Binary

Binary custom protocols operate identically to ASCII custom protocols except that text and special delimiting characters are not allowed and the message itself is conveyed in a pure binary form that is only machine readable.  Binary custom protocols have the advantage, in most cases, of being more compact.  Unlike ASCII, where the packet length may vary based on numeric values, binary protocols have a fixed length.  The disavantage is they are not human readable which can make them more difficult to troubleshoot.