Binary Data - in Computer Science

In Computer Science

In modern computers, almost all data is ultimately represented in binary form, and the entire architecture of the modern computer is built on the binary numeral system. On a basic level, then, binary data can refer to any data represented directly in binary form rather than interpreted on a higher level or converted into some other form.

Nonetheless, in applied computer science and in the information technology field, the term binary data is often specifically opposed text-based data, referring to any sort of data that cannot be interpreted as text. The "text" vs. "binary" distinction can sometimes refer to the semantic content of a file (e.g. a written document vs. a digital image). However, it often refers specifically to whether the individual bytes of a file are interpretable as text (usually ASCII or Unicode) or cannot so be interpreted. When this last meaning is intended, the more specific terms binary format and text(ual) format are sometimes used. Note that semantically textual data can be represented in binary format (e.g. when compressed or in certain formats that intermix various sorts of formatting codes, as in the DOC format used by Microsoft Word); contrarily, image data is sometimes represented in textual format (e.g. the X PixMap image format used in the X Window System).