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A binary file containing anexecutable program, consisting of a sequence of (op code,data) pairs.Byte-code op codes are most often fixed size binary patterns,but can be variable size. The data portion consists of zeroor more bits whose format typically depends on the op code.A byte-code program is interpreted by a byte-codeinterpreter. The advantage of this technique compared withoutputing machine code for some particular processor is thatthe same byte-code can be executed on any processor on whichthe byte-code interpreter runs. The byte-code may be compiledto machine code ("native code") for speed of execution butthis usually requires significantly greater effort for eachnew taraget architecture than simply porting the interpreter.For example, Java is compiled to byte-code which runs on theJava Virtual Machine.