Binary code

A binary code is the value of a data-encoding convention represented in a binary notation that usually is a sequence of 0s and 1s; sometimes called a bit string. For example, ASCII is an 8-bit text encoding that in addition to the human readable form (letters) can be represented as binary. Binary code can also refer to the mass noun code that is not human readable in nature such as machine code and bytecode.

Even though all modern computer data is binary in nature, and therefore can be represented as binary, other numerical bases may be used. Power of 2 bases (including hex and octal) are sometimes considered binary code since their power-of-2 nature makes them inherently linked to binary. Decimal is, of course, a commonly used representation. For example, ASCII characters are often represented as either decimal or hex. Some types of data such as image data is sometimes represented as hex, but rarely as decimal.