Real Python: Bytes Objects: Handling Binary Data in Python

The bytes data type in Python is an immutable sequence of unsigned bytes used for handling binary data. Bytes objects can be created using literal syntax, the bytes() function, or the bytes.fromhex() method. Bytes are closely related to strings and often need to be converted between the two data types, applying the correct character encoding. Python bytes objects are immutable sequences of unsigned bytes, whereas bytearray objects are mutable. The str.encode() method, bytes() function, or codecs module can be used to convert a Python string to bytes. Endianness refers to the byte order used to represent binary data in memory, which can be either little-endian or big-endian. Binary data is stored as a sequence of binary digits or bits, which can be grouped into uniform units called bytes. A single byte consists of eight bits, allowing for 256 possible bit combinations. Binary sequences can be broken down into bytes, and each byte can be represented as a decimal number or hexadecimal literal. Understanding binary fundamentals is essential for working with bytes objects and handling binary data in Python.