how to convert a binary file to human read able

Question

I have a binary file of a Fortran program. For this binary file want to know the source coding of the Fortran program. By using hexdum -c I have converted the binary file to ascii file. Still it is not understandable. How to convert a binary file or ascii file to human readable format.

Below I have past the some portion of ascii file after doing hexdum -c

0003D80 0000 0000 0100 1300 8901 0000 D8B4 0408
0003D90 0000 0000 0100 1000 9701 0000 CCB5 0408
0003DA0 0000 0000 0100 1400 A301 0000 B09D 0408
0003DB0 0000 0000 0200 0C00 B901 0000 0000 0000
0003DC0 0000 0000 0400 F1FF BE00 0000 0000 0000
0003DD0 0000 0000 0400 F1FF EE00 0000 0000 0000
0003DE0 0000 0000 0400 F1FF B901 0000 0000 0000
0003DF0 0000 0000 0400 F1FF 0100 0000 0000 0000
0003E00 0000 0000 0400 F1FF 1000 0000 0000 0000
0003E10 0000 0000 0400 F1FF 0100 0000 0000 0000
0003E20 0000 0000 0400 F1FF 3E00 0000 0000 0000
0003E30 0000 0000 0400 F1FF B901 0000 0000 0000
0003E40 0000 0000 0400 F1FF E901 0000 0000 0000
0003E50 0000 0000 0400 F1FF F201 0000 00B1 0408
0003E60 1400 0000 0100 0F00 0302 0000 14B1 0408
0003EE0 1400 0000 0100 0F00 8B02 0000 B4B1 0408
0003EF0 1400 0000 0100 0F00 9C02 0000 C8B1 0408
0003F00 1400 0000 0100 0F00 AF02 0000 DCB1 0408
0003F10 1400 0000 0100 0F00 C202 0000 F0B1 0408
0003F20 1400 0000 0100 0F00 D502 0000 04B2 0408
0003F30 1400 0000 0100 0F00 E802 0000 18B2 0408
0003F40 1400 0000 0100 0F00 FB02 0000 2CB2 0408

Answer 1

There are decompilers which will attempt to generate source code from the binary, but it would not be the original source code. Meaning it would not have comments or local variable names. In order to get a decompiler for your binary though, you have to find out which compiler was used to generate it, then which architecture it was compiled for. The next step would be to search for a decompiler for that compiler, or a decompiler for that architecture which is similar enough to the compilation techniques used on the original compiler to generate reasonable source code.

Answer 2

The binary file you gave (since it's a compiled program) isn't just a binary representation of ASCII or any other text code. The reason is that It's machine code, meaning that it doesn't translate into anything human readable.

Some other people have mentioned, there are some decompilers which attempt to reverse the compile process (but those wouldn't give variable names and comments).

If it's an open source program you're trying to find the source code for, you should be able to find it somewhere online (like on sourceforge.net)