Which of the following is a characteristic of REST APIs?

A characteristic of REST APIs is the use of HTTP methods. REST, which stands for Representational State Transfer, is based on a set of principles that utilize standard HTTP protocols. In RESTful architecture, various HTTP methods, such as GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE, are used to perform different operations on resources.

GET is used to retrieve data, POST for creating new resources, PUT for updating existing resources, and DELETE for removing resources. This reliance on HTTP methods is a fundamental aspect of REST APIs, providing a clear and consistent way for clients to interact with server resources over the web.

The other options represent misunderstandings of REST principles. RESTful APIs are designed to be stateless, meaning that each request from a client to the server must contain all of the information the server needs to fulfill that request. Additionally, REST APIs do not require XML; they can use various formats, including JSON, which is more prevalent in modern applications. Lastly, REST APIs do not exclusively handle binary data; they can support multiple types of data formats depending on the use case and implementation.