Information AboutBinary File |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT BINARY FILE | |
| computer file formats | |
| computer data | |
A binary file is a Computer File which may contain any type of data, encoded in Binary form for computer storage and processing purposes; for example, Computer Document Files containing Formatted Text . Many binary File Format s contain parts that can be interpreted as text; binary files that contain ''only'' textual data - without, for example, any formatting information - are called Plain Text Files . In many cases, plain text files are considered to be different from binary files because binary files are made up of more than just plain text. BINARY FILE FORMATS Binary files are usually thought of as being a sequence of Byte s, which means the binary digits ( Bit s) are grouped in eights. Binary files typically contain bytes that are intended to be interpreted as something other than text Character s. Compiled computer programs are typical examples; indeed, compiled applications ( Object File s) are sometimes referred to, particularly by programmers, as binaries. But binary files can also contain images, sounds, compressed versions of other files, etc. — in short, any type of file content whatsoever. Some binary files contain Headers , blocks of Metadata used by a Computer Program to interpret the data in the file. For example, a GIF file can contain multiple images, and headers are used to identify and describe each block of image data. If a binary file does not contain any headers, it may be called a flat binary file. MANIPULATING BINARY FILES To send binary files through certain systems (such as E-mail ) that do not allow all data values, they are often translated into a plain text representation (using, for example, Base64 ). This encoding has the disadvantage of increasing the file's size by approximately 30% during the transfer, as well as requiring translation back into binary after receipt. See Binary-to-text Encoding for more on this subject. Microsoft Windows allows the programmer to specify a System Call parameter indicating if a file is text or binary; Unix does not, and treats all files as binary. This reflects the fact that the distinction between the two types of files is to a certain extent ''arbitrary.'' VIEWING BINARY FILES .]] A Hex Editor or viewer (such as Hex Dump ) 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. If a binary file is opened in a and run, then the computer will attempt to interpret the file as a series of instructions in its Machine Language . SEE ALSO
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