Hello everyone, Here are two small files with non-ASCII data, yet git diff considers them text instead of binary. echo -n -e '\x01\xff\xdf' > bin1 echo -n -e '\x01\xdf\xff' > bin2 git diff --binary bin1 bin2 Result: diff --git a/bin1 b/bin2 index 802dc8e..c39b638 100644 --- a/bin1 +++ b/bin2 @@ -1 +1 @@ -^A<FF><DF> \ No newline at end of file +^A<DF><FF> \ No newline at end of file I think `--binary` for `git diff` should force the creation of git binary patches if there are any non-printable-ASCII characters, since my understanding is that `--binary` is for safe encoding for email. Otherwise `-a` can be used. Original post: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/62858327/how-can-i-force-git-diff-to-create-a-git-binary-patch Thanks