Binary data Binary data Binary data is data whose unit can take on only two possible states, traditionally labeled as 0 and 1 in accordance with the binary numeral system and Boolean algebra. Binary data occurs in many different technical and scientific fields, where it can be called by different names: A discrete variable that can take only one state contains zero information, and is the next natural number after 1. That is why the bit, a variable with only two possible values, is a standard primary unit of information. A collection of bits may have states: see binary number for details.
Fat binary the data fork, in PEF format. Fat binaries were larger than programs supporting only the PowerPC or 68k, which led to the creation of a number of utilities that would strip out the unneeded version. In the era of small hard drives, when 80 MB hard drives were a common size, these utilities were sometimes useful, as program code was generally a large percentage of overall drive usage, and stripping the unneeded members of a fat binary would free up a significant amount of space on a hard drive. Fat binaries were a feature of NeXT's NeXTSTEP/OPENSTEP operating system, starting