### Berkeley DB Reference Guide: Programmer Notes |

# Byte ordering

The database files created by Berkeley DB can be created in either little or big-endian formats. By default, the native format of the machine on which the database is created will be used. Any format database can be used on a machine with a different native format, although it is possible that the application will incur a performance penalty for the run-time conversion.

No user-specified data is converted in any way at all. Key or data items stored on machines of one format will be returned to the application exactly as stored on machines of another format.

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