Question: .bin/.hqx

J

julguribye

Registered
What is really MacBinary and BinHex encoding good for? Since Mac OS X was relased everything has been packed/stuffed/zipped/encoded/compressed so much! Sometimes when I downlad a file, I end up with having 5-6 files and I really only need one of them.
I tried to expriment a little with .bin/.hqx encoding and found out that when I use MacBinary; nothing happens to the file. It just becomes encoded. When I try to BinHex; the file grows bigger!
So, can someone tell me what the binary encoding is good for?:(
 
i'll take a shot at some of the answers to this. one is to allow the file to sit on a non mac server so that you can download it. another is to compress the file so that it is not so big. another is to maintain the integrity of the file when you download it so it doesn't revert to text. I aam sure there must be more, but that's it off the top of my head.:)

btw - how's the weather in Norway today?
 
Originally posted by Ed Spruiell
i'll take a shot at some of the answers to this. one is to allow the file to sit on a non mac server so that you can download it. another is to compress the file so that it is not so big. another is to maintain the integrity of the file when you download it so it doesn't revert to text. I aam sure there must be more, but that's it off the top of my head.:)

btw - how's the weather in Norway today?
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Ok, good enough...:)

And weather? C-O-L-D (as usual):p
 
Just a hint, If you go into the Stuffit Expander preferences, You can set to delete the intermediate files after expanding, so you're usually left with just one file (or folder) when expanding is complete.
 
Here in Trondheim, it's around 40 cm snow I think, and around 0°C :)

Yah, .bin and .hex encoding is mostly used for internet transfers and transfers via a network -I think the resource fork in the file will simply disappear if they aren't encoded, that hs always been a problem with file transfer and PC networking, I think.
and, 'ell, .hex files are like this:F7 01 A4 etc and .bin files 01101011101 :D :rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by Ed Spruiell
burrrrr.....shiver, shiver

i will stop bitching about the rain!!:p
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Several days ago, it was -20°C here :)

But can PC users decode hqx/bin? Or do they use another compresser again?
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Don't know, but I guess so, in some way ;)
 
Hello,
First some info on the .bin and .hqx files. Neither of these is actually used for file compression at all. The Binhex format (actually one of the several different binhex formats that once existed) was originally used to allow easy transfer of binary data (including applications) using usenet and e-mail. It predates the web by a few years. It does this by converting the binary file into a file composed completely of ASCII characters (in particular a very limited set of ASCII characters not including control codes or the upper range of 128-255). Thus a binhexed file will almost always be larger than the original. Unix traditionally uses uuencoded files to do the same thing.
The .bin, or MacBinary format is also very old. It is used to convert the two-forked Mac file into a single forked binary file that can be transfered onto other file systems. There is no real point in using this format for files without a resource fork.
There is no reason why Windows machines couldn't decode hqx files, but, since they do not have a forked file system, they would have some trouble with the .bin files.
Once again, neither of these has anything to do with file compression in any way. BinHex and MacBinary were some of the earliest Macintosh shareware/freeware utilities available. I believe I was using BinHex as far back as System 3.2 on my old Mac Plus.

Yu Sung
 
My guess is that .hqx and .bin formats are still in use because they can be sent through all kinds of servers without getting corrupted. IIRC, I have encountered several files that first stuff and then binhex their data, so that the filename is something like "foobar.sit.hqx."
The weather in Norge sounds fine! As my icon hints, I am of Finnish descent. And I was raised on the Keweenaw Peninsula of Upper Michigan. So both heredity and environment have made me a cold-weather animal.
:D
 
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