<p>All current addresses are cross compatible.</p>

<p>At a technical level, the chain has no concept of an address, only of <code>locking scripts</code>, which are fragments of a <code>bitcoin script</code> program. You send coins by specifying the locking script, and spend them by providing the unlocking script (also called the script sig), which completes the program by providing the correct inputs to produce a valid output (TRUE, for a valid transaction).</p>

<p>Since there is no concept of an address here, they are all compatible with each other.</p>

<p>Addresses are a secondary encoding performed on standardized scripts to aid human readability, and prevent typographical errors via checksums and error detecting mechanisms.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-26T12:33:51.717Z
2018-12-26T12:33:51.717Z
Raghav Sood
<p>Wondering if lets say someone has funds in Bech32 and they send to a "1" or "3" address due to less characters to remember ect.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-26T12:09:59.620Z
What is an 'S' address?
Pieter Wuille
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-26T12:13:20.753Z
Sorry I meant "3" addresses.
CryptoShoppe
<address><segregated-witness><bech32-address>
Are "1" , "3" and "Bech" Addresses (BTC) forward and backward compatible?
CryptoShoppe
# Are "1" , "3" and "Bech" Addresses (BTC) forward and backward compatible?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-12-26)

Wondering if lets say someone has funds in Bech32 and they send to a "1" or "3" address due to less characters to remember ect.

**Tags:** address, segregated-witness, bech32-address

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: What is an 'S' address?  
> **username_0**: Sorry I meant "3" addresses.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-12-26. Score: 6 | Accepted answer

All current addresses are cross compatible.

At a technical level, the chain has no concept of an address, only of `locking scripts`, which are fragments of a `bitcoin script` program. You send coins by specifying the locking script, and spend them by providing the unlocking script (also called the script sig), which completes the program by providing the correct inputs to produce a valid output (TRUE, for a valid transaction).

Since there is no concept of an address here, they are all compatible with each other.

Addresses are a secondary encoding performed on standardized scripts to aid human readability, and prevent typographical errors via checksums and error detecting mechanisms.


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