ByteArray
Details
- ByteArray stores data in a memory-efficient way, with the total number of bytes used being close to the length of the array.
- When displayed in InputForm , a ByteArray object displays as ByteArray ["string"], where "string" encodes the bytes in Base64 encoding.
- In ByteArray [{b1,b2,…}], all the byte values bi should be integers between 0 and 255.
- ByteArray [{}] and ByteArray [""] produce empty byte arrays. »
- StringToByteArray [ByteArray[…]] yields a string by interpreting the contents of a byte array using UTF-8 encoding.
- ExportByteArray [expr,"fmt"] exports an expression via the export format "fmt", giving the result as a byte array. ImportByteArray can be used to convert a byte array to an expression.
- Normal [ByteArray[…]] yields the list of byte values in the byte array.
- Functions such as Length and Equal work with ByteArray objects.
- Functions such as First , Last , Min , and Max yield integer byte values.
- Part works on ByteArray objects, yielding an integer byte value when it returns a single element, and a ByteArray object when it returns multiple elements.
Examples
open all close allBasic Examples (2)
Scope (6)
Get the length of a ByteArray :
Extract parts of a ByteArray :
Extract a sequence of bytes:
Convert to an ordinary array:
Reverse a byte array:
Read in a "WXF" file as a ByteArray :
Read it in 30 bytes at a time:
Close the incrementally read file:
Export an image as a ByteArray :
Interpret a ByteArray as a PNG image:
Properties & Relations (6)
ByteArray uses Base64 encoding of its data in InputForm :
This string can be generated using BaseEncode :
Convert a byte array to an ordinary, one-dimensional list using Normal :
Compute the length of a byte array:
Create empty byte arrays:
Convert a ByteArray to a string using ByteArrayToString :
Convert back to a ByteArray using StringToByteArray :
BinarySerialize converts expressions to a sequence of bytes returned as a ByteArray :
It can be reversed using BinaryDeserialize :
Related Guides
Text
Wolfram Research (2015), ByteArray, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ByteArray.html (updated 2023).
CMS
Wolfram Language. 2015. "ByteArray." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2023. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ByteArray.html.
APA
Wolfram Language. (2015). ByteArray. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ByteArray.html
BibTeX
@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_bytearray, author="Wolfram Research", title="{ByteArray}", year="2023", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ByteArray.html}", note=[Accessed: 05-December-2025]}
BibLaTeX
@online{reference.wolfram_2025_bytearray, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={ByteArray}, year={2023}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ByteArray.html}, note=[Accessed: 05-December-2025]}