 <p>The format file is describing the source data not the destination. When you use <code>-c</code> or <code>datafiletype='char'</code> your input datatypes must be SQLCHAR. Native datatypes are only valid when using <code>-n</code> or <code>datafiletype='native'</code>. A source file in native format is always binary so bcp needs to know the data type of each field in order to read the correct amount of bytes and interpret them correctly.</p>