title: Why should I use a human readable file format?
body: <p>Why should I use a human readable file format in preference to a binary one? Is there ever a situation when this isn't the case?</p>
  
  <p>EDIT:
  I did have this as an explanation when initially posting the question, but it's not so relevant now:</p>
  
  <p><em>When answering <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/567516">this question</a> I wanted to refer the asker to a standard SO answer on why using a human readable file format is a good idea. Then I searched for one and couldn't find one. So here's the question</em></p>