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48. Working with Binary Files

1. Introduction​

Text files store characters, but binary files store bytes. Examples include images, executables, and audio files.

2. Reading Binary Files​

with open("image.jpg", "rb") as f:
    data = f.read()
    print(len(data), "bytes")

3. Writing Binary Files​

with open("copy.jpg", "wb") as f:
    f.write(data)

4. Copying Files​

with open("image.jpg", "rb") as src:
    with open("copy.jpg", "wb") as dst:
        dst.write(src.read())

5. When to Use Binary Mode​

  • Images
  • Audio files
  • Pickled objects
  • Any non-text data

6. Next Steps​

✅ You now know how to work with binary files.
Next: Using context managers.