Question

How can I convert four bytes of binary data (big endian) to an IEEE floating point value using C#?

Answer 1

A simple solution would be to reverse the incoming array and give that to the .Net Framework’s BitConverter:

byte[] reversed = data.Reverse().ToArray();
float value = BitConverter.ToSingle(reversed, 0);

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For a full-fledged bit-converter that works with big-endian values, take a look atMiscUtil.Conversion.BigEndianBitConverter in the MiscUtil library by Jon Skeet and Marc Gravell, and then use ToSingle(byte[] value, int startIndex):

byte[] data;
float value = BigEndianBitConverter.ToSingle(data, 0);

The methods it supports are the same as those of the BitConverter class in the .Net framework. The source can be found on the MiscUtil website.