Binary XML
Binary XML is an umbrella term for attempts to store an XML document in a binary representation rather than plain text.
At the moment there is no uniform standard, but rather several competing formats. Examples are WBXML , EBML , XBMF and EXI . This means that "Binary XML" can have different meanings depending on the user. Sometimes a binary coding of the XML document is assumed, while in other cases binary data is saved in an XML file. A gzip -compressed XML document can also be understood as binary XML.
The advantages of a binary representation lie in the smaller file size, the possibility of random access as well as indexing and easier syntax analysis (the last point is however controversially debated in the “community”).
The disadvantage is that binary XML documents can no longer simply be edited in a text editor.
See also
- Storage space-optimized binary representation "BiM" in MPEG-7