What role does the UTF-8 format play in ensuring the validity of XML documents created in PHP?

When creating XML documents in PHP, it is important to ensure that the document is encoded in UTF-8 format to support international characters and maintain validity. This can be achieved by setting the appropriate encoding in the XML declaration at the beginning of the document.

<?php
// Create a new XML document
$xml = new DOMDocument('1.0', 'UTF-8');

// Add XML content here

// Output the XML
echo $xml->saveXML();
?>