What are the potential pitfalls of assuming a default encoding format in PHP scripts, especially when interacting with web forms or APIs?

Assuming a default encoding format in PHP scripts can lead to issues with data corruption or incorrect interpretation of characters, especially when interacting with web forms or APIs that may use different encoding standards. To avoid this problem, it's important to explicitly set the encoding format in your PHP scripts to ensure consistent handling of data.

// Set the default encoding format to UTF-8
mb_internal_encoding('UTF-8');