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

They open the possibility to be created/edited with tools other than the original ones. New and better tools can be developed by others, integration into third party applications becomes possible. Think about binary iCal files, for example - would the format have been a success?

Apart from that: Human readable files improve the ability to debug or, for the savvy user, at least find the reason an error.

Answer 2

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.

Answer 3

Why should I use a human readable file format in preference to a binary one?

Depends on the content and context, i.e. where is the data coming from and going. If the data is typically directly written by a human, storing it in an format that can be manipulated through a text editor is a good idea. For example, program source code will normally be stored as human readable with good reason. However, if we are archiving it, or sharing it using a version control system, our storage strategy will change.

Answer 4

Pros for binary:

• fast to parse
• generally smaller data
• easy to write a parser for

Pros for human readable:

• easier to understand while reading - no "field X is set to 4 487 which means that the reactor should be shut down NOW"
• if using something like XML easy to write a tool that will parse any file

I have had to deal with both types. If you are sending data and you want to keep it small binary is good. If you expect people to read it then human readable is good.

Human readable generally somewhat self documenting as well. And with binary it is bery easy to make mistakes - and hard to spot them.

Answer 5

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?

Yes, compressed volumes (zip, jpeg, mp3, etc) would be suboptimal if they were human readable.

Answer 6

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.