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I think all files are, by default, binary files, and it’s the binary data inside them that determines their actual format. Try opening a non-text file (e.g. an

I think all files are, by default, binary files, and it’s the binary data inside them that determines their actual format. Try opening a non-text file (e.g. an executable) in a text editor — the editor will probably try to interpret the file as Latin-1 text, but this will just look like garbage, and can’t really be said to be a sane representation of the contents of that file.

falcolas 4y ago
To add to this, a text file is only special because it’s binary contents are restricted(ish) to a set of numbers an editor knows how to interpret into human-readable glyphs. Now then, if you want to discuss how most modern (non-executable) file formats are just zip files, then we can have more fun.