The NSData class is an Apple class for holding generic data. Often used when reading/writing from and to files, and the internet.
From the Apple Developer Library:
NSData
and its mutable subclassNSMutableData
provide data objects, object-oriented wrappers for byte buffers. Data objects let simple allocated buffers (that is, data with no embedded pointers) take on the behavior of Foundation objects.
NSData
creates static data objects, andNSMutableData
creates dynamic data objects. NSData and NSMutableData are typically used for data storage and are also useful in Distributed Objects applications, where data contained in data objects can be copied or moved between applications.The size of the data is subject to a theoretical limit of about 8 ExaBytes (in practice, the limit should not be a factor).