title: Why are fixed-width file formats still in use?
body: <p>Are there any advantages to a fixed-width file format over something like XML? I realize XML would likely take up more disk space to store the same amount of data but the file could also be compressed. I guess you could also, in theory, read a specific piece of data based on where it is in the file (just grab those bytes). But other than that, what else?</p>