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

The only time that I use a binary stream for files that aren't archives is when I want to conceal things from the casual observer. For instance, if I'm making temporary files that only my application should be editing, I'll use binary.

Its not an attempt to obfuscate, rather its just discouraging the user from editing the file by hand (which could break the application).

One instance where this would be a good idea is storing / saving running data about some game.. i.e. to save your game and continue later. Other scenarios would describe intermediate files, but those are typically binary / byte compiled anyway.