Endianness & Byte Ordering
Understand how multi-byte values are laid out in memory and files, why endianness trips up beginners, and how to read raw bytes correctly.
Bytes Have an Order
You learned how data is represented in binaries. But a number like 0x12345678 occupies four bytes, and the CPU must decide which byte comes first in memory.
That decision is called endianness.
Little-Endian
In little-endian, the least significant byte is stored first (lowest address).
The value 0x12345678 is stored as the bytes 78 56 34 12. x86, x64, and most ARM systems use little-endian.
Value: 0x12345678
Memory: 78 56 34 12 (low -> high address)All lessons in this course
- CPU Architectures Overview
- Data Representation in Binaries
- Common Binary File Formats
- Endianness & Byte Ordering