Then, I saved it as a Word 97–2003 (binary) document and also as a Word 2007 (XML) document. Let’s perform an experiment to compare file sizes between identical binary- and XML-based documents.įor this experiment, I created a Word document containing text and a photo: In other words, a Word 2007 document is less susceptible to irreparable damage. What’s so great about XML?Ĭompared to binary files, XML is compact, portable, and stable. Binary data is, by nature, prone to corruption, and “bloated.”īy changing the background code, Microsoft was able to create new tools and features in Word 2007 that would not have been possible otherwise. Previous versions of Word were based on binary data.
