What are the main differences between byte streams and character streams in Java?

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Byte Streams vs Character Streams

1. Data Type:

  • Byte Streams: Handle raw binary data (bytes) and are suitable for all types of I/O (images, audio, etc.).
  • Character Streams: Handle character data (text) and are used for reading and writing text files.

2. Classes:

  • Byte Streams: Use classes like InputStream and OutputStream.
  • Character Streams: Use classes like Reader and Writer.

3. Encoding:

  • Byte Streams: Do not perform any encoding/decoding.
  • Character Streams: Automatically handle character encoding (like UTF-8).

4. Usage:

  • Byte Streams: Preferred for binary files (e.g., images, audio).
  • Character Streams: Preferred for text files (e.g., .txt, .csv).