Hast Du linux? Wenn ja, schau Dir mal das Kommando "file" an.
wieso braucht er das unter Linux?
http://perldoc.perl.org/functions/binmode.html
» On some systems (in general, DOS and Windows-based systems) binmode() is necessary when you're not working with a text file. For the sake of portability it is a good idea to always use it when appropriate, and to never use it when it isn't appropriate.
Struppi.