Byte Stream vs Character Stream
Difference between Byte Stream and Character Stream in Java
-
Byte Stream:
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Byte Stream is used to read or write byte data (8-bit), suitable for binary files like
images,audio, orvideo. -
Byte Stream classes are based on
InputStreamandOutputStreamand include child classes likeFileInputStreamandFileOutputStream. - It is preferred when handling raw binary data.
-
Byte Stream is used to read or write byte data (8-bit), suitable for binary files like
-
Character Stream:
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Character Stream is used to read or write character data (16-bit Unicode), suitable for text files like
.txt,.java, or.csv. -
Character Stream classes are based on
ReaderandWriterand include child classes likeFileReaderandFileWriter. - It is preferred when handling textual data, as it automatically handles character encoding.
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Character Stream is used to read or write character data (16-bit Unicode), suitable for text files like
- The following table highlights the key differences between Byte Stream and Character Stream:
| Feature | Byte Stream | Character Stream |
|---|---|---|
| Data Unit | Byte Stream reads or writes bytes (8-bit data) and is suitable for binary files like images, audio, and video. | Character Stream reads or writes characters (16-bit Unicode data) and is suitable for text files like .txt, .java, or .csv. |
| Abstract Classes | Based on InputStream and OutputStream which provide methods to read/write bytes. |
Based on Reader and Writer which provide methods to read/write characters. |
| Child Classes | Important classes include FileInputStream, FileOutputStream, BufferedInputStream, DataOutputStream, etc. |
Important classes include FileReader, FileWriter, BufferedReader, BufferedWriter, PrintWriter, etc. |
| Used For | Used for reading or writing binary files like images, audio, and videos. | Used for reading or writing text files like .txt, .java, .csv, and other textual data. |
| Conversion Requirement | Manual conversion is required when reading text files; bytes need to be cast to characters using (char). |
No conversion required; characters are read/written directly and encoding is handled automatically. |
| Encoding Awareness | Not aware of character encoding; only deals with raw bytes. | Aware of character encoding and handles Unicode characters correctly. |
| Efficiency | Efficient for raw binary data but less convenient for text files. | Efficient for text files, especially when used with buffered classes like BufferedReader and BufferedWriter. |
| Package | All Byte Stream classes belong to the java.io package. |
All Character Stream classes belong to the java.io package. |
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