Endian

This describes the order in which bytes representing a value are stored in computer memory and is either big or little. Big endian means that most significant value is stored first at the lowest storage address, while little endian stores the least significant value first.  Note that within both big endian and little endian byte orders, the individual bits within each byte are always big-endian so bytes are unaffected.

Most RISC-based computers and Motorola microprocessors use the big endian approach while Intel processors and DEC processors are usually little endian by default.  The C3D format can use both little endian and big endian orders, and applications supporting the C3D format may see either format when a file is opened. The processor type and endian format of a C3D file can be determined by reading the parameter section header record when a file is opened.

Both DEC and Intel processors use the little endian method where the lowest bytes are stored first in memory.  MIPS processors use the big endian method, reversing the storage order.