XBin, or ''eXtended Binary'', is a
file format
A file format is a Computer standard, standard way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file. It specifies how bits are used to encode information in a digital storage medium. File formats may be either proprietary format, pr ...
for saving
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a tea ...
text mode
Text mode is a computer display mode in which content is internally represented on a computer screen in terms of characters rather than individual pixels. Typically, the screen consists of a uniform rectangular grid of ''character cells'', each o ...
images.
Essentially an extension to the normal raw-image BIN (raw memory copy of
text mode
Text mode is a computer display mode in which content is internally represented on a computer screen in terms of characters rather than individual pixels. Typically, the screen consists of a uniform rectangular grid of ''character cells'', each o ...
video memory) files, it provides an enhanced means for saving
console graphics
Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of data, as in design and manufacture, ...
superior to
ANSI graphics.
The format was created by
Belgian programmer
A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software.
A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...
''Tasmaniac'' of
ACiD, partly in response to the demand for a solution to save images in the BIN image format, which offered no insight as to the size/width of the image. XBin stores its width information internally so that a programmer or user does not need to define this information more than once, an inherent problem with plain BIN files.
XBin also had several notable features above and beyond that of standard text images saved in ANSI format in that it took further advantage of the
text mode environment by (optionally) storing alternate palette color information, supporting modified character set fonts and its own simple
compression system.
See also
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Standard Architecture for Universal Comment Extensions (SAUCE)
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ID3
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Metadata
References
Further reading
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External links
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Graphics file formats
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