big endian
also: network byte order, Motorola byte order
A byte order where the most significant byte (largest value) is stored first in memory. The opposite of little endian, commonly used in network protocols and some CPU architectures.
Big endian refers to how multi-byte data types (like integers) are arranged in memory. In big endian systems, the most significant byte comes first. For example, the 32-bit integer 0x12345678 would be stored in memory as bytes 12 34 56 78 in that order.
This is the opposite of little endian, where the least significant byte comes first. Big endian is sometimes called "network byte order" because internet protocols like TCP/IP standardize on big endian for transmitting multi-byte values across networks.
Most modern CPUs (x86, ARM) use little endian internally, but big endian remains important in networking, legacy systems, and some embedded architectures like PowerPC. You'll encounter byte order issues when reading binary data, working with network packets, or porting code between platforms.