UTF-8 BOM.

// Save PHP files without UTF-8 BOM to avoid compatibility issues