big-endian definition

Multiple byte data values (not strings) are stored with the highest order byte first. For example, the long integer &H01020304 is stored as this sequence of four bytes: &H01, &H02, &H03 and &H04. A Binary or Random file written using Put uses little-endian format so that it can be read using Get on any machine. (Big-endian machines, like the Power-PC, reverse the bytes as they are read by Get or written by Put.)
See Also: Dir( ), GetAttr( ), SetAttr( ).