Skip to Content
Swift
book

Swift

by Rheinwerk Publishing, Inc, Kerem Koseoglu
April 2026
Intermediate
683 pages
25h 29m
English
Packt Publishing
Content preview from Swift

13.2    Binary Files

Binary files are files that store data in a non-human-readable format, as a sequence of bytes. In general, the purpose of binary files is to store nontext data. Unlike text files, which store characters with an encoding like UTF-8, binary files store data exactly as it exists in memory. The data is expected to be interpreted by the app or the operating system.

Some common binary file examples are shown in Table 13.2.

Binary File Type

Contents

Sample File Name

Image

Pixel color codes of an image

portrait.png

Office document

Formatted text and media

homework.docx

Audio

Digital recording of a sound

my_song.mp3

Video

Digital sequence of images and audio

holiday.m4a

Program

Compiled ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Mark W.
Embedded Software Engineer

You might also like

52 Weeks of Swift

52 Weeks of Swift

Alfredo Deza, Noah Gift
The Hidden Cost of AI-Assisted Creativity

The Hidden Cost of AI-Assisted Creativity

Léonard Boussioux, Anil Doshi, Oliver Hauser, Kartik Hosanagar
How to Develop a Great Digital Strategy

How to Develop a Great Digital Strategy

Jeanne W. Ross, Cynthia M. Beath, Ina M. Sebastian

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781807783877