isr.co.ro : glossary Binary As applied to files on the Internet or other network, ones that may contain program code, images, data or formatting information rather than readable text. Technically, this means they use all 8 bits in each byte of data compared to the 7 bits per character required for text. Because many parts of the Internet were originally designed to accommodate only text files, binary files may need to be "encoded" into a simulated text form for transmission and storage and then decoded back to binary form for use. For example, most mail programs automatically encode binary attachments using the MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) protocol, while most newsreader programs offer "uuencoding" for posting binary files in Usenet newsgroups.