binary file
| Noun | 1. |  binary file - (computer science) a computer file containing machine-readable information that must be read by an application; characters use all 8 bits of each byte |
| 单词 | binary file | |||
| 释义 | binary file
binary filebinary file[′bīn·ə·rē ′fīl]binary file(file format)All digital data, including characters, is actually binarydata (unless it uses some (rare) system with more than twodiscrete levels) but the distinction between binary and textis well established. On modern operating systems a textfile is simply a binary file that happens to contain onlyprintable characters, but some older systems distinguish thetwo file types, requiring programs to handle them differently. A common class of binary files is programs in machine language ("executable files") ready to load into memory andexecute. Binary files may also be used to store data outputby a program, and intended to be read by that or anotherprogram but not by humans. Binary files are more efficientfor this purpose because the data (e.g. numerical data) doesnot need to be converted between the binary form used by theCPU and a printable (ASCII) representation. Thedisadvantage is that it is usually necessary to write specialpurpose programs to manipulate such files since most generalpurpose utilities operate on text files. There is also aproblem sharing binary numerical data between processors withdifferent endianness. Some communications protocols handle only text files,e.g. most electronic mail systems before MIME becamewidespread in about 1995. The FTP utility must be put into"binary" mode in order to copy a binary file since in itsdefault "ascii" mode translates between the differentnewline characters used on the sending and receivingcomputers. Confusingly, some word processor files, and rich textfiles, are actually binary files because they containnon-printable characters and require special programs to view,edit and print them. binary fileA computer file format in which all eight bits of the byte are used for data. Executable software (machine language programs), most word processing, database, spreadsheet and multimedia files are binary files. However, text and source program files as well as HTML and XML files are ASCII text files, just plain text, not binary.Attachments Must Be Encoded The binary vs. ASCII distinction is made when attaching files via email. The Internet's SMTP mail protocol only supported seven of the eight bits because ASCII text was originally a seven-bit format, and email was only text in the beginning. Although most mail servers today are capable of supporting eight bits, older mail servers may not have been upgraded. As a result, when binary files are attached to email messages, their 8-bit format is converted into a temporary 7-bit format. Encoding formats such as MIME, UUcoding and BinHex are used, and at the receiving end, they convert the 7-bit code back into 8-bit binary files. The 8-bit to 7-bit conversion makes attached files larger as they traverse the Internet. See binary, byte and ASCII. See BIN binary file
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