FileInputStream vs FileReader

java io writer
saravanan picture saravanan · Mar 1, 2011 · Viewed 51.3k times · Source 
FileReader rd=new FileReader("new.mp4");
FileWriter wr=new FileWriter("output.mp4");
int ch;
while((ch=rd.read())!=-1)
  wr.write(ch);

wr.flush();
wr.close();

When I use the FileReader and FileWriter to read and write an mp4 file, the output.mp4 file can't be rendered well. But when I use FileInputStream and FileOutputStream instead it worked well.

So can I conclude FileReader and FileWriter are only for reading and writing text?

Answer

Bozho picture Bozho · Mar 1, 2011

Yes, your conclusion is correct subclasses of Reader and Writer are for reading/writing text content. InputStream / OutputStream are for binary content. If you take a look at the documentation:

Reader - Abstract class for reading character streams

InputStream - Abstract class is the superclass of all classes representing an input stream of bytes.

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