What Is A Bin File?
In Binary or Bin File, the .BIN extension is used for a variety of files including graphics and other non-text files. See Binary and BIN. A binary file is a computer file that is not a text file. The term “binary file” is often used as a term meaning “non-text file”. Many binary file formats contain parts that can be interpreted as text.
Bin File Used For IC Programming
IC programming is the process of transferring a program before or after PCB assembly or box build, like a binary file, into an integrated circuit. Older types of IC, including PROMs and EPROMs and some early programmable logic device (PLD), was typically programmed through parallel busses that used many of the device’s pins and basically required inserting the device in a separate programmer.
Modern ICs are typically programmed in circuit though a serial protocol (sometimes JTAG, sometimes something manufacturer specific). Some (particularly FPGAs) even load the data serially from a separate flash or prom chip on every startup.