Efficient way of reading binary file into byte array?

Question

What is the most efficient (fastest) way to read a binary file into a byte array?

Answer 1

File.ReadAllBytes?

Answer 2

Look at the FileStream.Read method.

-Scosby

Answer 3

Since you want it in a byte array File.ReadAllbytes as proposed by Tergiver would be better then FileStream.Read since that would require you to write/maintain some extra code to open/close the file.

Answer 4

Memory mapping a file is the most I/O efficient way. .NET 4.0 will
include support for this. There is also a wrapper for the Win32 Memory
Mapped File services which can be used with other versions of .NET,
http://github.com/tomasr/filemap/

Keep in mind memory mapping isn't always the best solution. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory-mapped_file#Drawbacks