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But .txt is not the same as .rs; yet .txt is not the same as .docx, although both of these files look the same to the human eye.

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[-] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

2 types. Text and binary files. Images, sounds, compiled programs, videos are all binary files. Some word processors save their work in binary files.

Text files can follow all sorts of syntaxes. Plaintext, HTML, JSON and so on.

[-] gnufuu@infosec.pub 1 points 24 minutes ago* (last edited 23 minutes ago)

To be pedantic, plaintext files are binary files too, they merely exclude non-printable bytes.

[-] anothermember@feddit.uk 11 points 1 day ago

There are two: text files which are human readable when opened in a text editor, and binary files which aren't.

[-] vext01@feddit.uk 2 points 1 day ago

There's all kinds of files.

Executable programs, libraries, disk images, compressed archives, symbolic links, device nodes, pipes, the list goes on.

[-] lIlIlIlIlIlIl@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

There are also “blobs,” or simply “other” files which are intended to be machine-readable. But that’s getting down into the weeds a bit.

.txt and .docx are both text - the latter just has additional text that’s intended for the program to help display said text in various ways.

[-] mannycalavera@feddit.uk 1 points 1 day ago

I was having this exact same conversation down the pub the other day...

this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2026
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