In computing, endianness refers to the order of bytes (or sometimes bits) within a binary representation of a number. It can also be used more generally to refer to the internal ordering of any representation, such as the digits in a numeral system or the sections of a date.
In its most common usage, endianness indicates the ordering of bytes within a multi-byte number. A big-endian ordering places the most significant byte first and the least significant byte last, while a little-endian ordering does the opposite. For example, consider the unsigned hexadecimal number 0x1234, which requires at least two bytes to represent. In a big-endian ordering they would be 0x12 0x34, while in a little-endian ordering, the bytes would be arranged 0x34 0x12 (assuming 'first' is on the left).
Historically, various methods of endianness have been used in computing, including exotic forms such as middle-endianness. Today, however, big-endianness is the dominant ordering in networking protocols (IP, TCP, UDP). Conversely, little-endianness is the dominant ordering for processor architectures (x86, most ARM implementations) and their associated memory. File formats can use either ordering; some formats use a mixture of both.
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