diff --git a/scrapy/utils/python.py b/scrapy/utils/python.py
index 9df1c91de..983e3e322 100644
--- a/scrapy/utils/python.py
+++ b/scrapy/utils/python.py
@@ -9,7 +9,9 @@ import weakref
 from functools import partial, wraps
 from itertools import chain
 from typing import AsyncGenerator, AsyncIterable, Iterable, Union
+from warnings import warn
 
+from scrapy.exceptions import ScrapyDeprecationWarning
 from scrapy.utils.asyncgen import as_async_generator
 
 
@@ -165,6 +167,14 @@ def binary_is_text(data):
     """ Returns ``True`` if the given ``data`` argument (a ``bytes`` object)
     does not contain unprintable control characters.
     """
+    warn(
+        (
+            'scrapy.utils.python.binary_is_text is deprecated, use '
+            'xtractmime.is_binary_data instead.'
+        ),
+        ScrapyDeprecationWarning,
+        stacklevel=2,
+    )
     if not isinstance(data, bytes):
         raise TypeError(f"data must be bytes, got '{type(data).__name__}'")
     return all(c not in _BINARYCHARS for c in data)