Open files in VS Code and Cursor / Binary, network and hardware

Open a binary file in VS Code

VS Code says a binary file "is not displayed in the text editor" and offers "Open Anyway", which shows the bytes as broken text. To read the bytes, open the file in a hex view. Install the free Hex Viewer by Zovo, right-click the file and pick "Open in Hex Viewer". You see every byte in hex and as text, with offsets, search and a data inspector.

Free, MIT license. Extension ID zovo.zovo-hex-viewer, version 0.3.7. Needs VS Code 1.90.0 or newer.

Steps in VS Code

1. Install Hex Viewer from the Marketplace, or press Ctrl+P (Cmd+P on macOS) and run ext install zovo.zovo-hex-viewer.
2. Right-click the file in the Explorer and pick "Open in Hex Viewer".
3. If the file is already open in a tab, pick "Open in Hex Viewer" from the editor title menu (...), or run "Reopen Editor With...".
4. To open a file type in hex every time, run "Reopen Editor With..." and pick "Configure default editor" for that file type. .bin, .dat, .img, .rom, .dmp and .dump files already open in hex.
5. Move the cursor to a byte and read the data inspector on the right: the same bytes as integers, floats, times and characters.

Steps in Cursor, Windsurf or VSCodium

1. Open the Extensions view with Ctrl+Shift+X (Cmd+Shift+X on macOS).
2. Search for zovo.zovo-hex-viewer and click Install. Cursor, Windsurf and VSCodium install from Open VSX, where it is published as zovo/zovo-hex-viewer.
3. If your editor has no gallery, download the .vsix from the Open VSX page and run "Extensions: Install from VSIX...".
4. Then use it the same way as in VS Code.

What Hex Viewer handles

• Any file type: firmware, disk images, memory dumps, compiled programs, images, databases.
• Large files. Only the rows on screen are read, so a 4 GB image opens in under a second.
• Search for hex bytes with ?? wildcards, for text, or for UTF-16 text, across the whole file.
• Read-only files open as view only. Set hexViewer.readOnly to turn editing off for every file.

What it does not do

• The free version shows raw bytes. Reading a format into named fields (the Structure view) is a Zovo Pro feature, with 3 free tries.
• When an edit changes the file size, the save writes a new copy and then swaps it in, so it needs free disk space for one more copy. Hex Viewer checks that first.
• Text files such as .txt, .ts and Intel .hex still open in the text editor unless you pick Hex Viewer.

In JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, CLion and others)

• Hex Viewer & Binary Viewer by Zovo. Our own JetBrains version. It was submitted to the JetBrains Marketplace and was still waiting for JetBrains review on 9 November 2026, so the page may not offer an install yet.
• BinEd - Binary/Hex Editor. A binary and hex editor plugin with 500,180 downloads. Use "Open In / Binary Editor" in the project files menu.
• HexView. Views any file in hexadecimal format from "View Hex format" in the Project View menu. 15,005 downloads.

Other options

• Hex Editor (Microsoft) (ms-vscode.hexeditor, 7.5 million installs, on Open VSX). Not built into VS Code, but made by Microsoft and the most installed choice. Its own description: "Allows viewing and editing files in a hex editor".
• binary viewer (qiaojie.binary-viewer, 188,074 installs, not on Open VSX). Its own description: "binary viewer for vscode". Not on Open VSX.
• xxd or hexdump. xxd file.bin | less or hexdump -C file.bin | less in a terminal prints the bytes with offsets on macOS and Linux.

Install counts and Open VSX status were checked on 9 November 2026. Descriptions in quotes are the extensions' own.

Questions

More about Hex Viewer

Read the Hex Viewer page for every feature and setting, or the source code on GitHub.

Related guides

• Hex Viewer & Binary Viewer on the VS Code Marketplace (also on Open VSX). Opens any file as hex, edits bytes and compares two files, even files of many GB.
• Use a hex editor in VS Code
• Read binary files with templates in a VS Code hex editor
• A 010 Editor alternative inside VS Code
• Compare binary files in VS Code