// Warning to maintainers: this implementation is highly optimized.
    int utf16Length = sequence.length();
    int utf8Length = utf16Length;
    int i = 0;

    // This loop optimizes for pure ASCII.
    while (i < utf16Length && sequence.charAt(i) < 0x80) {
      i++;
    }

    // This loop optimizes for chars less than 0x800.
    for (; i < utf16Length; i++) {
      char c = sequence.charAt(i);
      if (c < 0x800) {