STL Files.

[Umpa]

I have the option to export Binary or Ascii .STL files.  

I always choose Ascii and it always works.  I chose binary the other day and that works too. 

The only difference I see is the binary file is considerably smaller than the ascii, but then again I suppose it would be.  

Does it really matter which one you use and if not why have the option ? 

What is the real benefit of either formats ?

[Dan Newman]

Binary is considerably smaller and thus a larger model can be uploaded/downloaded faster through
the network if it is stored in binary format. Some programs preferrentially save as binary (e.g.,
Netfabb) while others as ASCII (RepG).

Dan

[TRAMMALOT]

save ascii first then save binary, most default to bin and this way you will always have a copy

[adam paul]

Looks like fusion defaults to binary\

[Joel Mongeon]

Ascii files can be read in a text editor whereas binary can't.

That means you could theoretically edit/fix a broken stl file by hand. If you knew what to look for.

I've used ascii formats in the past for animation production purposes. I would get my scripts to read in and edit files in our content directory. This was Maya ascii files, but binary vs ascii should be the same.

I doubt you would need/want to do something similar for 3d printing. Like Dan said , binary is compressed, so I'd stick with that.

[TRAMMALOT]

2 clicks?, America has gotten dumb and LAZY :) 

[adam paul]

Recent fusion 360 update allows your to export all bodies into .stl in one click.  Since we're talking about lazy.

[TRAMMALOT]

3 clicks