A hex editor is a special type of editor that can open any type of file and display its contents, byte by byte. The “hex” in “hex editor” is short for hexadecimal, which is a base-16 number system. This type of editor lets you view and edit binary files. A binary file is a file that contains data in machine-readable form (as opposed to a text file which can be read by a human).
Since a hex editor is used to edit binary files, they are sometimes known as a binary editor or a binary file editor. If you edit a file with a hex editor, you are said to hex edit the file, and the process of using a hex editor is called hex editing.
Hex editors are often used for debugging and reverse engineering binary communication protocols. They can also review files with an unknown file format, reviewing program memory dumps, and hex comparison. Hex editors can help you remove watermarks or other data that is hidden within a file. Hex editors are a favorite tool of game modding communities.
If you use a text editor to open a binary file, you will see large amounts of incomprehensible information, seemingly random accented characters, and long lines overflowing with text. Editing or saving a binary file in a text editor will corrupt the file.
We feature our recommended GUI hex editors. They are all free and open source software.
Let’s explore the 12 programs at hand. For each title we have compiled its own portal page, a full description with an in-depth analysis of its features, together with links to relevant resources.
| GUI Hex Editors | |
|---|---|
| ImHex | Hex editor with many advanced features |
| Hexerator | Hex editor focused on binary file exploration and aiding pattern recognition |
| rehex | Hex editor for reverse engineering |
| Okteta | Simple KDE editor for the raw data of files with good range of features |
| GHex | Hex editor for GNOME |
| wxHexEditor | Hex and disk editor which uses the wxWidgets GUI libraries |
| Fhex | Aims to be a lightweight yet full-featured hex editor. |
| wxMEdit | Improved version of the discontinued MadEdit |
| HexWalk | Hex editor, viewer, and analyzer |
| BinEd | Editor for binary data (hex viewer/editor) written in Jav |
| Bless | Gtk# hex editor |
| Chirurgien | Helps understand and manipulate file formats |
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 Explore our comprehensive directory of recommended free and open source software. Our carefully curated collection spans every major software category.This directory is part of our ongoing series of informative articles for Linux enthusiasts. It features hundreds of detailed reviews, along with open source alternatives to proprietary solutions from major corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. You’ll also find interesting projects to try, hardware coverage, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. Know a useful open source Linux program that we haven’t covered yet? Let us know by completing this form. |
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