Why should I use a human readable file format?

Question

Why should I use a human readable file format in preference to a binary one? Is there ever a situation when this isn\'t the case?

EDIT: I did have this as an explana

Answer 1

No one said, so I will: human-readability is not really a property of a file format (all files are binary after all), but rather of a file format and viewer app combination.

So called human readable formats are all based on top of additional abstraction layer of one of existing text encodings. And viewer programs (often also serving as an editor) that are capable of rendering these encodings in a form readable by humans are very common.

Text encoding standards are widespread and fairly mature, which means they're unlikely to evolve much in the foreseeable future.

Usually on top of the text encoding layer of the format we find a syntax layer that is reasonably intuitive given target user knowledge and cultural background.

Hence the benefits of "human-readable" formats:

• Ubiquity of suitable viewers and editors.

• Timelessness (given that cultural conventions won't change much).

• Easiness-to-learn, read and modify.

Reliance on the extra abstraction layer makes text encoded files:

• Space hungry.

• Slower to process.

"Binary" files do not resort to text encoding abstraction layer as a base (or a common denominator), but they might or might not use some sort of an extra abstraction more suitable for their purpose and hence, they can be much better optimised for a specific task at hand meaning:

• Faster processing.

• Smaller footprint.

On the other hand:

• Viewers and editors are specific for a particular binary format and make interoperability harder.

• Viewers for any given format are less wide spread, because they are more specialised.

• Formats might evolve significantly or go out of use over time: their main benefit in being very well suited for a particular task and as the task or task requirements evolve, so does the format.