If the file is opened in some other application, that application will have its own use for each byte: maybe the application will treat each byte as a number and output a stream of numbers between 0 and 255-or maybe interpret the numbers in the bytes as colors and display the corresponding picture. If a binary file is opened in a text editor, each group of eight bits will typically be translated as a single character, and the user will see a (probably unintelligible) display of textual characters. In Unix-like systems, the C and C++ standard libraries on those systems also allow the programmer to specify whether a file is expected to be text or binary, but the libraries can and do ignore that parameter, as the end-of-line sequence in Unix-like systems is just the C/C++ end-of-line character.Ī hex editor or viewer may be used to view file data as a sequence of hexadecimal (or decimal, binary or ASCII character) values for corresponding bytes of a binary file. Microsoft Windows and its standard libraries for the C and C++ programming languages allow the programmer to specify a parameter indicating if a file is expected to be plain text or binary when opening a file this affects the standard library calls to read and write from the file in that the system converts between the C/C++ "end of line" character (the ASCII linefeed character) and the end-of-line sequence Windows expects in files (the ASCII carriage return and linefeed characters in sequence). See Binary-to-text encoding for more on this subject. The increased size may be countered by lower-level link compression, as the resulting text data will have about as much less entropy as it has increased size, so the actual data transferred in this scenario would likely be very close to the size of the original binary data. Encoding the data has the disadvantage of increasing the file size during the transfer (for example, using Base64 will increase the file's size by approximately 30%), as well as requiring translation back into binary after receipt. To send binary files through certain systems (such as email) that do not allow all data values, they are often translated into a plain text representation (using, for example, Base64). Also, files containing public-key and private-key information for use in systems employing asymmetric cryptography (such as website certificates) may also be stored with the binary information encoded in printable characters. This is often necessary due to the limitations of network protocols used for internet browsing and e-mail communication. When sending binary files over the network they may be encoded so that they use only printable characters. If a binary file does not contain any headers, it may be called a flat binary file.Ī text file may consist partly or entirely of encoded binary information. The leading bytes of the header would contain text like GIF87a or GIF89a that can identify the binary as a GIF file. For example, a GIF file can contain multiple images, and headers are used to identify and describe each block of image data. The header often contains a signature or magic number which can identify the format. Some binary files contain headers, blocks of metadata used by a computer program to interpret the data in the file. – in short, any type of file content whatsoever. But binary files can also mean that they contain images, sounds, compressed versions of other files, etc.
Compiled computer programs are typical examples indeed, compiled applications are sometimes referred to, particularly by programmers, as binaries. Binary files typically contain bytes that are intended to be interpreted as something other than text characters. Structure īinary files are usually thought of as being a sequence of bytes, which means the binary digits ( bits) are grouped in eights. Many binary file formats contain parts that can be interpreted as text for example, some computer document files containing formatted text, such as older Microsoft Word document files, contain the text of the document but also contain formatting information in binary form. The term "binary file" is often used as a term meaning "non-text file". The first column numerates the line's starting address, while the * indicates repetition.Ī binary file is a computer file that is not a text file. JSTOR ( April 2013) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Ī hex dump of the 318 byte Wikipedia favicon, or.Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.