What is a Binary File?
A binary file is a type of file that contains binary code. This means that the file can only be processed by a program that can understand what the bits and bytes of that specific file format means.
This term is used in contrast with files that contain text code, which can be opened in any text editor including Notepad, e.g. HTML files that encode webpages. Additionally, although you could say image files are binary files (since they don't contain text code), in many cases you have a program that processes images in a special way, but those images be opened and edited by any image editor, e.g. a program that uses grayscale PNG files as masks, or saves normal maps used in 3D rendering software as PNG files.
A binary file can't be opened or edited by anything except a program that supports its specific file format, and a special type of program called a "hex editor" that can open and edit files byte by byte without understanding what those bytes mean.
An example of a binary file is a compressed zipped folder.
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