# Read a file to a Uint8Array (/docs/guides/read-file/uint8array)

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Related: [Read a file to an ArrayBuffer](/docs/guides/read-file/arraybuffer.md), [Read a file to a Buffer](/docs/guides/read-file/buffer.md), [Check if a file exists](/docs/guides/read-file/exists.md), [Read a JSON file](/docs/guides/read-file/json.md), [Get the MIME type of a file](/docs/guides/read-file/mime.md), [Read a file as a ReadableStream](/docs/guides/read-file/stream.md)

The `Bun.file()` function accepts a path and returns a `BunFile` instance. `BunFile` extends `Blob`, so you can read the file lazily in a variety of formats.

To read the file into a `Uint8Array`, use `.bytes()`.

```ts
const path = "/path/to/package.json";
const file = Bun.file(path);

const byteArray = await file.bytes();

byteArray[0]; // first byteArray
byteArray.length; // length of byteArray
```

***

See [Typed arrays](/runtime/binary-data#typedarray) for more on working with `Uint8Array` and other binary data formats in Bun.
