Text assets are a format for imported text files. When you drop a text file into your Project folder, Unity converts it to a Text Asset. The supported text formats are:
.bytes.csv.fnt.htm.html.json.md.txt.xml.yaml
Note: When you use AssetDatabase.FindAssets with the t:TextAsset filter, script files are also considered a text asset, and are included in the results.
If you select a text asset in the Project windowA window that shows the contents of your Assets folder (Project tab) More info
See in Glossary, the Inspector window displays the text content of the file.
Text assets are useful for getting text from different text files into your application while you’re building it. For example, you can use it to add a .txt file to your project to bring the text into your application. If you’re making a text-heavy adventure game, you can put the text for each sceneA Scene contains the environments and menus of your game. Think of each unique Scene file as a unique level. In each Scene, you place your environments, obstacles, and decorations, essentially designing and building your game in pieces. More info
See in Glossary separate .txt files and reference the text asset when a character enters the scene.
However, text assets aren’t intended for text file generation at runtime. For that you need to use input/output programming techniques to read and write external files. For more information on the ways you can generate text in Unity, refer to UI systems.
Text assets can also store binary data. If you create a file with the .bytes extension, you can load it as a text asset and access it through the bytes property.
For example, put a .jpeg file into the Resources folder and change the extension to .bytes, then use the following script code to read the data at runtime:
//Load texture from disk
TextAsset bindata = Resources.Load("Texture") as TextAsset;
Texture2D tex = new Texture2D(1,1);
tex.LoadImage(bindata.bytes);
Unity treats files with the .txt and .bytes extension as text and binary files, respectively. Don’t attempt to store a binary file using the .txt extension, because it creates unexpected behavior when attempting to read data from it.