April 2026
Intermediate
683 pages
25h 29m
English
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 ... |
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