Binary file

A binary file (extension .bin unless otherwise specified) is a computer file which may contain any type of data, encoded in binary form for computer storage and processing purposes; for example, computer document files containing formatted text.

Many binary file formats contain parts that can be interpreted as text; binary files that contain only textual data &mdash; without, for example, any formatting information &mdash; are called plain text files. In many cases, plain text files are considered to be different from binary files because binary files are made up of more than just plain text. When downloading, a completely functional program without any installer is also often called program binary, or binaries (as opposed to the source code).